France-based, Chouette is developing a vine monitoring solution & decision support tool for winegrowers. In essence, the startup offers winegrowers the option to acquire, rent or lease a DJI drone &/ sensors for their tractors to monitor vines. The time saving is significant: “to survey four hectares of vines on foot takes a day, but only one hour with the drone”. The vines are scanned (with AI) for multiple fungi & diseases, impacts from drought or frost, as well as checked for plant maturation (& estimated future yield). Historical data is used to anticipate protection of the most sensitive areas by e.g. enabling optimal use of phytosanitary treatments & fertilizers, thereby lowering production costs & improving grape quality. The company now has 100 customers – which represent <20,000 hectares monitored – incl. Chateau Pape Clément & Domaines Tariquet, as well as cooperatives such as CSGV. Founded in 2015 by Charles Nespoulous (co-CEO) & Cyril de Chasset (co-CEO), Chouette will use the new funding to “accelerate the deployment of its solution in France & Europe”. In doing so, it ~competes with e.g. France-based Scanopy (€0.6m). Fun fact: the French government will invest €2.3bn in “agricultural innovation” as part of its France 2030 plan, with ~€200m earmarked for tricolored (agritech) startups via La French Agritech. <Source: usine-digital.fr, igrownews.com, world-agritech.com>
