Google X launches Heritable Agriculture, a new startup that uses AI to boost agricultural production.

The recently independent startup Heritable Agriculture, originating from Google's well-known "idea factory," has been introduced as its latest graduate. Its focus is on using data and machine learning to optimize plant cultivation. According to their announcement, vegetables are highly efficient and amazing systems: "Plants are self-assembling machines powered by solar energy and carbon-negative, feeding on light and water," stated Heritable.

However, agriculture also presents a significant challenge for our planet, generating approximately 25% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. This sector is the largest consumer of groundwater and contributes to soil erosion and water contamination due to the use of pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals. To address these global issues, Heritable Agriculture leverages its experience in analyzing large volumes of data through artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Data collection is the most affordable part of the process; the real challenge lies in transforming that data into concrete instructions that help farmers modernize an industry that has existed for over 12,000 years. Brad Zamft, founder and CEO of the startup, is a physicist with a PhD who has worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and at a startup called TL Biolabs before joining Google X. In 2018, he took on the leadership of the project that would eventually become Heritable.

Zamft was given the freedom to explore any initiative that could scale to a business the size of Google. Thanks to this, the focus on plant optimization gained momentum within the company's direction. Using machine learning, Heritable studies plant genomes to identify combinations that enhance agricultural production. As an example, Zamft mentions that by understanding these genomes, plants can be bred with climate-resilient traits that increase yields, reduce water needs, and enhance carbon storage capacity in their roots and the soil.

The models developed by the company have been tested on thousands of plants grown in specialized growth chambers at X's facility in the Bay Area, as well as in fields across California, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. While Zamft anticipates that genetic editing through CRISPR could be significant in the future, the company currently focuses on more traditional methods. "We are not developing genetically edited plants, and genetic modification is not on our agenda," he clarifies. Heritable's current priority is to commercialize its technology, although Zamft has not provided specific details about timelines or commercial partners. In its initial funding round, Heritable has the backing of investors such as FTW Ventures, Mythos Ventures, and SVG Ventures, in addition to an undisclosed investment from Google.

This move by Heritable comes in a context where Google has begun to accelerate the spin-off of incubated companies, under the leadership of Astro Teller, head of the lab.