1. : Making sense of soil nitrate sensing
Real-time soil nitrate sensor system for variable rate nitrogen application

2. Why it is important $10 to $12 billion spent $5 to 6 billion lost
~13 million tons of N fertilizer used every year in the US
$10 to $12 billion spent
$5 to 6 billion lost

3. Agricultural fields are variable, yet managed as uniform
Result?

4. N-Sense will make precision N management possible
Soil
Mapping nitrate concentrations of agricultural field
Adoption of precision N management would save the farmer $28/acre for this field
Peer-reviewed studies: $44 to 74/acre savings
Pioneer estimates: $60/acre loss due to N mismanagement

5. What do we offer
We are testing a real-time on-the-go sensor that can be used by farmers to measure soil nitrates for variable rate N fertilizer management

6. Why now Recent technology breakthrough:
 ruggedized spectrometers suitable for use in agricultural fields

7. Market size Precision Ag. market (CAGR 11.2%)
$4.1 billion
$1.3 billion
$95 million
Precision Ag. market (CAGR 11.2%)
Variable rate technology ( CAGR 9.7%)
Large farm operations (>1000 acres) utilizing various tools to improve N use efficiency
CAGR -compound annual growth rate.

8. Competitors Technology Real-time capabilities
Direct nitrate measurements
High spatial resolution
On-the-go
N-Sense system V
Encirca SM, Adapt N (Acquired by YARA, 2017), FieldViewTM (Acquired by Monsanto for $1B 2013)
SupraSensor (Acquired by Monsanto, 2016)
YARA, Green Seeker, OptRx
NECi nitrate kit, SoilScanTM
Veris OpticMapper

9. Business model
Partnership with agrobusiness company (licensing/sale/acquisition)
Predicted sale price $50-60K per sensor system, annual service fee
7.5% licensing fee ($5-6M annually)
End users:
Large-scale farm operations (>1,000acres)
-2 year payback
Agricultural co-operatives that offer custom application of N

10. The Ask
$300,000 to build field mobile sensor prototype based on ruggedized spectrometer
Renting/buying
Designing/building prototype
Testing system on ag. fields
$900,000 to develop software, conduct field trials/calibration, produce a commercial-ready product

11. Business advisors President: David Laird, Ph.D Agronomy
20+ years in soil sensor technology
CEO: Natalia Rogovska, Ph.D Soil Sci.
15 years in precision ag., GIS
CSO: Thomas Chiou, Ph.D Eng. Mechanics
25+ years in using FTIR technology 
Business advisors
Stephen Ringlee:20+ years in IT, life sciences, and manufacturing companies
Mark White: 30 years of financial, private equity, investment, management, and entrepreneurial experience