Arable Announces Pulsepod™ To Improve Agriculture Through Certainty

Pulsepod is the only integrated solution that measures crop growth and microclimate to reduce risk in real time

PRINCETON, NJ (PRWEB) - Arable Labs Inc., pioneer of data-driven land management, today introduced Pulsepod™. Invented by agronomist Dr. Adam Wolf and designed in partnership with legendary product designer Fred Bould (Nest, GoPro, Roku), the Pulsepod is a solar powered IoT device containing advanced sensing technology — including a six-band spectrometer and 4-way net radiometer that measure crops, along with an advanced acoustic rain gauge. The complete solution for in-field crop monitoring, Pulsepod measures over 40 observation streams including rain, hail, canopy leaf area, crop water demand, environmental stresses, microclimate, and even air pollution. In addition, the Pulsepod comes equipped with cellular (2G/3G), wifi, and bluetooth for continuous connectivity. An accessory port accommodates soil moisture, irrigation pressure, or other user-supplied devices. Onboard GPS allows the data to be linked to weather, soil, and satellite imagery.

“We’re at the very beginning of a major transition in how agriculture uses data,” said Dr. Adam Wolf, CEO of Arable. “Thirty years ago it was all about how to grow more crops with less inputs, but now we’re in an era where we’re empowering people to manage complex natural resources with precision. What farms need are facts on the ground to make better decisions in the face of dynamic risk. Imagine if you ran a restaurant and didn’t know how many chefs would show up for work — you wouldn’t know to plan or manage effectively. We believe Pulsepod has the potential to transform agriculture through certainty.”

Pulsepod comes at a time of heightened concern on how to adapt to climate change. The World Food Program expects extreme weather events like droughts, fires, and storms to endanger food security for billions of people. By 2050, crop yields in Asia are expected to fall by as much as 50% for wheat and 17% for rice compared to 2000 levels. Research has identified a diverse array of tools for adaptation in the face of unexpected events, including agronomic practices, market hedges, and insurance, but critically these depend having current information to act, and strategies how to use this information.

Pulsepod helps a range of stakeholders capture upside opportunity and reduce downside risk:

• Specialty Crops - forecast yield and quality, reduce unsold product 
• Crop Insurance - capture baseline data and reduce basis risk 
• Disaster Management - target resources where they’re most needed 
• Agriculture Lending - monitor risk exposure through prediction of seasonal yield 
• Natural Resource Management - reduce regulatory risk and maximize economic activity

COMPLETE DATA MANAGEMENT

Arable understands farm data as business intelligence for the grower and their trusted partners. At the same time, Arable’s API was designed for interoperability, meaning the data can be plugged into existing platforms like AgSense or AgWorld to reduce the number of apps people juggle, or simply downloaded into Excel. All Pulsepod data is securely communicated using military-grade encryption.

“Agriculture is a complicated relationship between science, hard work and Mother Nature,” said Lisa Asimont, Director of Grower Relations of Francis Ford Coppola Winery and former board chair of the American Society of Viticulture and Enology. “Forecasting our winegrape crop is crucial to the sustainability of our business and has a direct effect on our wine quality and bottom line. We are excited to work with Arable and help make forecasting a success.”

BETA PARTNERS

Arable is currently engaging with a number of high-profile partners to test the Pulsepod around the world and across agriculture:

AGRIBUSINESS 
Valmont, Yara, AB Agri

PRODUCERS 
Driscoll’s, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Treasury Wine Estates

GOVERNMENT 
The U.S. Department of Energy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Smithsonian, U.S. Agency for International Development, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA)

RESEARCH 
Stanford/Carnegie, Rutgers, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Colorado Boulder, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

STARTUPS 
Conservis

NGO 
One Acre Fund, Blue Marble Microinsurance

PRICING AND AVAILABLITY

Arable has begun taking preorders of a pilot production of the Pulsepod at USD$500 for shipment in summer/fall 2016. At launch, Pulsepod will be available with three different mounting configurations (vertical stake, center pivot, and pole-mount). The mounting system can be swapped for a stereo camera for computer vision applications, and an additional mounting port allows for existing sensors (such as soil moisture or irrigation monitors) to be used with the Pulsepod’s telemetry system.

ABOUT ARABLE

Arable is the global leader in data-driven land management with Pulsepod, the most advanced weather and crop monitoring IoT device in the world. The company's connected hardware enables farmers, advisors, insurers, processors, lenders, and governments to understand the facts on the ground in real-time, which reduces risk and ensures certainty. By measuring over 40 environmental observation streams, the Pulsepod is the only device in the world able to forecast crop yields and increase efficiencies across the entire agricultural supply chain. For more information on Pulsepod and how Arable is reshaping agriculture, please visit http://arable.com.