Mineral is developing new technologies to help build a more sustainable, resilient, and productive food system. By combining data collected from the field, like plant height, leaf area and fruit size, with environmental factors like soil health and the weather, Mineral’s software tools can help breeders understand and predict how different varieties of plants respond to their environments. By mapping and imaging plants in the field, growers can troubleshoot and treat individual plants instead of entire fields, reducing both their costs and environmental impact. Tracking how the plants are growing over time can help growers predict the size and yield of their crop, enabling them to make better yield projections.

To meet the world’s growing demand for food, we need to change what we grow and how we grow it. To feed the planet’s growing population, global agriculture will need to produce more food in the next 50 years than in the previous 10,000–at a time when climate change is making our crops less productive.  Of the 30,000 edible plant species that are known, less than 1% are cultivated for human food. Intensively growing just a few varieties of plants makes our food supply vulnerable to pests, disease, and a changing climate. Over time, it also depletes the soil of nutrients and minerals, reduces the diversity of the soil’s microbiome, and diminishes the soil’s ability to store carbon.

Today, Mineral is working with and learning from innovative breeders and growers in Argentina, Canada, the U.S. and South Africa. We continue to expand our collaborations with organizations around the world spanning the private, nonprofit, academic and government sectors. Together we will embrace nature's complexity and diversity to build a more sustainable, resilient, and productive food system.