The new decade has a promising start for a West Des Moines-based wearable technology safety company – as MākuSafe prepares for a small-scale market launch of its flagship armband and software system for industrial employers. MākuSafe will distribute about 8,000 wearable devices to initial customers in U.S.-based manufacturing facilities, or…
The Ames-based autonomous farming platform Smart Ag has been acquired by Raven Industries, a Sioux Falls-based industrial company with the precision agriculture division Raven Applied Technology. The acquisition falls under the newly-established Raven Autonomy, the company’s strategic growth platform for autonomous agriculture solutions announced on Oct. 28. Smart Ag launched…
Smart Ag, the startup developing autonomous farming equipment platforms, has opened its new headquarters at 1115 South Bell Avenue in Ames. The new facility has half of its 12,000 square feet devoted to office space for its current 25 employees, while the other half is designated for research, development and…
If there is one symbol for Iowa agriculture and innovation, it is the tractor. Since the machine’s early history in the corner of northeast Iowa, the tractor has been the most persistent yet ever-changing mark of innovation – and some controversy – in U.S. agriculture. While the history is long…
Smart Ag founder/CEO Colin Hurd joined this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneurs in manufacturing and industry across the U.S. and Canada. Hurd, who is 28, graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Agriculture and Business in 2013 and went on to develop AutoCart, an automated grain cart…
A John Deere tractor fitted with Smart Ag’s AutoCart driverless technology trucks through a demonstration field during the 2018 Farm Progress Show. Photo by Kate Hayden Driverless cars may take over most of the national headlines these days, but an Iowa software company is betting that autonomous vehicles can make…
Iowa billionaire Harry Stine, founder of Stine Seed Co., announced an investment of $5 million into an Ames startup focusing on driverless tractors, the Des Moines Register reports. Founded by 28-year-old Colin Hurd, Smart Ag aims to solve critical labor shortages in agriculture with a software system that automates tractors…