The liquidation of an agritech firm developing ground-breaking AI technology has been labelled a tragedy that will put the country’s horticultural sector back years in its tech efforts.
Tauranga-based PlantTech Research Institute was forced into liquidation as its research funding dried up and project revenue had failed to meet costs over the course of the year.
PlantTech recently assumed incorporated society status with a collaborative partnership formed, based on its foundation of horticulturally aligned companies building on emerging technology particularly AI.
Agritech NZ chief executive Brendan O’Connell said the loss of the company, which has been heavily involved with the kiwifruit sector, was a tragic step backwards for the sector.
Company chair Mark Gilbert cited a tough season for kiwifruit growers impacting on the industry’s ability to invest in innovation.
But O’Connell said it was unfortunate the sector was not resilient enough to ride out the bad years and continue investment into PlantTech’s work.
That work has included helping develop digitised crop estimation AI with Zespri and developing hyperspectral imaging to identify nitrogen content levels for optimal fertiliser application in kiwifruit orchards.
The company’s liquidation came at the same time as the company’s five-year establishment funding from Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) ran out.
“It seemed like five years was a tight time frame for that funding. You do have other government institutions that do not have as hard a drop off as that,” said O’Connell.
He said typically AI technology development requires 3-9 years of baseline data to build machine learning models.
A horticultural sector insider said the company’s technology had been developing well, and while not perfect it simply needed more time and more commercial harvests to be fully developed, with once yearly cropping cycles extending the time needed.
PlantTech’s key people included Ian Yule, a former professor of precision agriculture from Massey University, who relocated for the company. He brought a high level of knowledge on hyperspectral mapping and remote sensing.
In a LinkedIn post, Yule acknowledged the team he had worked with and was looking to see what the “next chapter” would hold for him after PlantTech.
O’Connell said PlantTech’s liquidation comes as the science sector was undergoing the Te Ara Paerangi Future Pathways review of the country’s research systems and how issues may be addressed.
One of the biggest was the transition from research to commercialisation, a long-time issue in NZ.
“I think we will come back with Future Pathways Review and say where PlantTech was going was where the tech needed to be. Here was an organisation that was trailing tech commercially and was cut off at the knees.”
He could not see any other funding source on the horizon that may be capable of stepping in to fill the gap PlantTech faces.
Liquidators have been appointed while PlantTech remains solvent, enabling them to pay our creditors and staff before shutting its doors.
Steven Khov and Kieran Jones of Khov Jones have been appointed by the company as liquidators.
