Kubota

Sustainably solving the food shortages of the future

Smart Farming

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 Based in Israel, Tevel Aerobotics offers an on-demand drone-based autonomous solution for fruit harvesting. The company’s solution, the Flying Autonomous Robot (FAR), is fitted with a mechanical arm with integrated cameras that use AI and machine learning (ML) to detect and harvest fruits such as apples, oranges, and avocados with precision. Its flying robot can also be used for trimming, thinning, and pruning. 
 
 
 Tevel deploys a fleet of its robots that are tethered to a centralized power source, which works together simultaneously during a harvesting session for up to 24 hours. The company claims that its flying robots can pick 90% of the fruit from all trees with thick or thin foliage and increase yield by allowing farmers to grow trees 20% taller as the robots are able to reach those heights. Tevel claims a return on investment in 3 weeks. The company’s flying robots have six degrees of freedom (can move horizontally, vertically, laterally and roll along its axis) while conventional drones have 3 degrees of freedom. The drones can also be monitored remotely via its mobile-based app using GPS. The company also offers supplementary software that provides drone management and harvesting statistics. 
 
 
 As of February 2022, Tevel has completed product development for its robots and is looking to commercialize. The company reported plans to conduct pilot projects in 100+ hectare farms in the US, Spain, and Italy.
 
 
 In January 2021, Tevel Aerobotics raised USD 20 million in Series A funding led by Kubota and Forbon, a Chinese agricultural equipment manufacturer. The funds were expected to support in completing product validation, commencing production, and launching its service commercially.
 
 
 
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Tech solutions for achieving global anti-wastage targets

Food Waste

Clarifruit is an Israeli developer of an automated platform and mobile app that provides quality control data on fresh fruits and vegetables to growers, marketing companies, wholesalers, and retailers.&nbsp;Clarifruit’s cloud-based platform automatically analyzes fresh produce quality control data and performs real-time quality control inspections.&nbsp; Its platform also includes data such as user info, inspection process duration, and quality standards. Clarifruit also uses sensors and an app called AclaroMeter to grade agricultural products for quality and value.As of 2024, Clarifruit claimed that it increased its customers' sales by 2%, improved labor productivity by 40%, and decreased food wastage by 20%.Clarifruit also reported gaining significant new customers in the EMEA region in 2020. The company also launched a new fresh produce quality control platform in December 2020 to provide an end-to-end solution for fresh produce management.&nbsp;As of 2024, Clarifruit expanded its operational presence across five continents—North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.&nbsp;Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;Clarifruit partnered with Dole Sunshine Company (Dole) in December 2021 to use Clarifruit’s AI-powered QC software platform to automate fresh produce quality inspection and evaluation as part of Dole’s “Dole Promise” initiative to achieve zero fruit loss by 2025.&nbsp;Clarifruit also teamed up with Zespri in October 2024 to launch a new mobile app with modernized quality control and an AI engine designed for the fruit and vegetable industry.

Sterilize with ease: The future of hygiene technology

Hygiene Tech

Clarifruit is a company that has developed an AI-powered quality control (QC) software platform for the fresh produce industry. Founded in 2018 in Israel, Clarifruit's solution aims to address the challenges of quality control and decision-making in the fruit and vegetable supply chain. The company's platform consists of two main components: a mobile app for quality inspectors and a cloud-based management and analytics dashboard. The mobile app allows inspectors to conduct automatic quality control processes within minutes using a smartphone camera, while the dashboard enables operation managers to design, manage, and view results of the monitoring process in real-time.
Clarifruit's platform leverages proprietary computer vision technology, Big Data, and analytics capabilities to analyze external attributes of fruits and vegetables, such as size, color, and defects. The company's AI-driven approach aims to make the inspection process more objective, consistent, and efficient compared to traditional manual methods. As of 2023, Clarifruit's technology could recognize color and size of produce through its mobile app, with plans to roll out defect recognition for citrus in early 2024 and expand to other fruits throughout the year.
The company's solution is designed to reduce waste in the fresh produce supply chain, which is estimated to be valued at USD 2 trillion. Clarifruit claims its platform can increase sales by 10%, reduce waste by 20%, improve labor productivity by 300%, and enhance reporting efficiency by 900%. The ultimate goal is to enable stakeholders in the fresh produce industry to make data-driven decisions that reduce waste and maximize profitability.
Key customers and partnerships
Clarifruit has secured partnerships with several major players in the fresh produce industry. Notable customers include Dole, Mucci Farms, Zespri, SanLucar, Pink Lady, and Sunkist. In January 2022, Dole Sunshine Company announced a partnership with Clarifruit to automate its QC processes for fresh produce, starting with pineapple exports from the Philippines to six markets worldwide. The collaboration aimed to achieve a 10% reduction in fruit loss within 24 months of implementation.
Clarifruit has also attracted interest from agricultural equipment manufacturers. In November 2022, Kubota Corporation invested in Clarifruit's Series A funding round, viewing the partnership as a step toward expanding its community-focused business operations and delivering integrated solutions across all segments of its business.

