More Data, Less Sprays W/ Sarah Placella, Root Applied Sciences XChateau Wine podcast

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More Data, Less Sprays w/ Sarah Placella, Root Applied Sciences

1d ago 43:36

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Spraying for powdery mildew can be ~25% of the cost of farming a vineyard and be one of the key elements of a grower’s carbon footprint. Sarah Placella, Founder and CEO of Root Applied Sciences, has taken her deep research in microbes and created a data-driven solution to monitor the air for mildew and spray only when needed. Root can cut ~5 sprays per season, and growers have an average 5x ROI using the system.

Detailed Show Notes:

Root Applied Sciences (“Root”) - airborne pathogen monitoring for farmers, like an “early warning system”

Founded in 2018, 1st work with/ growers in 2021
Powdery mildew (“PM”) is a big problem for vineyards in CA (March - August)
Currently only markets to vineyards, done work with/ strawberries, leafy greens, can do anything with/ DNA and small insects
Napa, Sonoma, Central Coast today

HW enabled SaaS model - Root owns and maintains devices

Device in the field, just above the canopy
Send data (battery status, device status, temp, humidity) to the cloud over LTEM connection
SW to see the data
The grower collects samples from devices 2x/week and sends them to the lab
Growers can share data with/ each other

Has an automated prototype in process

Will not need a grower to collect and send samples
Fundraising “seed” round for an automated system

~25% of operational costs are spent managing PM

6-16 pesticide applications/season
Conventional growers have fewer applications, but spend more for each one
Organic may be spraying every week
PM takes 7-10 days to enter plants. See 2 peaks of PM before growers can see it, once PM exists, it's hard to control
Root can cut 20-80% of sprays (~5 sprays/season), lengthens spray intervals when low risk
~$100/acre spray cost per application, ~$300/acre if need to spray by hand (e.g., steep slopes)
2024 - saw PM on Mar 29 in Carneros, growers planned 1st spray 4/16, moved up 1st spray to 4/2; cut sprays and more clean fruit
Root data enables more biological sprays (have shorter efficacy windows, are more environmentally friendly, and data gives more confidence to try them)

Other benefits of Root

Clean fruit - faster fermentation (5 days faster), higher quality, possible increase in yields
Environmental (less sprays, tractor use) - less diesel use, lower soil compaction; for 1 grower, 1 spray is a 13% reduction in carbon footprint
Farmworker health - fewer chemicals in the air

Pricing

$3,000/season/monitoring station all-in
Avg grower has 4 stations, 1 every ~30-50 acres
Precision growers or rolling hills, 1 station every ~10 acres

~5x ROI

Barriers to adoption

Risk aversion
No access to a carrier to send samples
Grape prices down (budgets)
More adaptive sprays can make operational scheduling harder for vineyard management companies