Those long, dusty days clearing rocks from fields may become a thing of the past.
The rundown: TerraClear, creator of an innovative field rock-picking system, recently announced a $25 million Series A funding round.
Better than back-breaking: Attach the Rock Picker to a skid steer or compact track loader, drive through the field, and let the Rock Picker do the rest. No more repetitive and monotonous heavy lifting, saving time and labor needed to clear fields.
Pick-up line: “There are more than 400 million arable acres worldwide that have been waiting for a cost-effective and productive solution to this problem,” noted TerraClear founder and CEO Brent Frei.
By the numbers:
- 400: The average number of rocks picked per hour.
- 300 pounds: The largest rocks the picker can lift. Whoa.
After releasing the Rock Picker earlier this year, TerraClear quickly sold out. But due to this latest round of funding, machines are being built and orders are being taken.
And that’s good news for those medium-to-large farms that spend $5,000-$150,000 annually fixing equipment busted by rocks.
Oh, and this: It’s not just the Rock Picker. TerraClear uses drones and artificial intelligence to create a “rock map” of a field. This allows the landowner to plug in the coordinates and drive straight to the issue.
Future state: Using computer vision and automatic hydraulic controls, the AutoPick technology currently under development will rock your world. Rocks will be identified and picked up all via pure automation.