[Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Verdant Robotics]
Ag robotics startup Verdant Robotics has expanded its SharpShooter precision application system into grass seed and sod production, two sectors “where crop and weed can look nearly identical, making precision weed control one of the hardest ID problems in agriculture,” claims the firm.
The firm, which has thus far focused on high-density, labor-intensive crops including carrots, leafy greens, cabbage, and onions, has developed a smart-application system attached to the back of tractors that can target weeds with remarkable precision using computer vision and machine learning.
The SharpShooter features downward facing cameras with a high resolution and frame rate that see the ground, the crop, and the weeds, and build a 3D model enabling precision application of herbicides onto weeds that are very close to the crop or even under the crop canopy, blitzing targets as small as 2mm and as large as 24 inches.
This cuts labor costs and reduces chemical input costs, says the firm, which is now targeting grass seed producers supplying seed companies, distributors, and restoration projects and sod producers serving landscape contractors, homebuilders, and sports fields.
“Our technology was purpose-built to solve the hardest precision application challenges in agriculture,” said cofounder and CEO Gabe Sibley. “Grass seed and sod production are perfect examples. Growers need to eliminate weeds that look almost identical to their crop, across vast acreage.”
Grass seed, sod: high value and labor intensive
“These are high value acres, where there’s severe labor dependence,” VP commercial sales Trevor Mecham told AgFunderNews. “Contamination can be extremely costly, with rejected loads and remediation costs as much as $1,500–$2,000 per acre.”
The US sod market alone is worth about $2–2.2 billion and the global grass seed market around $5 billion, added Mecham, with demand coming from landscaping, sports fields, golf courses, municipalities, and residential growth.
Cofounder and CCO Curtis Garner added: “The system’s being used commercially in the grass seed market now and we’re demoing with some of the largest sod growers in the nation in Texas, Florida and Georgia.”
Payback in 6-18 months
While there are now several players in the precision weeding space deploying everything from super-heated vegetable oil (Tensorfield Ag) to manual weeders (AgriPass) Verdant competes most directly with players such as Carbon Robotics (laser weeding), Niqo Robotics, and Ecorobotix, said Garner.
Rather than applying an atomized mist that can “move off target and waft onto the crop,” Verdant applies a controlled “slug” of herbicide, reducing off-target damage and reaching weeds where competing systems struggle, he said.
“Our aimable turret allows us to terminate weeds of various sizes right next to the plant, and some of these other technologies can’t get that close. And if weeds get too big, lasers can be ineffective, whereas we can still terminate weeds that are bigger.”
The primary value driver for growers is coming from labor savings, with additional gains from reduced chemical use and increased uptime via autonomous 24/7 operation, said Garner. Typical payback is within 6–18 months, with some growers achieving ROI in as little as seven months.
Verdant sells machines directly or increasingly via dealer networks, with a base machine price of around ~$350,000 (although the deal values range meaningfully above that depending on crop application and configuration) plus annual subscription fees covering software, servicing, and extended warranties. Financing options are available via ag lenders.
Continuous improvement
The sweet spot for Verdant’s tech is growers with 350+ acres, especially in high-value, labor-intensive crops where utilization rates are high. Organic production is also a strong fit, added Garner, who said the firm is “building up to our 50th machine.”
The machines—which are manufactured in the US and have a 12-week lead time—are also improving continuously, says Garner: speed has roughly tripled to ~3 mph, with a target of 5mph, accuracy has improved to ~1.2 mm repeatability, and deployment is getting faster.
“Let’s say I’m doing leafy greens in Salinas and then leafy greens in Florida, and Florida has different weeds that need to be incorporated into the dataset. That process has gone from a number of weeks to now we can do it in less than three hours. And to get into a new crop, we can do that in less than a day.”
CFO Gerardo Adame added: “Verdant has “generated approximately $20 million in cumulative sales since we started selling commercially in late 2024. As a private company at our stage, we’d prefer to keep it at that level rather than providing a year-by-year breakdown as the mix of hardware sales, tech subscriptions, and varying deal structures makes any single-year snapshot incomplete and potentially misleading.
“We’re encouraged by the pace of commercial adoption. Our footprint now spans across the US and we’re actively selling into Canada and Mexico, with Australia on the near-term horizon. The demand signal across geographies and crop types has been strong, and we’re scaling production accordingly.”
Further reading:
🎥 Ag’s new toolkit: AI, genomics, and robotics converge at World Agri-Tech
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From experimentation to impact: farm robotics’ top fundraises in 2025
DailyRobotics enters strawberry harvesting race with robot that can pick 2–3x faster than humans
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