S2 Ep 27 - AirSeed

Australian Farmers: Telling Our Story

What happens when experts in engineering, agriculture, marine and terrestrial microbiology join forces? They develop a company that drops nutrient encapsulated seed pods from a drone, mapping out their placement using artificial intelligence and monitoring their growth using GPS. The method allows up to 40-thousand seed pods to be planted per drone in a single day. It’s an Australian company taking on climate change with simple seeds boosted with bio-technology. CEO and Co-Founder of AirSeed Andrew Walker joins me now to discuss:

• AirSeed operates in Australia and South Africa and some of the some interesting places he has seen so far.
• AirSeed’s main aim is biodiversity - which has been identified as a critical climate solution as carbon sequestration has increased.
• By using drone technology and AI, Andrew’s system is a lot more efficient than planting seeds by hand or by most machines.
• The AirSeed Drones and how they work to deliver the seeds.
• Andrew gives us a deep dive into the three-step process which gives them the capacity to plant over 40,000 seed pods per day vs the 800 which can be done manually.
• Once planted they return and identify the success, or failure which is monitored between 2-3 years.
• Plant species are tailored to the location and then encased in everything they need to survive including nutrients, minerals and microbes.
• Andrew has a background in automotive and aerospace design and shares how he came to be in this space and his passion for the environment.
• Globally, the largest land owners in agriculture and how AirSeed could be used to restore the land across agriculture both now and into the future.
• The exciting partnerships developing and, how Andrew is looking for more.
• The adoption of new technology in the space and how this is helping communities restore the impact of natural disasters.
• What Andrew loves most about this work is the people he works with, who are starting to see the impact we can have on the land.
• Unexpected things happen every week and Andrew loves the pioneering aspect.
• The common misconceptions about what he does.
• Andrew’s ultimate dream for the future is to use this technology on a global scale.

We hope to see you back on the road soon, to learn more about how Australia grows on the next episode of Australian Farmers with Angie Asimus.

Links:

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AirSeed

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