Weeds

Artificial Intelligence Joins The Fight Against Weeds, Insects And Disease

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 13:53:42 GMT

The crop protection industry needs a reboot, according to Tony Klemm.

As CEO of Enko, a crop-protection startup, he says the company is taking a different approach to solving one of agriculture’s biggest problems – developing safe, effective and sustainable crop protection products that can be brought to the marketplace faster and more economically.

Traditional discovery pipelines for herbicides, fungicides, insecticides are not keeping pace with real challenges farmers face, such as resistance issues, he told Chip Flory, host of AgriTalk on Thursday.

A 2024 study funded by Crop Life International reports the costs associated with bringing a new active ingredient to major U.S. and European markets now top $300 million. In addition, the survey says the average lead time between the first synthesis of a new crop protection molecule and its subsequent commercial introduction is now over 12 years.

Part of the long development time required is related to regulatory hurdles. “There’s just increasing demand for meeting environmental safety needs, rightfully so,” Klemm says.

A Paradigm Shift
Enko, based in Mystic, Conn., is using artificial intelligence (AI) and a machine learning discovery platform to guide the company’s research and development efforts. Klemm describes the strategy as a paradigm shift from the current industry practices for how small molecule crop protection discovery has been done.

“We use DNA-encoded libraries, and these libraries allow our scientists to explore this massive, diverse chemical space in a very targeted, automated and expansive way,” he says.

The technology allows Enko scientists to look at billions of molecules and screen them for safety and efficacy and, in the process, develop them faster and more economically.

“We still have to take the regulatory journey that, right now, no one’s figured out a way to expedite,” he notes. “But getting to that regulatory queue faster and better on the front side is really what’s bringing us that cost savings, that efficacy and is going to allow for more products to be put into the regulatory queue in a faster manner.”

Progress To Date
So far, Klemm says Enko has delivered about 50 active programs that cover all facets of weeds, insects and disease. Many use novel or new modes of action that Klemm believes will help farmers fight resistance issues, such as herbicide resistance in Palmer amaranth and pigweed.

“We’re really working on how we can bring new modes of action to farmers, give them fresh tools to win that fight. And our chemistries work using fewer active ingredients, from perspective of the load on the acre, so we’re designing safer chemistry for the future,” he says.

Specifically, Klemm says Enko recently announced a new grass herbicide is in the pipeline for the European cereals market for control of black grass. The company also has conducted field trials for corn and soybean products in the U.S. that he anticipates are five to 10 years away from market launch, depending on how long they take to move through regulatory channels.

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John Deere-Sentera Tie Up: Here’s What We Know So Far

Tue, 27 May 2025 15:40:37 GMT

John Deere has announced its acquisition of Minnesota-based aerial optics innovator Sentera. Although specific details are few and far between this early in the process, here’s what we know so far:

The two companies have a long history. John Deere was the first enterprise customer Sentera signed onto its system over a decade ago, and the two companies have had an API link in place between Sentera’s drone management software and John Deere’s Operations Center since 2016.
Financial details are not being disclosed. We do know the deal is not subject to any further regulatory or shareholder approvals.
In a similar fashion to the Blue River Technologies and Bear Flag Robotics acquisitions, Sentera will maintain its independence as a free-standing business unit. Once fully integrated into the Deere family, Sentera will operate under the John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG) framework. Sentera leadership will remain at its St. Paul, Minn., headquarters.
For the time being, no major changes are planned for either company as we head into the heart of the summer crop scouting and spraying season. The two companies anticipate having more details to share about the nuts and bolts of the acquisition this fall.
The two groups are a natural fit. Sentera is aggressively marketing its SmartScripts drone weed mapping program, and the technology is complimentary to John Deere’s Operations Center and its See & Spray and ExactApply application technologies. One driving force behind this deal, Farm Journal is told, is Deere’s motivation to integrate more real-time agronomic data into its Operations Center platform, and Sentera’s aerial data capture capabilities can help make that happen.

(John Deere)

A deal to lift both boats. John Deere has built up a deep bench of artificial intelligence, machine learning and autonomous technology expertise within ISG, and Sentera has a long track record of aerial sensing and camera payload innovation. Considering how many cameras and sensors are included from the factory on new John Deere machines and within its Precision Upgrades retrofit kits, there should be a healthy cross pollination of sensor and camera innovation between Urbandale, Iowa, (where ISG is based) and St. Paul, Minn.
Sentera can help make See & Spray even better. SmartScripts uses drone-based imaging to scan a field and build a weed pressure map which is then loaded onto the sprayer’s in-cab computer. Now the sprayer operator can see exactly where weeds are in the field and focus their spraying efforts there first. There’s also a logistical and planning aspect to SmartScripts: by knowing exactly how many weeds are present in the field, and even what type of weeds are there, an adept operator can have the right active ingredients premixed and the exact amount needed loaded into the tank or staged nearby in a tender truck to keep that sprayer running all day long.

