AgriHouse Brands Ltd a NASA sponsored and funded company
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Press Release

Lindsay Polak
Technology Transfer Office, University of Colorado
Original source:
www.cusys.edu

AgriHouse Inc. Wins NSF Grant to Develop CU Water Management Technology

AgriHouse Inc. has received a Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) grant from the National Science Foundation for the development of its intelligent leaf sensory technology, optioned from the University of Colorado. AgriHouse, a leading edge agri-biotechnology company headquartered in Berthoud, CO, is developing an innovative method that enables reliable feedback for plant irrigation control by direct detection of impending water deficit stress (WDS) in plants. The Sg-1000 provides leaf sensor RFID signaling of field crops transmitted to a wi-fi watering system, which then provides only the water the plant needs to use. This novel real-time leaf sensor technology is non-destructive to the plants and can be used on a wide number of species; it combines concepts of engineering and plant physiology while employing recent technological advances in electronics and information technologies. Use of this novel watering strategy has the potential to preserve enormous amounts of freshwater while ensuring successful plant cultivation and crop yield optimization. (Over 40% of all US commercial and organic farms are sustained by irrigated water from rivers and wells. AgriHouse and water officials anticipate this technology could provide million of dollars in water cost savings to Colorado farmers.) The inventor of the device, Hans-Dieter Seelig, PhD, received a $10,000 Proof-of-Concept Grant from the University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office in 2006 to support the commercialization of the technology.

About AgriHouse Inc.:

AgriHouse, based in Berthoud, CO, is a NASA SBIR funded company and is featured in the current NASA publication of NASA SpinOff-2006. In conjunction with BioServe Space Technologies, the NASA commercial center located on the campus of University of Colorado, Agrihouse has developed advanced rapid closed-looped food production systems and biocontrols based upon experiments aboard the Mir and space shuttle. AgriHouse™'s patented plant amendment product is USDA NOP (National Organic Program) certified for organic farming and bio-fuel crops by the Colorado Department of Agriculture. For additional information visit www.agrihouse.com.

About the Technology Transfer Office

The CU Technology Transfer Office pursues, protects, packages, and licenses to business the intellectual property generated from research at CU. The TTO provides assistance to faculty, staff, and students, as well as to businesses looking to license or invest in CU technology. For more information about technology transfer at CU, visit www.cu.edu/techtransfer.

About the University of Colorado

The University of Colorado is a three-campus system with campuses in Boulder and Colorado Springs, and a Denver and Health Sciences Center campus located in downtown Denver and at the former Fitzsimons Army Base in Aurora. CU is a premier teaching and research university, ranked sixth among public institutions in federal research expenditures by the National Science Foundation. Academic prestige is marked by CU™s four Nobel laureates, seven Mac Arthur genius Fellows, 17 astronauts, 19 Rhodes Scholars and CU-Boulder™s ranking of 11th best public university in the world in The Economist. For further information, please visit www.cu.edu.