Iron Ox is a startup by Brandon Alexander, a computer scientist who worked on drone delivery at Google. He quit his job and went on a six-month-long road trip to California with his colleague Joe Binney.
While travelling through the state, he realized that farmers faced many problems.
- Lack of water for crops
- Labor shortage
- Farm work took its toll on farmers health.
- The younger generation preferred better opportunities than looking after crops
- Pest, weeds and loss of soil from tilling
Brandon wanted to do something for the farmers, and then Iron Ox was born.
HOW IRON OX IS TAKING FARMING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
With the help of robotics and artificial intelligence, Iron ox is changing the way we think of farming. Robots in Iron-Ox are fitted with a special hydroponic system that uses 90% less water than traditional farms.
Robots also operate at Iron ox’s 10,000-square foot (930 square meters) greenhouse in Gilroy, California. A self-driving robot there named Grover moves pallets of Genovese Basil. A robotic arm also inspects these pallets for nitrogen and acidity levels to ensure healthy growth.
One more remarkable thing about the Iron-Ox system is that if it detects that a pallet is missing some nutrients vital for its growth, the data is sent back into the loop.
Then action is taken to increase nutrient delivery to that particular pallet. The result is delicious and healthy fruits and vegetables that cost the same as traditional farm produce.
WHICH PLANTS DOES IRON OX GROW?
Currently, Iron Ox only grows Thai Basil and Strawberries, and it is working on growing other plants like Cilantro, Parsley and Tomatoes. In addition, the company is also building a new 535,000 square-foot greenhouse in Lockhart, Texas, 30 miles south of Austin.
WHY IS THE FUTURE BRIGHT FOR IRON OX?
The company recently announced that it received funding of $50 million from Bill Gates in a funding round that included investors from Crosslink, Capital, R7 partners and Pathbreaker ventures and many more companies.
The company will use this investment to expand its R&D programs, accelerate manufacturing and expand its operations all over the U.S.
CONCLUSION
I hope, like Brandon, many other people adopt environment-friendly practices, especially in agriculture. According to the governmental panel on Climate change, the agriculture industry is one of the largest contributors to global warming. Without intervention, greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production could increase 58% by 2050.
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