Sep 13, 2023

Pest monitoring system at FarmSense wins award

FarmSense’s pest monitoring system has won worldwide recognition.

The agtech startup has been awarded the top prize in Bayer’s global Grants4Tech Pest Monitor Challenge. The FarmSense team recently spent multiple days demonstrating the capabilities of their trademarked FlightSensor technology during the finalists’ event at Bayer’s headquarters in Germany.

The panel of judges viewed FarmSense’s real-time pest monitoring technology and its potential to change pest monitoring efforts in commercial agriculture, which resulted in the top prize of 10,000€ ($10,743)and possible future collaboration with Bayer, according to a news release.

Bayer described the goal of the competition as a search for “novel technologies to detect and identify above and/or below ground pests in crops at an early infestation stage, enabling an optimized application of crop protection solutions.” Finalists were scored on four categories: novelty of hardware design, sensitivity (spatial and temporal resolution), scalability (robustness, affordability, ease of use), and testability, according to the release.

“FarmSense is honored to receive the top prize in the Bayer Grants4Tech Pest Monitor Challenge,” Shailendra Singh, FarmSense co-founder and CTO, said in the release. “Technological advances in real-time pest monitoring and classification, like FarmSense’s FlightSensor provides, are essential to support the continued growth of commercial agriculture in a sustainable manner.”

FarmSense’s trademarked FlightSensor utilizes patented technology, computational entomology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and real-time analytics to improve insect monitoring and crop management efforts. The FlightSensor is a revolutionary step forward in pest management, saving growers time, labor, money, and reducing the need for pesticide use while improving crop yield, according to the release.

Founded in 2016, FarmSense helps farmers simplify pest management and take the guesswork out of insect monitoring. FarmSense has participated in agriculture and climate focused conferences and received awards and grants from entities such as Microsoft, Google, USDA, U.S. Department of Defense, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.