“Farming is becoming a very sensor and data-centric business, and in our opinion, there isn’t anyone doing it at broad scale today better than John Deere,” says Eric Taipale, chief technology officer, Sentera. “The way we can bring these data-driven insights and improve grower outcomes — it’s just what we’ve always been about. It’s what John Deere is all about. There’s such a great mesh between the two cultures, the objectives and the mission of the two organizations.”

Joseph Liefer, global technology marketing lead at John Deere, adds, “We’re excited about how this complements our existing portfolio with See & Spray, and then not just that (product). Now a farmer with an individual nozzle-controlled sprayer from any manufacturer can also leverage this technology. A drone can fly their field, generate a weed map, turn it into a prescription in Operations Center and the machine can go execute the plan. From an ag retailer standpoint, that might have a mixed fleet, and this gives them more tools in the toolbox to do targeted application for growers and help them save on herbicide. We view this deal as complementary to our overall tech strategy.”

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How a Secret Seed Society at Michigan State Continues to Uncover Weed Seed Answers 142 Years Old

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 22:26:40 GMT

Lansing, Mich., has a rich history of research, with one weed seed project more than 140 years old. And for the past 30 years, Dr. Frank Telewski has been a part of history at Michigan State University.

“I just grew this passion for plants,” says Telewski.

His fascination with growing plants became an obsession as he grew older, as that obsession was fueled even more when he stepped into history in the 1980s when Telewski was asked to be part of a project more than a century old.

“Professor Beal started the experiment back in 1879,” says Telewski.

For 142 years, a secret seed society at Michigan Sate uncovered one of the world’s oldest science experiments.

“The question was, ‘how long can seeds remain viable in the soil, and particularly wheat seeds’ because back in 1879, the latter part of the 19th century, we didn’t have herbicides, we didn’t have high-tech tractors and plows for tilling and cultivating,” Telewski adds.

(Farm Journal)

Professor Beal, the namesake of the tradition, had one burning question about weeds.

“Professor Beal, being very much involved with agriculture here in the state and in the country, set out to answer this question to know how long the weed seed remains viable,” says Telewski.

With that question in mind, Beal gathered 21 different species of annual and biannual weeds, and collected the seeds.

“And what he would do is count out 50 seeds of every species and mix them in with a sandy mix and then fill up 20 bottles with the same mix of sand and the same number of seeds. And his plan was to excavate and get a bottle every five years,” Telewski explains.

Those bottles were then buried in a secret location in the fall of 1879.

“Then, he opened the bottle, he checked the contents, spread it out, put it in the greenhouse and recorded what germinated,” Telewski says.

(Farm Journal)

After Beal retired in 1910, the experiment lived on. And instead of every year, today the bottles are uncovered only once every 20 years.

“They’re just little time capsules of biology that are over 100 years old. And that to me is the fantastic thing,” says Telewski.

Only a handful of people know just where the secret seed spot is on campus. Just last year, a team of five was tapped to continue the tradition and dug up a bottle in April 2021.

“We excavate in the very early morning hours, and there are a couple of reasons for that. We don’t want to attract a lot of attention to where the seeds are buried. We don’t want curiosity seekers to know where the bottles are, so we like to try to keep that under wraps. The other thing is that sunlight can be a trigger for germination,” says Telewski.

(Farm Journal)

Carefully excavated, just like Beal had done 142 years ago, the team took the seeds to the growth chambers and spread them out.

“And then you wait, which usually, seven to 10 days is how long it takes usually for a seed to germinate,” he says.

(Farm Journal)

After seven to 10 days, history started to sprout at Michigan State last spring.

“It’s just so rewarding and exciting to actually be holding a plant, to actually see this,” says Telewski. “When the first cotyledon came up out of the soil and germinated, and you realized the last person to touch this plant when it was a seed was professor Beal 140-plus years ago,” he says.

(Farm Journal)

Out of the 21 weed species originally buried, only one is a survivor today—a Verbascum variety commonly called the “Great Mullein.”

“Talk about a survivor. I mean, this is a plant that’s now survived in the soil for over 140 years. And we still get a relatively high germination rate. You’ll get 20 of the original 50 seeds germinated, so that’s a 40% germination rate. In 2000, we had a 48% germination rate. That’s incredible.”

(Farm Journal)

Telewski retired this past fall from Michigan State University, and he hopes the experiment doesn’t just live on, but is amplified by what uncovering more answers this historic seed bank can provide.

“We understand the gravity of the situation. This is bigger than any of us. We’re literally standing on the shoulders of giants. And it’s a wonderful honor opportunity to be involved in this experiment, it’s historic,” he says.