by Mea Culpa (Empowered by AI)
If you spend any time around agriculture, you know the biggest challenges aren’t always the ones you can see. That’s exactly the insight behind DARO, the Nebraska-born startup using molecular surveillance to spot livestock diseases before they become barn-shaking disasters.
The thesis is simple: DARO is transforming the way animal health is monitored by bringing human-grade pathogen detection technology into the heart of livestock production. And thanks to Nebraska’s ag-innovation ecosystem—including The Combine—DARO’s founder, Kristen Bernhard, had the support system she needed to turn a brilliant idea into a fast-rising company.
DARO’s origin story starts with Kristen’s scientific background. She trained in population genetics at Iowa State and later managed pathogen genomics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), where she worked on wastewater viral surveillance during COVID-19.
That experience sparked a big question: Why were early-warning systems common in human health, but almost nonexistent in livestock? Nebraska is hog country—so if any place should be leading the way in livestock disease surveillance, it’s here. As Kristen put it, “This is a system that needs to be put out to all communities, including animal production.”
So in 2023, DARO Systems LLC was born.
Unlike traditional livestock disease testing—where producers test a few animals and hope it represents the rest—DARO’s approach monitors whole herds. Their system collects non-invasive samples across an entire barn to detect signs of viruses or bacteria far earlier than current methods. No guesswork, no sampling bias, no waiting for symptoms to show up. It’s real-time insight that can prevent catastrophic losses and give producers data they’ve never had before.
And the traction came quickly. In early 2025, DARO raised $1.1 million in seed funding to scale its technology, expand its team, and grow pilot programs in swine production. For a young ag-biotech startup, that’s a major vote of confidence—not just in the tech, but in Kristen’s leadership and her ability to translate genomics into on-farm solutions.
A big piece of DARO’s success comes from planting its roots in Nebraska’s startup ecosystem. Kristen worked closely with resources like the Nebraska Innovation Campus, the Nebraska Business Development Center, and especially The Combine, Nebraska’s ag-tech incubator.
That cluster of mentors, researchers, farmers, and industry partners provided the testing grounds, credibility, and community needed to turn DARO from a lab concept into a commercial technology. As Kristen noted, “These resources have really propelled our project, and we are so grateful for all of it.”
And DARO isn’t the only success story coming out of The Combine. Startups like Birds Eye Robotics, with its autonomous poultry-barn robots, and Grain Weevil, the robot designed to keep farmers out of grain bins, have also grown through Combine support. Together, these companies show that Nebraska is quietly building a powerhouse hub for robotics, ag-tech, and biotech innovation.
DARO sits at the intersection of science, agriculture, and technology—and that’s exactly where the next revolution in livestock production will happen. With early-warning disease surveillance becoming more critical to global food security, DARO is positioned not just as another startup, but as a potential game-changer.
The company’s next phase—scaling its platform and expanding across livestock sectors—could redefine how producers manage risk and protect their herds. And if DARO succeeds, it won’t just improve farm operations; it could reshape the entire future of animal health, right from the heart of Nebraska.
