For its press conference this year, Nufarm Deutschland GmbH made the motto the program: Under the title “Nufarm under power”, the company was able to present a number of innovations and new developments.

We are pleased that the innovative crop.zone system could be presented to a wide audience during the press conference.

You can see the entire video of the event here

40% of nitrogen fertilizers are wasted because farmers do not have access to soil monitoring equipment.

This over-fertilization pollutes our soils, waterways, and atmosphere, and affects farmers’ ability to build sustainable livelihoods.
That’s why we decided to bring together a team of young international founders with diverse expertise in engineering, computer science, chemistry, design, and business to develop a technology for real-time, on-the-ground monitoring of soil nutrients.
The team, based in Mexico and Germany, has developed a spectral analysis sensor that can be calibrated to measure nitrate nitrogen and potassium in soil in the field, enabling real-time optimization of fertilization strategies with data-driven recommendations.
Unlike laboratories that provide thorough but slow soil analysis, our instrument can predict soil nutrient concentrations directly, with cost efficiency as the primary consideration. What sets us apart is our unique approach: we have chosen to work with fertilizer companies to expand their service in a new model where their sales to customers are based on data collected with our sensor.
This novel approach is optimized to increase grower ROI while building trust and making companies more sustainable in the long run. Fertilizer companies subscribe to our scalable service model. Nerit’e then provide the required software and hardware for the duration of the subscription.

Nerit’e is currently building the product and starting to focus on the service that will be provided.

Contact:
Email: info@nerite.tech
Website: https://nerite.tech

Extract from IHK report:

IHK Aachen and RWTH Aachen University have joined forces to take the Aachen-based start-up crop.zone to the next level.

Through a strategic partnership with GründerStart-Initiative GmbH (GSI), a joint pre-seed fund of RWTH and IHK, the company will now receive funding to enter the agricultural market in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany through the innovative Groundbreaker program.

crop.zone specializes in the field of weed control and pre-harvest crop preparation, offering farmers innovative solutions for competitive, effective and sustainable weed control. By pretreating crops with a conductive liquid (volt.fuel) and sequentially applying electrical charge using an electrophysical weed controller, the company enables weed control with very high efficiency and lower energy consumption compared to traditional weed control technologies.

Download the complete article as PDF (German only)

crop.zone’s sustainable and targeted weed control methods reduce the use of crop protection products. The innovative technology controls weeds with electric current. The innovative technology controls weeds with electric current. It is being introduced, tested and further developed by fenaco in Switzerland for the first time. It provides farmers with a competitive and sustainable alternative for controlling weeds.

Leading Swiss cooperative fenaco and German tech start-up crop.zone have signed a cooperation agreement. . The aim of the collaboration is to support Swiss farmers with innovative and sustainable crop protection solutions from crop.zone, thereby reducing the use of crop protection products. The technology was developed by crop.zone, while fenaco is responsible for introducing it to the Swiss market and adapting the solution to local conditions. As part of the collaboration, crop.zone’s weed control solutions will be used in Switzerland for the first time. Its use in Swiss fields is scientifically supported. In addition, interested farmers will have the opportunity to test the new technology under real conditions.

As part of the cooperation agreement, Michael Feitknecht, Head of Crop Production and Member of the Executive Board at fenaco, will sit on the crop.zone advisory board and advise the start-up on strategic issues.
Dirk Vandenhirtz, CEO of crop.zone, says: “We are very happy to be working with the leading agricultural cooperative in Switzerland. It gives us excellent access to many farms. The opportunity to bring our technologies to Switzerland is of strategic importance to us.”
Michael Feitknecht, Head of Crop Production and Member of the Executive Board at fenaco, says: “The technology from crop.zone gives us a new tool and embodies our principle ‘combination is the new innovation’. fenaco works with start-ups that develop innovative and sustainable technologies for agriculture. Switzerland is taking a leading position globally by making agriculture more sustainable, and fenaco is playing a crucial role.”

The crop.zone technology combats weeds with electric current, creating an innovative and sustainable method of weed control. The application width is up to twelve meters. With an application speed of 4 km per hour, the crop.zone solution can treat around 3 hectares per hour. In a first step, the plants are pre-treated with a conductive liquid. The weeds are then targeted by an electric charge. Energy consumption is thus lower and the procedure has a significantly higher efficiency compared to other electrical technologies. The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) is currently clarifying whether the process can be approved for organic farming.
With this new solution for controlling weeds, fenaco and crop.zone offer a safe, reliable and environmentally friendly alternative that makes Swiss agriculture more sustainable. It also increases farm yields and profitability The method will be presented to the public for the first time at the opening of the new beneficial weed production facility in Aesch (BL) in spring 2021.

