Israeli-based Greeneye Technology has been selling its precision-spray technology in the US for a few years now. However, the systems are hard to come by, with the company already sold out for 2024, after selling out in both 2022 and 2023 as well. According to Greeneye CEO Nadav Bocher, many of 2025’s machines are already allocated. The company is now aiming to scale up operations in the US with the help of a new $20 million funding round.
Greeneye’s “very full pipeline” of customers waiting for its machines are part of a push to get them onto 200 million acres of broadacre cropland in the US this year. The company’s main focus has been corn and soybeans, but it also added cotton this year. However, the system is allegedly customizable to any row crop.
The machines themselves are aftermarket add ons that Bocher says can turn existing sprayers into a smart machine “regardless of what color, brand, or model.” The system, which entirely replaces a sprayer’s existing boom, utilizes artificial intelligence and deep learning technology to differentiate between weeds and crops and spray precisely only the weeds. The company claims that weeds as small as ¼” diameter can be detected.
Greeneye provides its own cab monitor that works with the sprayer monitor on sectional control. The Greeneye monitor keeps track of the spray volume usage and provides an ongoing report to the operator. The software is able to report back whether a detection was a grassy or broadleaf weed, a powerful piece of information for keeping track of weed patches and monitoring for emerging problems.
“We take machines and install sets of eyes and brains on them. The first commercially viable application today is to precisely spray the chemical just on the weeds, but really, there’s much more we can do with it.” As Bocher explains, the key benefit of precision over broadcast spraying for farmers is that it allows you to apply chemicals only where they are needed, in turn reducing input use and ultimately costs.
New for 2024, Greeneye’s technology will not only be able to spray weeds but also apply other inputs onto crops such as fungicides and micronutrients. Bocher says the addition of these inputs is also another step in “moving from optimizing herbicide application to being cross-chemical, cross-applied, where it’s needed, how much it’s needed, with the technology we build.”
Greeneye doesn’t charge a subscription fee for its algorithms, unlike some of its competitors. The company also doesn’t post costs on its website but in 2023, $239,000 would buy you a Greeneye system for a 120 foot boom, a brand new aluminum boom, retrofit of the sprayer to dual tank, installation, and warranty. Greeneye estimates return on investment for a farm larger than 3,000 acres would typically be less than two years. Learn more at the company’s website HERE. There is also a video explaining more details about the system HERE.
