Farmers around the world face a pressing problem: the equipment they use to till, plant and harvest their fields is eating into their margins. Studies have estimated that soil compaction can reduce yields in 20% to 60%.
Plowing can help, but it is a laborious and expensive task that harms soil health in different ways. Muju Land has developed an alternative, the Aeropod, which aerates the soil automatically without machinery or robotics. The startup says it can promote better soil health while reducing farmers’ tillage costs by half or more.
The device is “built like a seed, sowed like a seed, and ships like a seed,” Ifeoluwa Afolayan, the company’s co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch. The device is about the size of a fingernail and farmers drop it into the ground along with their seeds using the same equipment. It is not necessary to till the land in advance.
“It really seems like a no-brainer,” Afolayan said.
After the Aeropod is exposed to a combination of temperature, pressure, and humidity, it bursts open, loosening the soil and creating small channels that allow air, water, and roots to move through it more easily.
Muju Earth: one of this year’s 200 startups Starting Battlefield in TechCrunch Disruption in San Francisco in October, has tested its devices in laboratories and is embarking on paid field trials this fall in the United Kingdom. Nine farmers are participating and the startup has more than 30 on the waiting list.
Its initial target market is onion growers in the United Kingdom, as onions are particularly sensitive to soil compaction, Afolayan said.
Tilling a field once can cost between £250 and £400 per hectare when labor costs, diesel and equipment wear and tear are taken into account, Afolayan said. The Aeropod should produce similar results at just £100 per hectare, Afolayan said.
The Aeropod was born during Afolayan and his co-founder Wangyang Hu’s time at Imperial College London, where they sought to design a product that would improve farmers’ bottom lines while also helping soil health. The development of the Aeropod was driven by a single question: “How can you make this as simple as sowing a seed?” Afolayan said. “That is the most equitable practice for all farmers on the planet.”
In addition to farmers, the startup has also heard from companies developing biological amendments: products added to soil, often containing live microbes, that boost or replace chemical fertilizers. Because those companies’ products work best in aerated soil, they are interested in combining them with the Aeropod.
But Afolayan said farmers have led adoption. Most marketing to date has been inbound. “The best thing about Aeropod is that farmers intuitively understand the proposition,” he said.
Muju Earth is one of this year’s 200 startups Starting Battlefielda pitch competition in which 20 finalists will perform on the main stage in TechCrunch Disruptiontaking place October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco.
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