CropX acquires EnGeniousAg for breakthrough nitrogen sensing technology

CropX, a leader in digital agronomic solutions, announces the acquisition of EnGeniousAg, a startup focused on advanced nitrogen sensing applications for agriculture. EnGeniousAg developed an innovative nitrogen sensing technology with the potential to transform nitrogen management by offering farmers new precision tools to optimize nitrogen fertilizer application and minimize environmental impacts. 

EnGeniousAg’s patented technology provides users with near-instantaneous, in-field nitrogen measurements. This data can inform nitrogen fertilizer applications to ensure plants have the proper levels for maximizing profitability, sustainability and crop performance during various growth phases. Specifically, EnGeniousAg’s technical breakthroughs greatly extend the range of ion-specific electrode sensing in precision agriculture. The company’s patented technology permits in-situ monitoring of nitrogen in plant tissue, drainage and irrigation waters, and soil. CropX will integrate EnGeniousAg’s technology into its agronomic farm management system, enhancing its capabilities in agricultural nutrient management.  

Precision nitrogen fertilizer management is a critical challenge in modern agriculture. Nitrogen fertilizer represents one of the largest crop input costs in agriculture worldwide. Inefficient nitrogen usage costs farmers billions of dollars each year while substantially increasing greenhouse gas emissions and nitrate loading to watersheds and aquifers.  

Mike Castellano, co-founder of EnGeniousAg and Professor of Soil Science at Iowa State University, using EnGeniousAg’s sensor to determine nitrate concentrations in corn stalks. Photo Credit: Patrick S. Schnable

EnGeniousAg’s technology will offer significant cost-savings and operational efficiencies for farmers and agribusinesses on the CropX platform. By allowing simple and effective in-field nitrogen measurements coupled to data-driven agronomic recommendations, CropX’s integrated system of sensors and analytics will provide a powerful and practical new method to boost crop nitrogen use efficiency.  

″Acquiring this nitrogen sensor technology underscores CropX’s commitment to providing farmers with one-stop-shop agronomic solutions,″ said Tomer Tzach, CEO of CropX. ″Nitrogen management is a critical, unsolved challenge of modern farming. We are eager to provide a solution with such transformative potential. In our global search for synergistic technologies in the nutrient management space, EnGeniousAg stood out with high-potential technology that is ideally suited to our mission.″  

Mike Castellano, one of four co-founders of EngeniousAg, said, ″We have spent years optimizing and field testing EnGeniousAg’s nitrogen sensor technology and are excited to work with CropX to bring the benefits of this technology to the global market at scale as part of CropX’s agronomic farm management system. The combination should be a big win for farmers’ profitability and environmental sustainability.″ Co-founder James Schnable said, ″We are grateful for research funding from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs of the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Agriculture. Turning fundamental scientific discoveries into real world products is a key goal of these programs. We’re excited to work with CropX to enable that translation.″  

CropX’s agronomic farm management system leverages data from soil to sky to deliver real-time decision support and data management to enhance farm profitability and sustainability. The acquisition of this advanced nitrogen sensor technology further solidifies CropX’s position as a leader in agricultural innovation, empowering farms to be successful and sustainable. This is the sixth acquisition for CropX, following its most recent acquisition of Australia’s Green Brain in December 2023.  

Read more about this acquisition here. 

About CropX Ltd. 

CropX is one of the fastest growing providers of agribusiness farm management solutions in the world, deployed in over 70 countries and across all arable continents. Our flagship product, the CropX agronomic farm management system, synthesizes data from the soil to sky to offer advanced soil and crop intelligence and a suite of digital agronomic decision and planning tools, all on an easy-to-use app capable of tracking multiple farms and fields. CropX is backed by the world’s leading agribusinesses and VCs, who recognize that CropX’s precision-ag technologies set new standards for best practices in environmental sustainability and greater farm productivity. 

About EnGeniousAg 

EnGeniousAg, LLC designs, manufactures, and deploys low-cost, instant readout, high-performance, field-based nutrient sensors for crops, soils and water, thereby improving agronomic management practices, increasing grower profitability and sustaining the environment. EnGeniousAg is a spinout from Iowa State University (ISU) based on research conducted with funding from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E’s ROOTS program. EnGeniousAg was founded by Michael Castellano (ISU), Liang Dong (ISU), James Schnable (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and Patrick Schnable (ISU).