Farming automaton system company Farmblox has relocated its headquarters to Santa Cruz, Calif., a move the company says this move reflects its commitment to the state’s specialty crop producers. The company will maintain a regional branch in Vermont, in close proximity to maple producers.
“Relocating to California puts us at the intersection of technology and agriculture,” Nathan Rosenberg, CEO and co-founder of Farmblox, told The Packer. “It’s where the most pressing challenges in specialty crops meets top talent, and being here allows us to innovate on solutions faster than ever before, alongside growers who need them most.”
Rosenberg also says the new headquarters in Santa Cruz positions it near Reservoir Farms, an agtech incubator.
Farmblox, Rosenberg says, helps growers connect in-field sensors and equipment through its universal monitoring box and into an app to automate tasks and more. These sensors range from soil moisture to valve pressure. The app runs through smartphones, tablets or computers. Rosenberg says Farmblox’s app helps growers detect leaks, weather risks or equipment failures to trigger fixes.
“We like to call our system the building blocks of automation for agriculture,” he says. “What that means is, no matter what crop — walnuts, obviously, is a big one of them — we have tools to help farmers and growers monitor what’s happening across all their assets … under one roof.”
Rosenberg says Farmblox integrates with other platforms so growers can mix and match and build a system that makes sense for them. And he says he’s seen increased interest from growers in deploying Farmblox’s system for things beyond automation that will growers save on labor. Growers use Farmblox in theft detection in tanks.
“We’re seeing a lot of adoption when it comes to like tracking fertilizer tank levels,” he says. “We’re the only one to integrate a sensor that doesn’t require you to drill a hole in your tank to measure the depth. You can do real-time fertilizer tracking. You can also do copper wire cut detection. So, if thieves come and try to steal your copper wire that powers your pumps, Farmblox can alert you when that happens or if that happens.”
Rosenberg also says growers have seen cost savings in shifting irrigation by an hour through the Farmblox system. He adds that it’s important for Farmblox to offer solutions that work in the remotest parts of the country.
“Over the last three years, everyone’s time has been spent on making that one thing very reliable, which is the universal monitor box,” he says. “Our product methodology helps with our liability, but also we’re the only one who can actually mesh between what we call ‘base stations.’ So, even if you don’t have any cellular connectivity, or really any form of internet on your operation, we can actually use our base stations to beam signal to where you have no signal.”
