There is growing evidence that the use of chemicals in agriculture is harmful to both the environment and human health. Maija Palmer discusses potential alternatives in a podcast with Helen Browning, chief executive of the Soil Association, Adam Speed of the Crop Protection Association and Andrew Diprose, chief exec of Rootwave, a startup that uses electricity to kill weeds.
English Heritage are delighted to announce that they are adopting RootWave Pro as the main method of weed control at Audley End House & Gardens after two successful years of trials within the Organic Kitchen Garden.
The Kitchen Garden at Audley End House & Gardens is Soil Association certified Organic, and the fruit, herbs and vegetables grown in the garden are sold on site, used in the café and supplied to The Cambridge Organic Food Company.
Managing weeds in an organic garden without using chemicals is a major challenge as it typically involves weeding by hand which is extremely labour intensive and often results in roots being left in the ground to regrow.
RootWave Pro uses electricity to boil weeds inside out, from the root upwards without disturbing the soil. It is a sustainable and economical solution helping organisations around the world to manage their weeds without chemicals.
Christopher Weddell, Senior Gardens Advisor, Gardens & Landscape Team at English Heritage comments “Being able to effectively and quickly treat perennial weeds, growing close to the fruit and vegetable crops, has greatly improved the presentation of the garden and helped the team save time and effort that can be devoted to more productive tasks.”
Andrew Diprose, CEO RootWave, comments “We are absolutely delighted that English Heritage has joined a growing list of organisations that are choosing RootWave Pro to organically manage their weeds and reduce costs.”
RootWave is delighted to have been short listed for the Innovator of the Year at Amazon’s Growing Business Awards. The Amazon Growing Business Awards were created by Real Business, in partnership with the CBI, back in 1998. Twenty years on and the awards are the most established and respected celebration of SME and entrepreneurial success in the UK.
Tim Hammerich discusses RootWave with Andrew Diprose in Future of Agriculture podcast.
RootWave is proud to announce it won the Judges’ Choice Award at Rabobank’s Foodbytes! London 2018 event.
Abi Ramanan, CEO of ImpactVision and one of the judges stated “The potential of RootWave’s technology to eradicate weeds without using chemicals has huge potential for agriculture and farming sustainability, plus Andrew’s story resonated particularly well – I’m excited for their future!”
Nicholas Fereday, senior analyst for consumer foods at Rabobank and the Judges Team Captain for London, stated he was “particularly impressed by the truly disruptive potential of RootWave’s technology on the market and of course the environmental benefits of reduced pesticide use.”
FoodBytes! by Rabobank is a next-gen pitch competition-meets-networking event that brings together the game-changing startups, investors and industry leaders pioneering the future of food and agriculture. RootWave was up against nine other great companies in the 3.5 minute category.
RootWave is delighted to be a finalist in the British Farming Awards Machinery and Farm Technology Innovator. The British Farming Awards is a celebration of the every-day resilience and innovation demonstrated across the core sectors of agriculture. Organised by AgriBriefing, parent company to Farmers Guardian, Arable Farming and Dairy Farmer, there are 14 categories in total, all recognising farming’s core sectors – arable, beef, sheep, dairy and machinery – as well as acknowledging the vast array of farm diversifications emerging as farmers add value to their businesses.
RootWave wins a £50k UK Government Innovate UK grant to further enhance its next generation technology.
A group of farmers and growers attended a demonstration of a RootWave prototype for fruit crops at Windmill Hill Farm. Trials in collaboration with Lucozade Ribena Suntory were run in alleys of conventionally farmed chuckle-berries and organically farmed blackcurrants. Both organic and conventional farmers were in attendance and the feedback on the day was very positive.
This field lab is part of a European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development funded project to evaluate the potential of RootWave’s non-chemical technology to control weeds using electricity. The aim of this field lab is to test whether RootWave’s electrical weeding technology can be developed to provide a practical solution for fruit growers by addressing the three main concerns of using electrical technology in this environment:
RootWave was proud to be a finalists for the Radicle Challenge at the World Agri-Tech 2018 Pitch Day.
For the Pitch Day, World Agri-Tech teamed up with San Diego-based acceleration fund Radicle Growth and, in an industry first, Radicle offered $250,000 investment to the winning company. Following an open call for nominations which attracted over 150 entries from around the world, eight early-stage technology companies were selected to showcase their solutions at the pre-summit Pitch Day in front of a group of high-ranking investors and agribusiness experts.
