Vivent Switzerland

This interview details Vivent Switzerland, an indoor farming company based in Europe. The interview is with Carrol Plummer, CEO of Vivent Switzerland.

‍

‍

What is the origin story of Vivent?‍

‍

Nomad Digital, a business founded by Nigel Wallbridge, Carrol Plummer, and another partner Graeme Lowden, connected moving trains to telecoms networks so that passengers could access WiFi and train operating companies could monitor the condition of their vehicles remotely. While looking at a network drawing, Nigel Wallbridge, one of Vivent’s co-founders, thought that this type of network, which is very reliable and effective, must be used by living things. We started out investigating these signals in people and with bacteria communities but then pivoted to agriculture when Carrol Plummer saw an article on plant intelligence.

‍

‍

We developed a sensor to record electrophysiology signals from plants, similar to an ECG heart monitor, and then started decoding these signals so we could monitor crop health in real-time. Now we can identify several specific crop stressors, like drought, nutrient deficiencies, fungal infections, and soil pests like nematodes but there are many more crops and stimuli to investigate to make agriculture more sustainable.

‍

‍

What are some of the biggest challenges facing Vivent in the future? 

• Development of solar-powered wireless sensors

‍

• Deploying more pest and disease algorithms

‍

• Quantifying sustainability and profitability impact on our clients

‍

• Focusing on the most impactful market segments

‍

• Deciding to pursue the B2C market‍

‍

‍

What is unique about Vivent compared to competitors? ‍

‍

Vivent’s unique technology is the first sensor of its kind providing agronomists with real-time information on the plant’s health. This is critical data that provides the earliest warning signs of abiotic and biotic stresses allowing farmers to take action, well before visual symptoms appear, to maximize crop yields or importantly, for healthy crops to take no action at all. 

‍

Today’s current agronomic practices are designed to be preventative often using weather data and human-based crop walks to monitor disease and pest pressures. Farmers tend to be cautious and will spray crops with insecticides and fungicides (as many as 8-12 times per year) as preventative measures. Fertilizers are also regularly applied without taking into account plant health which means that a great deal of chemicals and fertilizers are applied unnecessarily.

‍

‍

Overall, agriculture has a massive carbon footprint with substantial negative impacts on biodiversity and water quality. Vivent’s technology is a significant tool in giving agronomists and growers critical data on plant health to act when, and only when necessary. It is disruptive because it is sensor technology that is based on live electrical signals from the plant and not taking data from the environment around the plant.

‍

Competitors, of which we only know of two, are working on electrophysiology in vines only  (Vegetal Signals) and are only in the startup phase (Lehner e-plant). 

‍

‍

How do you measure the impact of your company so far? (Revenue, Employees, Customer Quantity, Production Volume) etc? 

• Quarterly Revenue, number of customers

‍

• Number of employees and employee engagement

‍

• Number of different crop types being monitored in various regions and Number of hectares under management

‍

• Number of active devices

‍

What have you learned that you wish you knew when you joined or started the company? ‍

‍

I have learned that farmers are brilliant risk managers and great business people, who are demanding and lots of fun to work with. I have also learned that plants are continually adapting to environmental changes and that they compete with and cooperate with neighboring plants.

‍

Plants live exciting lives! I wish that I had worked in agriculture earlier in my career as it is a very exciting and rewarding sector, with the potential to impact the health of people and our planet.

‍

‍

How can people connect with you or learn more about Vivent?‍

‍

Visit our website at www.vivent.ch to learn more about the company and its services.

Send us emails at: info@vivent.ch and carrol.plummer@vivent.ch

‍

Our Social Profile:‍

LinkedIn‍

Twitter

‍Facebook

‍Instagram

‍YouTube

‍

‍

‍