Conservation Tech

OceanWell is a California-based company that provides freshwater through its modular subsea water farm technology, which uses hydrostatic ocean pressure at depths of 400+ m to naturally power the reverse osmosis process and produce freshwater. OceanWell offers LifeSafe, which delivers clean, cold, and freshwater from the deep open ocean, using up to 40% less energy than seawater desalination. It also generates billions of BTUs in net-zero cooling capacity as a byproduct. The company is expected to supply 15 million gallons per day (5 million gallons per day per pod/60,000 sqm/per day) with over one billion BTUs of cooling capacity. As of August 2023, the company's technology is at Technology Readiness Level (TRL 4) and has secured 13 patents, including nine utility patents, four design patents, and five trademarks. Having completed prototype testing at the US Navy's Deep Ocean Simulation Facility, the company states that it is on track to begin full-scale component testing in 2023. Key customers and partnerships In August 2023, OceanWell partnered with the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District for a pilot project to test OceanWell's water purification technology to produce safe drinking water. This pilot marks the first use of OceanWell's technology to create a fresh source of drinking water. The company claims a seawater discharge rate of only 5% above ambient ocean salinity, ensuring no brine production.

OceanWell is a California-based water technology company on a mission to help end the water crisis and adapt to climate change.  The company's modular deep sea water farm technology harnesses hydrostatic ocean pressure to power the reverse osmosis and produce fresh water naturally. We do this with vastly improved energy efficiency, without harming marine life, creating a strong brine, or building an onshore plant.

Chouette is an innovative start-up that specializes in the analysis of vines. They offer a vineyard monitoring tool dedicated to winegrowers. Their patented technology allows growers to have an automated drone with unparalleled autonomy, a high-precision sensor, and image processing algorithms specially developed to respond to the problems of wine-growing environments.

Clarifruit is disrupting the $2 trillion Fresh Produce supply chain by creating the world’s first automatic QC & data analytics platform.  The Fresh Produce industry is experiencing a staggering 45% waste, caused by multiple reasons and market failures along the chain, in which the common denominator is lack of objective and consistent quality standards as well as hard-data upon to make decisions.  Clarifruit’s QC platform can automatically identify, collect, and analyze real-time data about the fresh produce external and internal attributes. Solution results in objective, consistent, and cost- effective inspection that not only increases inspector productivity by x3 and reduces customer's current waste, but also empowers the world’s Fresh Produce growers, wholesalers, and retailers to make decisions based on high-quality data, resulting in better match of quality of supply to customer demand and ultimately favorable revenue opportunities.

ListenField uses precision technology for sustainable farming for the agri-community. The company brings machine learning models to the agriculture community for better decision making. The company was founded in 2017 and is based in Nagoya, Aichi.

SeeTree is an ''Intelligence Platform for Trees'' providing per-tree intelligence to growers to track their trees’ health and productivity. Using rich sources of information such as drones, satellites, IoT sensors, weather information and more, we can scan and analyze hundreds of millions of trees!

