In this episode, I speak with Elmar Mair, the CEO and founder of Neatleaf. Elmar shares his fascinating journey from growing up in the Italian countryside to becoming a leader in the vertical farming industry. We dive into his early passion for AI and robotics, which led him to work on groundbreaking projects like Google's Everyday Robot. Elmar's story is a testament to how diverse experiences can converge to create innovative solutions in agriculture. His insights into the fourth agricultural revolution and the potential of data-driven farming are truly eye-opening.
We also explore the origins of Neatleaf and the challenges Elmar faced in starting the company during the pandemic. He discusses the development of their flagship product, the Neat Spider, a cable-based robot that monitors crops in greenhouses. Elmar's enthusiasm for leveraging technology to improve crop yields and reduce waste is contagious. Whether you're a tech enthusiast or someone interested in sustainable farming, this episode offers a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.
Join us as we uncover the future of agriculture through the lens of AI and robotics.
Indoor AgCon - https://indoor.ag
1:07 Elmar's Journey from Google to Agtech
3:34 The Fascination with AI's Capabilities
5:05 Complexity in Robotics
8:35 The Future of Greenhouse Technology
9:52 Neatleaf's Impact on Agriculture
12:57 Challenges in Agtech Adoption
17:13 The Evolution of the Spider System
19:39 Recruiting Challenges for Startups
22:42 The Importance of Mission and Meaning
27:52 Evolution of the Cultivator Role
28:54 Analogy of London Cab Drivers and Cultivators
32:43 Cannabis as a High-Margin Market
34:41 Automation and Data in Large-Scale Farming
37:00 Automating Cultivation Processes
41:28 Automation in Agriculture
"I fell in love with automation, robotics, and AI, and ended up studying that, working in space. Then I learned about agriculture and the fourth agricultural revolution. It felt like closing the loop, coming from the countryside, spending summers at my aunt's farm, and now working in that space again."
"The first time I actually programmed an embedded system and had an impact in the physical world with my programming, I realized, wow, this is super exciting. You can distort audio, make a guitar distortion device, and see something moving around. I wanted to move things in the world and talk to these machines."
"In cultivation, one of the biggest markets and the oldest markets, we rely on humans to walk the aisles, look at the crop, understand what's going on, and interpret the language of the plants. It's such a complex space with all these factors—temperature, humidity, CO2, lighting, irrigation, nutrients—all correlated and impacting each other. And a human goes in there and subjectively assesses the situation."
Website - https://www.neatleaf.com/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elmar-mair/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/neatleaf.inc/
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Mentioned in this episode:
AgTech Companies
https://agtechcompanies.com
CEA Summit East 2024
2025 US Indoor Farm Report
http://verticalfarmingpodcast.com/report