Pittsburgh-Based AI Startup Bloomfield Robotics is Acquired by Kubota Corporation, a Global Tractor Manufacturer
Strategic Alignment Drives the Agreement to Bring Plant Knowledge and Understanding to Farmers Around the World
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (September 11, 2024) – Bloomfield Robotics Inc., a Pittsburgh-based startup using advanced imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor the health and performance of specialty crops one plant at a time, has been acquired by Kubota Corporation, a leading global tractor manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan, through its North American subsidiary, Kubota North America Corporation.
“The vision for Bloomfield from founding was to provide continuous plant-level knowledge to every specialty crop farmer around the world, and this acquisition brings that vision forward at a scale and speed we could not have imagined,” says Mark DeSantis, CEO of Bloomfield Robotics.
Bloomfield’s groundbreaking service includes an advanced camera, on-farm data processing systems, and a grower dashboard providing real-time plant-level assessments. The service delivers real data that transforms customers’ ability to make accurate projections and yield estimations, guiding decision making around harvest timing and workforce deployment.
“We’re excited to announce the acquisition of Bloomfield Robotics, a natural evolution of our successful partnership,” states M. Brett McMickell, Chief Technology Officer for Kubota North America. “Combining AI-driven technology with our legacy quality products will enable Kubota to solve real issues facing agriculture. This proposed acquisition is a key milestone for Kubota’s strategic vision to provide comprehensive smart agriculture solutions.”
“Bloomfield’s journey began with our early research at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, and today we’re delivering cutting-edge hardware and software solutions to customers across seven countries and three continents,” says Tim Mueller-Sim, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Bloomfield. “Partnering with Kubota will allow us to expand our reach, bringing our innovative services to more farmers globally and empowering them with precise insights into every plant in their fields.”
Today Bloomfield offers services to wine grape, table grape, juice grape, blueberry, and raspberry growers in the US, Mexico, Chile, Peru, and France, and will expand to further specialty crops and countries in the coming months.
“Our goal with Bloomfield from our first day was to enable farmers to produce more with fewer resources,” says Bloomfield Co-Founder George Kantor. “To feed the ever-increasing global population, farmers need to increase the productivity of their crops using fewer scarce resources, and Bloomfield provides them the plant-level knowledge and data that they need to do it.”
Bloomfield will continue to be based in Pittsburgh, PA, and service customers around the world.
About Bloomfield Robotics, Inc.
Bloomfield Robotics is a Pittsburgh-based company that develops AI-driven plant imaging technology for use in specialty crops. Bloomfield’s mission is to make every farm vehicle a continuous data collection platform that assesses the health and performance of every plant by providing plant-level insights to help growers make more informed management decisions. For more information, please contact Andrew Littell, Director of Business Development, +1 (646) 895-3266 or andrew.littell@bloomfield.ai, Cara Fiasco, Head of HR, +1 (412) 735-9768, cara.fiasco@bloomfield.ai, or visit www.bloomfield.ai.
About Kubota North America Corporation
Kubota North America Corporation (KNA), with headquarters in Grapevine, Texas, serves as the central business hub for all KNA companies in the U.S. and Canada, where leadership closely connects resources and shares talent across all lines of Kubota’s business. Kubota Corporation, based in Osaka, Japan, and together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells a range of machinery including tractors, construction equipment, lawn and garden equipment, hay tools and other performance-matched implements to the North American market. For product literature or dealer locations, contact: Kubota North America, 1000 Kubota Drive, Grapevine, TX 76051, (888) 4-KUBOTA [(888) 458-2682], Ext. 900, or visit www.kubotausa.com or www.kubota.ca.