EarthSense, Inc. wins Shell GameChanger Funding to Unlock Large-Scale Sustainable Feedstocks for Biofuel Production on US Commodity Farmland
EarthSense’s autonomous cover-crop planting robots help farmers reap 10x greater rewards from cover crops. Summer inter-seeding with EarthSense robots in row-crop fields gives cover crops a head start, compared to post-harvest planting with tractors. This ensures better emergence and winter survivability resulting in faster, better growth in the spring.
Champaign, IL – EarthSense, Inc. announced today that it has received a grant from Shell GameChanger. The grant will help validate the application of EarthSense’s autonomous field robotics technologies for oil seed cover crops as feedstocks for biofuel production.
EarthSense was co-founded by world renowned field roboticist Prof. Girish Chowdhary, and agriculture and soil sustainability expert Dr. Chinmay Soman. EarthSense has created a family of low-cost, AI-powered robots that help farmers easily adopt regenerative farming practices while overcoming labor shortages and improving profitability. EarthSense’s autonomous cover-crop planting robots help farmers reap 10x greater rewards from cover crops. Summer inter-seeding with EarthSense robots in row-crop fields gives cover crops a head start, compared to post-harvest planting with tractors. This ensures better emergence and winter survivability resulting in faster, better growth in the spring.
Shell GameChanger provides financial and strategic support to innovative companies with unique technologies that create the future of global sustainable energy supply. With support from Shell GameChanger and in collaboration with Shell’s subsidiary Joint Venture VISION Bioenergy Oilseeds (VISION) LLC, EarthSense will test the performance of camelina planted during Summer and Fall 2024 by EarthSense robots in corn fields. The Shell GameChanger funding will enable EarthSense to validate the performance of robotically inter-seeded camelina as a bioenergy cover crop in corn-soybean rotation in the Midwest. Enabling a corn-camelina-soybean relay cropping system will potentially improve crop rotation efficiencies, and enable American row-crop farmers to protect and improve farm soils while simultaneously earning additional income from producing camelina as a feedstock for sustainable biofuels.
“EarthSense is poised to help farmers sequester gigatons of carbon in farm soils,” said Chinmay Soman, CEO and co-founder of EarthSense, Inc. “The Shell GameChanger award opens the path for farmers to simultaneously benefit from producing feedstocks for biofuel production. We are excited to work with Shell and VISION to create this future.”
“Our unique under-canopy navigation technology will provide farmers with a way to get their cover-crops planted in standing crop” said Girish Chowdhary, CTO and co-founder of EarthSense Inc. Chowdhary is also an Associate Professor of Agriculture and Biological Engineering, and Computer Science in the College of Agricultural Consumer and Economics Science (ACES) and Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
About EarthSense, Inc.: EarthSense, Inc. has created the Terra family of robots designed for challenging farm environments and built around their patented Terra AI operating system that enables robust autonomy and real-world AI capabilities. EarthSense robots are enabling farmers around the world to adopt regenerative and sustainable agriculture practices including cover-cropping, to reduce input costs through AI-powered precision application, and to improve farm productivity, resiliency, and profitability. To learn more about EarthSense, visit www.earthsense.co.
About VISION Bioenergy Oilseeds: VISION Bioenergy Oilseeds (VISION) is a US-based agricultural company committed to the advancement of purpose-grown crops like Camelina sativa as primary feedstocks for advanced biofuels. We are dedicated to Growing the Future of Energy™ and empowering farmers in the renewable fuels market. Established as a joint venture between S&W Seed Company (NASDAQ: SANW) and Shell (NYSE: SHEL), VISION combines agricultural industry expertise with Shell’s global position as a leader in renewable fuel technology, production, and distribution. For more information, visit us at https://visionbioseeds.com.
Contact: hello@earthsense.co