Tevel is addressing the extreme shortage in agricultural labor through fruit-picking Flying Autonomous Robots™. Founded in 2017 by Yaniv Maor, Tevel’s flying robots are powered by state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and computer vision algorithms, enabling them to delicately pick fruit and optimize the harvesting process. These robots are agile, showcasing exceptional maneuverability, and can operate around the clock, providing cost-efficient solutions for farmers. Additionally, Tevel’s cutting-edge software allows for real-time monitoring of the orchard’s harvesting status. The data collected by our software provides farmers with unique insights into the specific characteristics and contents of each bin prior to its delivery to the packing house. This enables growers to eliminate uncertainties regarding market value, quality, and output. Through Tevel’s user-friendly software, farmers can easily access information such as the quantity of fruit harvested, its weight, color grading, ripeness, diameter, timestamp, geolocation of each fruit, and other vital data. Tevel is headquartered in Israel, with overseas branches in Italy and the United States. For more information, visit www.tevel-tech.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube and Vimeo.

Escorts is an engineering company operating in the sectors of agri-machinery, construction, and material handling equipment. It is a partner of choice for farming and construction equipment in India. Escorts has helped accelerate India’s socio-economic growth through its presence across high-growth sectors of agri-machinery, construction and material handling equipment and railway equipment. Escort was established in 1960.

Kubota is a manufacturer of machinery, industrial, and consumer products. Their Farm and Industrial Machinery segment provides farm equipment, ancillary tools, implements for agriculture, outdoor power equipment, engines for farming, construction, industrial machinery, generators, and construction machinery. They provide water and environment segment include plastic pipes, pumps, valves, drainage pipes, stack drain fittings, waste water treatment equipment, plants, and water purification facilities.

<div> Kubota Corporation is a global manufacturer of agricultural machinery, construction equipment, lawn mowers, and industrial engines headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Through its subsidiaries worldwide, including Kubota North America Corporation based in Grapevine, Texas, the company produces and sells tractors, construction equipment, lawn and garden equipment, hay tools, and other performance-matched implements. As a comprehensive solutions provider for agriculture, Kubota offers support at every stage of farming, from developing agricultural machinery to supporting the production and processing of agricultural products. The company's key products and services include <ul> <li> Agricultural Equipment - A full range of tractors from small to large-sized models, including the M7 series for large-scale commercial farming, along with tractor-mounted implements for plowing, harrowing and other tasks </li> <li> Construction Equipment - Compact construction equipment for infrastructure development </li> <li> Lawn &amp; Garden Equipment - Zero-turn mowers, including the new Ze Electric Zero-Turn range launched in 2024 featuring the Ze-421 and Ze-481 models </li> <li> Water Solutions - Water treatment systems, irrigation systems, piping systems, and underground valves </li> <li> Industrial Engines - Engines for agricultural and construction equipment </li> </ul> In September 2024, Kubota expanded its technological capabilities through the acquisition of Bloomfield Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based company that provides AI-driven plant imaging technology and monitoring services for specialty crops across seven countries. The company is also investing USD 1.2 billion in the US in 2024, including the construction of a new loader assembly plant in Gainesville, Georgia scheduled to open in 2024. Through its subsidiary Escorts Kubota Finance, the company began offering non-banking financial services in November 2024. </div>

E-quipment highlight: Kubota Ze zero-turn electric lawn mowers

Start-ups providing smart machinery such as agricultural robots and autonomous tractors, as well as other smart hardware devices for crop and livestock management.

Operators of marketplaces connecting farmers, suppliers, buyers, experts and advisors to streamline the farming process.

Start-ups offering software and related hardware solutions for crop operation, crop modelling, weather forecasting, soil analysis, and overall irrigation management using sensors, big data, AI and machine learning.

Startups offering software and related hardware solutions that facilitate real time data tracking and sharing on animal weight, future weight forecasts, and animal health and behavioural analysis using RFID tags, sensors, big data, AI and machine learning.

Start-ups offering drone or satellite imagery to measure and monitor fields, spray pesticides, accurately present biological parameters, control the quality of sowing, etc.

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 
 Kubota North America unveiled the New Agri Concept at CES 2024, a fully electric, multifunction vehicle designed for residential and small-acreage growers. This vehicle, uniquely integrating automation, AI, and electrification, signifies a notable step forward in agriculture technology.
 Its standout features include six independent drive motors, a versatile three-point hitch, and an impressively quick charge time, reaching 80% from 10% in under six minutes.
 
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