Tule

Tule Technologies operates as a precision irrigation company, providing decision support solutions to the agricultural sector. The company was founded in 2014 by Tom Shapland and Jeff LaBarge. Shapland, who serves as CEO, developed the core technology during his PhD research at UC Davis, where he earned multiple degrees in viticulture, enology, horticulture, and agronomy. LaBarge, the former CTO, managed the technical and business aspects, including fundraising and investor relations. Tule was part of the Summer 2014 batch of the Y Combinator accelerator and secured funding from investors like Khosla Ventures and Bloomberg Beta Ventures. In January 2023, Tule was acquired by CropX Technologies, a global agronomic farm management solutions provider.

The company's primary market consists of growers of high-value crops, particularly in California, including vineyards and almond and pistachio farms. Tule's business model is based on a service that combines hardware, software, and agronomic expertise. Revenue is generated from the sale of its sensor systems and access to its data platform, which provides irrigation recommendations. Pricing for the in-field sensors starts at $1,825 per sensor, which are installed and maintained by Tule.

Tule's core offering is a system that measures a field's actual evapotranspiration (ETa)—the amount of water lost from the soil and plants. This is accomplished using in-field sensors that employ a proprietary surface renewal method to measure water use over a broad area, typically one to ten acres per device, rather than at a single point. The sensors, powered by a small solar panel, transmit data to Tule's cloud servers. This data provides a comprehensive view of water inputs from irrigation and precipitation, water outputs through ETa, and resulting crop water stress levels. This allows growers to move beyond traditional irrigation scheduling methods, such as relying on reference ET from weather stations, which can be less accurate for specific fields.

Subscribers can access this information through a mobile app (iOS and Android), daily emails, and a web-based dashboard. The platform provides daily water stress monitoring, real-time irrigation tracking, and specific irrigation suggestions in hours, inches, or gallons per vine. A key feature is "Tule Vision," which uses a smartphone camera and AI to determine the midday Leaf Water Potential for grape growers, a measure of plant thirst. Another feature, "FieldStat," assigns a percentage to plant stress levels, helping growers maintain their crops within a desired range based on yield and quality targets. By providing precise, field-scale data, Tule enables growers to optimize water use, which can lead to significant water savings or increased yields for the same amount of water.

Keywords: precision irrigation, evapotranspiration, agtech, water management, crop monitoring, vineyard technology, almond farming, irrigation scheduling, soil moisture sensors, computer vision in agriculture, sustainable farming, farm management software, Tom Shapland, Jeff LaBarge, UC Davis, Y Combinator, CropX, actual evapotranspiration (ETa), surface renewal, leaf water potential, specialty crops, drip irrigation, agricultural data analytics, smart farming