Ag Software Startup Receives NSF Grant
VinSense Co-Founders David Ebert and Christian Butzke
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA West Lafayette-based startup that licenses software developed at Purdue University has received a $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. VinSense LLC uses the software to help grape growers and wine makers optimize quality and yields.
VinSense CEO Larry Ebert says the one-year grant will go toward the expansion of the company’s technology and commercialization efforts. The company, which already has two test sites in Napa Valley, is looking for wine grape growers dealing with water availability and quality issues.
The company’s chief enologist, Christian Butzke, says the NSF funding will allow VinSense to expand its test sites to additional vineyards in California as well as Huber’s Orchard, Winery and Vineyards in Indiana.
"VinSense provides software and data visualization to help growers better manage how climate, weather, irrigation needs, soil variation and their vineyard management decisions through the growing season will impact the quality and value of their grapes," said David Ebert, the company’s CTO. "These can help our clients optimize their harvest decisions, fermentation techniques and blending strategies. We can help them predict, plan and get the logistics in place all based on new data, as well as their own historical data."
The company licensed the software from the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. You can learn more about VinSense by viewing the video below: