Innovation

In India, the farmers are less aware of the proper amount of nutrition required by the crops. The problem of soil health analysis is also loosely handled by the authorities. The only option that farmers had was to collect the soil samples manually at the lab, where soil testing is generated using chemical methods. The farmers will have to wait a few weeks to get the results.

In 2019, SenseGrass started its work by researching the NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) sensor, which measures the soil's nutrients. SenseGrass is one of the only three companies in India that offers customers a plug n' play NPK sensor. While other companies provide NPK details of the soil, they are primarily labs set up, so the customer will have to collect the soil sample manually. The plug n' play sensor was launched. Inputs and advisories on the nutritional value were provided to the users.

A complete full-stack solution was found – a farm operating system. SenseGrass added its IoT soil sensor to the package and three additional data – satellite imagery, climate data, and user input data. All information was gathered and analyzed to give an analytic and recommendation engine to farmers and agro-corporates. SenseGrass is a soil intelligence platform that reduces and manages fertilizer and water uses. Increases profitability and helps the farmers in better decision-making.

Inspiration

After completing his MBA, Lalit, the founder, and CEO of SenseGrass moved to Europe to work for a corporate company. While working, he realized that corporate life was not for him. He left his corporate job, and in 2015, he started his first start-up - HandsCart. The company aimed to connect international designers and local artisans. After working for three years, he got a significant exit and left HandsCraft as a working member but still kept a few shares. While in HandsCart, he had to travel to a lot of rural areas and interact with the local communities, who are mainly involved in Agriculture as a profession. Due to the interactions, Lalit realized the core problems in the rural communities and villages. So, after leaving HandsCart, he contributed to helping the agricultural sector. Lalit was also part of the UN World Economic Forum and was passionate about climate change and food diversity. And also, being a third-generation farmer himself, he grew up seeing the hardships of farmers. Lalit says that a start-up founder focuses on the market opportunity and the impact that the start-up can make. Agriculture being one of the vastest industries since people always need food whether the world is facing a pandemic or not, provided the market opportunity and the impact of reducing fertilizer use and promoting the efficient use of resources. So "SenseGrass was launched, with a mission of providing a soil intelligence platform to manage the nutrition value, improving the profitability and providing advisory support to the farmers, especially the small scale and mid-scale farmers."

Overall impact

Even though SenseGrass is a severe tech company, it is a social impact company, and Lalit considers it one of the strongest pillars. "There are three things that we work on the sustainability side – the social, the environmental, and the financial." The social side of SenseGrass is all about creating inclusive, responsible food growth and responsible consumption. SenseGrass aims to make the land used for agriculture fertile and sustainable for future use. It also helps in producing sufficient food but also a nutritious food, because of which they reduce the fertilizer amount. The second aspect is environmental. SenseGrass products help reduce 65% of the excessive nitrogen or carbon use in agriculture globally. Due to Sense Grass's soil intelligence platform sensing the water required, water dependency is also reduced. The third aspect is the financial side of the industry. Currently, there are 118 million small-scale and mid-scale farmers in India. Globally the count is 550 million. In India, the farmers earn around $20 per week. The small-scale farmers do not receive sufficient income, as they do have the tools and technology like the big farmers. They do not receive adequate advice and inputs to gain a higher yield. Even if they get a fair result, they do not have the right contacts to sell the crop. SenseGrass aims to solve the pre-harvest problems of the farmers. SenseGrass aims to grow its business and expand worldwide. "The mission of the company is to be an operating system or an analytic system that will be used by each farmer on this planet, free of cost."

Business benefit

SenseGrass was started in the year 2019. SenseGrass has twelve employees, including two co-founders. It is looking forward to going for another series of seed funding next year. The company has developed cutting-edge technology that helps improve the farming system. As climate change has effects across the globe, Sensegrass has come with intelligent technology that will improve farming systems in India. SenseGrass advises the government to take necessary policy measures with this technology provided by Sensegrass.

Social and environmental benefit

Farmers worldwide will use the IoT sensor that SenseGrass designed, and they will know the proper quantity of water and fertilizers to be used. Using too much of resources leads to wastage and also leads to the infertility of the land. The sensor will thus help in the contribution of maintaining the fertility of the land. The improved crop yield thus helps the small-scale, and medium-scale farmers get a better income. The enhanced output would incentivize them to produce more, and the economy could develop accordingly. The sensor also promotes responsible and proper resource consumption, helping contribute to sustainability goals. 65% of the excess nitrogen is reduced due to the use of the SenseGrass sensors.

Interview

Lalit Gautam, Founder, CEO