When Plants Talk: Using Crop Communication to Drive the Future of Farming with Shely Aronov, CEO @ Innerplant

Summary:

In this episode of Leaders on a Mission, CEO Shely Aronov discusses how her company InnerPlant is revolutionizing agriculture through real-time plant stress detection. By giving crops a way to optically signal when under attack from fungi and other threats, Inner Plant is transforming farming from an industry of guesses into one powered by data.

Tune in to hear how their technology means farmers can pinpoint problems within days instead of weeks, helping boost yields and reduce waste. Shely also shares her entrepreneurial journey and the challenges of scaling an AgTech startup while maintaining focus on the customer. It's a fascinating discussion on empowering plants to share secrets that can supercharge farming as we know it.

Timestamps:

01:10 Early influences, military, and Stanford

04:53 World Bank funded project in Columbia

06:15 Building a team, gaining trust, and avoiding biases

09:33 Starting a hummus brand regret

12:13 Bio sensors and communicating with plants

18:20 The importance of early stress detection

19:28 Pathogens and overuse of pesticides

21:43 The benefits of this technology for farmers

26:22 What does the future hold?

30:50 The challenges to overcome