Can smart farm robots reduce herbicide and fertilizer use on farms by up to 90%?
Probably yes.
In this episode of TechFirst we chat with Verdant Robotics‘ CEO Gabe Sibley about SharpShooter, the company’s state-of-the-art farm tech that precisely targets herbicide and fertilizer application, massively reducing chemical use.
That’s huge for the environment.
It’s also huge for farmer’s pocketbooks … because herbicide and fertilizer are increasingly expensive.
We dive into:
- How Sharpshooter targets plants with pinpoint accuracy — 240 shots per second
- Why this approach can save farmers millions in input costs
- The environmental benefits for soil, water, and food
- How AI and edge computing make split-second farm decisions possible
- The future of robotics in agriculture
Enjoy:
Can smart farm robots cut farm chemical use by 90%? Verdant Robotics says yes
“Can robots reduce herbicide use on farms by up to 99%?”
That’s the question I opened with when talking to Gabe Sibley, CEO of Verdant Robotics, on TechFirst. His answer comes in the form of Sharpshooter: a tractor-mounted, AI-powered system that aims before it sprays. Whether it’s herbicide, fertilizer, or even pollen, Sharpshooter applies just the right amount, exactly where it’s needed, at high speed.
“Sharpshooter is the only machine in the world that aims before it applies,” Gabe says. “That means that the inputs land only where they need to be and nowhere else.”
How it works: AI, cameras, 240 shots per second
Farming is big, fast, and expensive. So is agricultural machinery. Verdant’s system keeps up by attaching to a tractor’s three-point hitch and firing up to 240 targeted shots per second while rolling through a field.
“It’s aiming and using a bunch of robotics and computer vision and machine learning to do that while ripping the field at speed,” Gabe explains.
The tech stack includes stereo cameras, high-speed 3D scene understanding, and on-edge machine learning. “Decisions gotta happen in real time,” Gabe says.
“You need to be able to operate independently … all that decision making has to be baked in.”
Why it matters: farmer economics and soil health
Inputs like fertilizer and herbicide aren’t just expensive. They’re getting pricier. Fertilizer prices, for example, jumped 300% when the war in Ukraine started. The tariff wars haven’t helped at all.
“Two-thirds of the cost in ag are bound up in labor and inputs,” Gabe notes. “When you use material so much more sparingly, it’s not just good for the farmer’s pocketbook. It’s good for the health of the plant. It’s good for the health of the soil and the runoff, the water, the food we eat.”
It also helps in ways you might not think about immediately.
“If you’re killing stuff on your field that you don’t want, that has long-term negative impacts on soil quality as well,” I pointed out during our chat. “So you want to use as little as possible.”
Designed for how farmers actually work
One thing Verdant didn’t want to do: force farmers into a whole new workflow.
“You’ve gotta have a product that fits in with the way they work today,” Gabe says. “It’s gotta be able to clip on to a three-point hitch, hook up the hydraulic … and drop the next moment. Those tractors are transformers and we’re one of the implements that they’re going to use.”
The bigger picture: automating physical work
Verdant’s work is part of a much larger trend in robotics.
“Fifty years from now … we’re gonna talk about automating agriculture and construction and forestry and logistics,” Gabe says. “It just so happens that doing it in agriculture is tractable. You can bring value to the customer now.”
For Gabe, agriculture also hits closer to home. “I grew up outside in the country … I love skiing and biking and being outside,” he says. “It speaks to me more broadly just as somebody who appreciates the outdoors and obviously food and growing it in a healthy way.”
That combination of mission and technology is key to recruiting the talent Verdant needs. “It’s the whole ball of wax,” Gabe says. “It’s really mission driven. It’s a lot of fun. It’s hard, so it better be fun.”
From monocrops to plant-by-plant care
Perhaps the most interesting future impact? Tools like Sharpshooter could make more sustainable farming methods — like intercropping and regenerative agriculture — economically viable at scale.
“You’ve gotta have a machine that can be specific down at the plant level, not just monocropping and scale at the same time,” Gabe says. “It’s really that specificity together with scaling … that computation and robotics unlock.”
And if they can do it while saving farmers money, improving soil health, and reducing environmental impact by up to 99%?
That’s worth aiming for.