Key Takeaways
- Picketa Systems has closed an oversubscribed $2.1 million funding round led by Tall Grass Ventures, with participation from new investors BDC Seed Fund, Verdex Capital, and Skull Diamond & Heart Capital, as well as returning investors NBIF, Koan Capital, and East Valley Ventures.
- The company’s LENS (Leaf Evaluated Nutrient System) device delivers real-time readings on all essential macro and micronutrients in under a minute, with results feeding directly into Picketa’s Fieldbook crop management platform.
- The LENS now covers potatoes, corn, canola, soybeans, and wheat — crops representing over 70% of North American crop acres — with soybeans and wheat recently added following strong 2025 pilot activity.
- Over 45 ag retailers are already using LENS to support in-season fertility recommendations; world record soybean yield holder Chris Weaver is among the first to trial the platform on soybeans in 2026.
- Picketa has been selected as one of five companies for Farm Credit Canada’s Agriculture Innovation, Validation and Adoption Network, with LENS to be validated across four hubs in Canada.
Picketa Systems Closes $2.1M Round to Scale Real-Time Crop Nutrient Technology
Picketa Systems has closed an oversubscribed $2.1 million funding round led by Tall Grass Ventures. The raise brings in new institutional investors BDC Seed Fund, Verdex Capital, and Skull Diamond & Heart Capital, alongside returning backers NBIF, Koan Capital, and East Valley Ventures — all of whom increased their commitments. The capital will fund manufacturing scale-up, deployment, and support for a growing fleet of LENS devices across the United States and Canada.
The timing is notable. Fertilizer prices have risen 49% and, according to Picketa, approximately 70% of American farmers are unable to afford all the inputs they need this season. In that environment, the company’s pitch — that precision nutrient management can cut in-season fertilizer expenditure by up to 20% — carries significant economic weight.
The LENS by Picketa Systems: Real-Time Nutrient Data in Under a Minute
At the centre of Picketa’s platform is the LENS (Leaf Evaluated Nutrient System), a portable field device that assesses all essential macro and micronutrients in a crop leaf sample in under a minute. Results are transmitted directly into Fieldbook, Picketa’s web-based crop management platform, enabling agronomists and growers to act on nutrient data while there is still time to respond during the growing season.
“We have been watching Picketa and the LENS technology develop from an early concept in New Brunswick potatoes to this stage across multiple crops in multiple geographies. We believe Picketa is at an important inflection point as uptake among leading agronomists in North America has continued to accelerate. The current fertilizer pricing dynamic is only a further tailwind to approach application decisions with real-time data instead of guesswork,” said Wilson Acton, Managing Partner at Tall Grass Ventures.
Crop Coverage Expanded to Soybeans and Wheat
The LENS now supports five crops — potatoes, corn, canola, soybeans, and wheat — which together account for over 70% of crop acres in North America. Soybeans and wheat are the latest additions, validated through extensive pilot activity in 2025 during which growers collected thousands of samples across crops exposed to fertilizer price volatility.
Among the first growers to deploy the LENS on soybeans is Chris Weaver, the world record holder for soybean yield, who is trialling the platform during the 2026 season.
“The ability to get results instead of waiting forty-eight hours completely changes how quickly we can react to problems in the field. I think tools like this are where high yield agriculture is heading, and the more we can get ahead in technology, the better off we’re going to be,” said Weaver.
Farm Credit Canada Validation Network and Research Backing
Picketa has also been selected as one of five companies for Farm Credit Canada’s newly announced Agriculture Innovation, Validation and Adoption Network. The LENS will be validated across four Canadian hubs: Area X.O, EMILI, Innovation Farms Ontario, and Olds College. FCC has estimated that implementing agricultural technology innovations could boost farmer incomes by $30 billion over the next decade.
The platform’s nutrient models are underpinned by a research network spanning the University of Guelph, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Cornell AgriTech, which have contributed calibration and dataset development work.
“Picketa Systems is bringing a differentiated approach to crop health, combining advanced data capabilities with real-time, field-level insights. We believe their technology has the potential to reshape how decisions are made on the farm,” said Mark Smith, Partner and Team Lead at BDC Seed Fund.
The Long-Term Vision: Closing the Fertilizer Loop
Picketa’s ambition extends beyond the current product cycle. The company’s CEO frames real-time crop sensing as the first step toward a fully automated fertility management future, in which integrated sensing, prescription, and application systems remove the need for manual fertilizer decisions entirely.
“This is how crop-responsive fertility becomes the standard. I believe that within ten years, with advances in crop sensing, specialised inputs, and autonomous vehicles, we will close the fertilizer loop entirely. Farmers will not need to think about fertilizers anymore, as their systems will sense what the crop needs, prescribe the right application, and apply it automatically,” said Xavier Hebert-Couturier, CEO and Co-Founder of Picketa Systems.
Over 45 ag retailers are currently using the LENS to support in-season fertility recommendations, with hundreds of their growers able to view real-time crop nutrient conditions through the Fieldbook platform.
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