About crop.zone
Crop.zoneGmbH was founded in 2019. It brings together an experienced team, with a broad background in agricultural engineering, start-up, development, licensing and regulatory affairs. The goal of crop.zone is to develop and commercially offer new methods as an alternative to conventional crop protection. With currently 16 employees, crop.zone develops the latest methods and applications for agriculture at the high-tech location of Aachen in association with the University of RWTH Aachen. These include crop preparation for crops such as potatoes, as well as non-plowing field preparation and use in specialty crops. Currently, crop.zone operates in Holland, Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland.

About fenaco
The fenaco is an agricultural cooperative with over 100 years of experience. It is in the hands of 183 LANDI and their more than 44,000 members, of which over 23,000 are active Swiss farmers. As a marketing partner of the farmers, fenaco ensures that the valuable Swiss foodstuffs reach the customers – from fruit, vegetables, potatoes and grain to eggs, meat and beverages. As a supplier, fenaco offers a wide range of products and services needed for sustainable, efficient and market-oriented agriculture. Among fenaco’s best-known brands are the beverage producer RAMSEIER Suisse, the meat processor Ernst Sutter, the retailers Volg and LANDI, the fertilizer trader LANDOR, the animal feed producer UFA and the energy supplier AGROLA. The fenaco cooperative, headquartered in Bern, employs more than 10,000 people and generated net sales of CHF 7 billion in 2019.

Australian crop protection and seed technology company Nufarm, in partnership with German AgTech start-up CROP.ZONE, is launching NUCROP, a hybrid electric crop protection solution.The competitive and sustainable alternative for weed control is available now to farmers and contractors in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands through an early adopter program.

NUCROP combines chemical and physical crop protection to create a compelling and sustainable weed control solution: plants are first pre-treated with a conductive and bio-agricultural safe liquid product, then electricity is applied.

In this way, the solution controls weeds highly efficiently and with less energy input than conventional technologies. In the Early Adopters program, Nufarm and CROP.ZONE are working with selected channel partners in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands to give farmers and
contractors access to the new NUCROP technology. In addition to various other crops and applications, the early adopter program is specifically targeting potato siccation in crop year 2021. Other potential applications are currently being investigated
and will be available shortly. NUCROP technology offers growers and contractors a real alternative to proven chemical solutions at competitive prices. This is especially true for crops where chemical crop protection choices have been limited and
replacement solutions are in demand.

For more information on the Early Adopters program, visit www.nufarm.com or www.crop.zone.

With NUCROP, Nufarm and CROP.ZONE offer a safe, reliable and environmentally friendly alternative for the benefit of more sustainable agriculture in Europe.

About CROP.ZONE: CROP.ZONE
GmbH was founded in 2019 by a team of AgTech experts with decades of industry experience. The start-up’s hybrid herbicide solution is already in field use today as an effective tool for weed control, cover crop desiccation and pre-harvest siccation.
With its electrophysical solutions for weed control and controlled siccation, CROP.ZONE offers growers an efficient alternative in the face of increasing regulatory requirements and societal expectations. The innovative, patented CROP.ZONE
solutioncan replace a significant proportion of the synthetic herbicides used today. . It is a competitive alternative for weed control, improving crop yields, profitability and sustainability of farms. With its solutions, CROP.ZONE secures a strong foothold in the agricultural market of the future.

About Nufarm:
Nufarm Limited is a leading developer and manufacturer of crop protection solutions and seed technologies. Our more than 2,500 employees make a key contribution to our reputation for supporting growers with quality products tailored to their exact needs and effective customer support as a partner in the largest agricultural markets in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
Nufarm is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (stock symbol: NUF) and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

We are proud to be supported by IHK Aachen and RWTH Innovation.

Thank you Elke Müller (RWTH) and Michael Bayer (IHK Aachen) for their visit.

With RWTH Aachen and IHK Aachen, we are joining forces to take our Aachen start-up to the next level.

Through a strategic partnership with GründerStart-Initiative GmbH (GSI), a joint pre-seed fund of RWTH and IHK, crop.zone now receives funding to enter the agricultural market in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany.

Our CEO Dirk Vandenhirtz was a guest today in a special broadcast of “Erfolgreich im Agrarvertrieb – der Agrarpodcast “.
Listen to this podcast on Spotify now.

The agribusiness of the 21st century is characterized above all by innovative solutions. On this topic, today’s episode features an interview with Dirk Vandenhirtz, CEO of crop.zone. crop.zone is a company from Aachen, Germany, that is successfully proving itself on the market with alternatives to chemical weed control. According to Vandenhirtz, you can find out what a recipe for success for sustainable German agriculture looks like and what advantages innovative solutions from crop.zone have for farmers in today’s agricultural podcast. Have fun listening!

On Spotify

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