Ullmanna: Revolutionising organic farming with AI-powered weeding

Organic farming is widely recognised for its environmental benefits, generating lower greenhouse gas emissions per tonne (up to 20% lower for crops and 4% for livestock) (1), and supporting 30% more biodiversity compared to conventional farming (2). Yet, it faces significant challenges that threaten its scalability and affordability across Europe. Organic farming generally requires more labour-intensive practices, such as hand-weeding, which is not only costly but also constrained by a limited supply of agricultural workers in Europe. For crops like sugar beet, weed control can account for up to 70% of production costs, creating a barrier for farmers transitioning to organic methods. Similarly, the health benefits of organic food will remain limited unless prices become affordable for most people.

The EU Green Deal’s Farm to Fork Strategy (3) has set an ambitious target: 25% of EU farmland under organic farming by 2030. Achieving this requires innovations that reduce costs and improve productivity. Organic farming’s lower yield per hectare compared to conventional farming further compounds the issue, as it requires more land to produce the same amount of food. This trade-off raises concerns about the overall sustainability of organic systems, particularly in meeting global food demands. To close the gap, innovations that enhance productivity while reducing costs are critical. This is where Ullmanna’s AI-enabled solutions come into play.

The company also collaborates with machinery manufacturers to create integrated solutions, such as NEWMAN, which combines Ullmanna’s AROW technology with customer-provided equipment. Central to Ullmanna’s innovation is its extensive database of over one million annotated images of plants, enabling the AI software to recognise and manage weeding with unparalleled accuracy. This precision significantly reduces the need for manual labour, slashing costs and increasing yields for organic farmers.

EIT Food was responsible for getting Ullmanna ‘off the ground’ with a small €3,000 initial grant. Since then, the company has participated in the EIT Food Accelerator Network and Test Farms programmes. Currently it is part of a consortium receiving EIT scale-up innovation funding (€725,000 in 2023 and €616,000 in 2024). Ullmanna has received additional grant funding, mainly from the EU Horizon Research Programme (approximately €500,000), private investors and others (around €400,000).

Ullmanna’s technology is transforming organic farming by delivering measurable impacts across key areas. For example, in organic sugar beet farming, the AROW system reduces weeding costs by up to 80%, saving farmers over €2,000 per hectare annually in 50ha+ fields, making organic farming more economically viable and attractive to farmers. Also important to note is that organic vegetable crops (which are similar to sugar beet in requiring a lot of weeding), accounted for 214,000 hectares of EU land in 2022 – much larger than the 15,500 hectares under organic sugar beet currently. Thus, the benefits from Ullmanna’s technology are potentially much more significant with widespread adoption.

Organic farms normally have a lower climate impact than conventional practice by reducing the use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers. For example, during trials conducted by Cranfield University for conventional sugar beet, changing from conventional to organic production reduced the farm’s CO2 equivalent burden by 0.792 tonnes per hectare (5). Ullmanna has calculated a comparable figure of 0.58 tonnes per hectare, saved per year based solely on fertiliser reduction.

As of 2023, the EU cultivates approximately 1.5 million hectares of sugar beet each year. Reaching the European Green Deal target of 25% of the land converted to organic farming by 2030 would save approximately 217,500 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year, based on Ullmanna’s more conservative calculations. That’s the equivalent of 9.8 million trees.

Looking further ahead to 2030, the company is expecting to bring down unit costs and sell over 13,000 AROW boxes generating over €75 million in revenue. The company’s reach spans multiple countries, including Czechia, Germany, France and Japan, illustrating the global demand for its solutions.

Ullmanna’s innovation exemplifies the transformative potential of applying AI and new tech to move towards more sustainable agriculture. By reducing costs and increasing productivity, Ullmanna’s technology is making organic farming more viable and accessible, helping to meet EU sustainability targets while promoting food production without using synthetic herbicides and reducing the risks associated with needing to find seasonal labour when it is in short supply.

As we look to the future, Ullmanna’s journey serves as an inspiration for other innovators and stakeholders committed to advancing sustainable agriculture. With the right combination of technology, policy support, and investment, the vision of a thriving, accessible, and sustainable organic farming sector is within reach.

Learn more about the impact of the startups supported by EIT Food.

References

1. Nature: The greenhouse gas impacts of converting food production in England and Wales to organic methods https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12622-7
2. BES: Land-use intensity and the effects of organic farming on biodiversity: a hierarchical meta-analysis https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12219
3. European Commission: Farm to Fork Strategy - European Commission
4. European Commission: Organic production and products - European Commission
5. Cranfield University: Estimation of the greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural pesticide manufacture and use