Muju Earth has developed a device called the Aeropod that aerates soil automatically, without machinery or robotics, according to the startup. The company says the tool can improve soil health while cutting farmers' tilling costs in half or more. Muju Earth is one of 200 startups selected for this year's Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt, held October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco.
Farmers worldwide face declining margins from the equipment used to till, plant, and harvest fields. Studies have estimated that soil compaction can reduce yields by 20% to 60%. Plowing can address compaction, but it is laborious, expensive, and harms soil health in other ways.
The Aeropod is roughly the size of a fingernail and is designed to be planted alongside seeds using the same equipment farmers already use, so no advance tilling is required. Co-founder and CEO Ifeoluwa Afolayan said the device is built like a seed, sows like a seed, and ships like a seed. After exposure to a combination of temperature, pressure, and moisture, it bursts open, loosening the soil and creating small channels that allow air, water, and roots to move through more easily.
Muju Earth has tested the devices in lab settings and is beginning paid field trials this fall in the United Kingdom. Nine farmers are participating, and more than 30 are on a waitlist. The startup's initial target market is U.K. onion growers, since onions are particularly sensitive to soil compaction, Afolayan said. Tilling a field once can cost around £250 to £400 per hectare when labor, diesel, and equipment wear are included, according to Afolayan, who said the Aeropod should produce similar results at just £100 per hectare.
The Aeropod originated during Afolayan's and co-founder Wangyang Hu's time at Imperial College London, where they set out to design a product that would improve farmers' bottom lines while aiding soil health. Afolayan said the development was driven by a single question: how to make the process as simple as sowing a seed, which she described as the most equitable practice across every farmer on the planet.
Beyond farmers, Muju Earth has heard from companies developing biologic amendments, products added to soil that often contain living microbes and are intended to boost or replace chemical fertilizers. Because those products work best in aerated soils, the companies are interested in pairing them with the Aeropod. Afolayan said farmers have led adoption, with most marketing to date inbound, and that farmers intuitively understand the proposition.
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