Yesterday’s science fiction has become today’s science fact at Oklahoma State University: variable-rate sprayers that essentially perform the role of a doctor, analyzing symptoms and administering proper treatments to promote healthy crops and the best possible yields.

GreenSeeker, a revolutionary research breakthrough by Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station scientists, is different from typical precision agriculture because every four square feet can be managed as an independent farm. Furthermore, GreenSeeker employs sensor technology that can be mounted on new or existing sprayers anywhere in the world.

GreenSeeker uses its sensors to deliver proper fertilizer “medication” in fractions of a second as it travels across the field. Thus, the sprayer can apply variable rates of fertilizer, where needed, instead of applying the same, average amount over an entire field. This makes GreenSeeker both cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

Officials at OSU and NTech Industries, Incorporated - an innovator, developer, and marketer of proprietary technology for sensor-based agricultural nutrient and herbicide delivery systems - signed a license agreement and a master research agreement to manufacture GreenSeeker. The key feature of the arrangement is that any related intellectual property or breakthrough resulting from the research agreement automatically flows into the license agreement, which provides royalties to OSU, leading to further research and, hopefully, additional breakthroughs.