May 31, 2018

Honolulu-based Smart Yields, a three year old venture that connects farmers, researchers, and their communities through real-time analytics gathered from a long-range network of integrated sensors, has entered into a partnership with Rocky Mountain Farmers Union (RMFU) to monitor crops and livestock using wireless sensors, hardware, and data analytics. The pilot program will span nearly 1 million acres of land and monitor soil health, optimize carbon dioxide levels, modify water use, and identify value-added uses for crops.

Smart Yields has raised a total of $520,000, including a $420,000 seed finding round in February of 2017 from a mix of Asian angel investors, Hawaii-based accelerators and family and friends. The company was part of the sixth cohort of the Blue Startups accelerator program and the 2017 cohort of the Energy Excelerator.

Harrison Topp, director of membership at the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, said members are eager to test the grower-centric technology, which has formerly been inaccessible to many smaller agricultural operations.

“The Rocky Mountain Farmers Union has a long history of implementing technologies to help improve industry outcomes,” said Topp, who also grows peaches, plums, cherries, and apples in Colorado. “We are particularly interested to contribute to this crowd-sourced data program, which allows our members benefit from the shared knowledge of all participants in the region. When Smart Yields technology is used in coordination with other farmers, it expands beyond solely about what is important at your farm, and it shows you what is important about conditions across many farms.”

David Nitchman – GAI Media