• Heritable Agriculture, spun out from Google’s X, uses AI to analyze plant genomes, enhancing crop yields, reducing water use, and increasing carbon storage.
  • The company tests thousands of plants in growth chambers at Google X’s HQ and fields in California, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, focusing on traditional breeding, not genetic modification.

Google’s X, the company’s “moonshot factory,” has spun out its latest startup, Heritable Agriculture, a machine learning-driven company focused on improving crop yields and sustainability.

Heritable Agriculture applies AI to analyze plant genomes, identifying genetic combinations that enhance crop production, increase carbon storage, and reduce water usage.

Founder and CEO Brad Zamft, a former Google X project lead, explained,

“By understanding those genomes, the crops can then be bred with climate-friendly traits for increased yields, lower water requirements, and higher carbon storage capacity in roots and soil.”

The company has been testing its models on thousands of plants within specialized growth chambers at X’s Bay Area headquarters, along with field trials in California, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. While CRISPR-fueled gene editing could play a role in the future, Heritable is currently focused on traditional breeding methods rather than genetic modification.

“We’re not developing gene-edited plants, and genetic modification is not on our roadmap,” Zamft stated.

The startup emerges at a critical time for agriculture, which accounts for 25% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and is the world’s largest consumer of groundwater. By leveraging AI and data science, Heritable aims to modernize farming practices without adding to environmental strain.

Though commercial details remain undisclosed, Heritable has secured a seed round from FTW Ventures, Mythos Ventures, and SVG Ventures, with Google also holding an undisclosed equity stake.

Heritable Agriculture joins a growing list of startups spun out from Google X, which has increased its focus on commercialization under lab head Astro Teller. The news follows company-wide layoffs at Google X in early 2023 as the incubator pivots toward scaling successful projects into independent ventures.

Edited by Harshajit Sarmah