HANCOCK COUNTY — A process that typically takes three to five days to see results can now be done in about three minutes.
Approximately three years ago, John Mascoe, founder and CEO of Leaftech Ag, decided to take his family’s multigenerational farming to the next level. With a combination of more than 25 years of experience in remote data collection, modeling and simplifying the usage of multiple data sources, John’s family — Shirley, Shelby and Gage — have created and delivered a handheld device that can geo-locate a leaf and it’s nutrient composition all in a scan.
Leaftech Ag’s website shares that “This on demand tissue analysis technology provides 30x more site specific data points at 3% of the cost in 3-5 minutes vs 3-5 days as compared to current methods.”
Mascoe and Klinefelter load up the tractor with seed in preparation for a demonstration of how the self-driving tractor will maneuver across the field.
Lacey Watt | Daily Reporter
Mascoe said that their goal is to move from the chemistry of farming such as fertilizers and chemicals on crops — while he knows they are important — and merge the biology of farming along with the technology.
With an office and space to build the scanners, Mascoe and his family work out of the NineStar Connect building located off of E 600N. Mascoe said that NineStar has taken their resources and worked with Leaftech Ag to help provide those resources such as demonstration capabilities and the telecom, which also gives access to the internet and implementing high data through imagery and data flow.
The leaf scanner is able to take an image of a leaf, which is of 40+ spectral bands of light, and is able to analyze this light to identify the nutrients. The device measures 12 micro- and macro-nutrients and then will push the data to the cloud, which allows a person to see the geolocation of the plant scanned and the nutrient breakdown without harming the plant.
Mascoe said this allows the user to be able to scan plants every 15 seconds and also create nutrient zones, so if there are specific nutrient deficiency in any areas this helps allow users to spot treat.
“We’re trying to get things started with it and so I’m pulling in other technologies that merge well with our core technology of plant tissue analysis,” Mascoe said.
One demonstration and test run the Daily Reporter was able to witness was Mascoe and Skip Klinefelter, owner of family-owned and operated Linco-Precision LLC, show the use of a self-driving tractor on a field bought by NineStar to help demonstrate the concepts for local and regional farmers.
“With our technology that tells you what’s going on in the field, with the technologies that Linco provides where they can direct and target that application, we’re trying to bring and show people how to use the foreknowledge of information to do something actionable,” Mascoe said.
Klinefelter said that as a farmer he’ll use technology such as Leaftech Ag that can help identify trends in plants as well, since a plant can change from day to day. Klinefelter said that it also tells him about life water content, which isn’t common. That means the scanner will show an idea of the health of the plant and if it is starving for water or not.
For the demonstration, Klinefelter drove the perimeter of the test area so the GPS of the program attached to the tractor knew where the test area was located. From there, someone in Illinois was able to control and drive the tractor remotely. With the program, they are also able to include exclusion zones in areas such as any wellheads located in the field. The program is also able to detect and make sudden stops if need be, such as getting too close to tree lines or if an unexpected deer is in the way.
Mascoe said they are also working with the Indiana Department of Agriculture to help bring other industries and state support.
“Our goal is to build an ecosystem of ag tech here, and so we are kind of the starting point of it,” Mascoe said.
Mascoe has been involved with precision agriculture since 1996, and that has allowed him to be involved in the process nationally and internationally. Mascoe has been able to travel to places such as Europe and Israel to build relationships and bring several companies and businesses to see their product.
Mascoe said that his kids, Gage and Shelby, have also been on some of these trips, being exposed and bringing different generations together to share their knowledge which is beneficial for the long term.
When the company started roughly three years ago, they had one-and-a-half full-time employees for the company, but soon they will have 10 employees. They are currently working on expanding the kinds of crops that will scan outside what was originally the main focus — Midwestern crops.
Mascoe said they have currently built more than 150 scanners this year and will build 500 scanners for 2024. The following year, they are expecting the numbers to be in the thousands.
“We have a very, very strong market demand for it, but we want to manage our growth accordingly,” Mascoe said.
Mascoe said that they will be doing more in the field in the future along the idea combining biology and technology of agriculture and will bring in other technologies in addition to their company.
“We all have to work together because plants need everything,” Mascoe said.
For future updates on Leaftech Ag’s progress, one can sign up for updates at leaftechag.com.
