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

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

Other PM solutions

• “Spray and pray” (~90% of growers) - calendar-based system
• Weather-based tools don’t work well and may be impacted by climate change
• Spore trapping tools (e.g., spinning rods, roto rods) have sticky material that reduces sample size and efficacy, UV light exposure degrades PM
• Image-based analysis (new) - lots of data to send, samples ~2L air/min vs 400L air/min Root, does not specify type of PM present (~40 types)

Product roadmap - more power efficiency, integrating a solar panel

Has done work with/ downy mildew, botrytis, vine mealybug, and can detect them, but does not add a lot of value

Excited about growth in microbial mildewcides (biologicals)

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