By: MeaCulpa (Empowered by AI)
Sentinel Ag (also known historically as Sentinel Fertigation) is a fast-rising agtech startup aiming to help growers make smarter nitrogen decisions improving profitability while reducing environmental risk. The company emerged from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a student discovered opportunity.
Origins & Founding
When Jackson Stansell entered the University of Nebraska–Lincoln as a graduate student, he joined a team of researchers focused on nitrogen management. The group’s research and commercialization was driven by an insight: nitrogen fertilizer often represents one of the largest variable costs on a farm, yet many fields still carry inefficiencies, overapplication, or timing mismatches.
During his master’s work (in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering), Stansell developed a framework for using multispectral imagery and canopy data to time fertigation decisions more precisely. That framework became the foundation of a software tool called N-Time. Through on-farm validation trials from 2019 to 2021 (with cooperating growers around Nebraska), the team showed that the approach could yield about 25 % improvement in nitrogen use efficiency and about $23 per acre profit improvement in those trials.
Seeing promising results, Stansell formally launched Sentinel Ag in September 2021 to commercialize the technology and scale beyond experimental fields. From drone imagery early on, the company shifted to using satellite data for broader scalability — but the scientific roots remain central to its identity.
What Sentinel Does
Sentinel provides a software-platform plus analytics to help growers and agronomists dynamically optimize nitrogen applications (especially via fertigation). Fertigation is a method of plant fertilization where fertilizer is mixed directly with water to be spread via irrigation.
The flagship product, N-Time®, ingests near-daily multispectral satellite imagery (and other field data) to assess crop nitrogen status, forecast nitrogen demand over the next week, and convert that into actionable scheduling recommendations.
In effect, Sentinel helps farmers answer two questions:
- When should nitrogen be applied (i.e. the timing of fertigation events)?
- Where in the field (within the field) should those applications be directed (i.e. variable rate or zone-based)?
Because nitrogen fertilizer comprises a major input cost, improving efficiency has real financial as well as environmental upside. Across fields using Sentinel, the company reports having put $4.2 million back in farmers’ pockets and prevented 3 million pounds of unnecessary nitrogen application to date. Sentinel Ag
A testimonial from one user (Ashley Babl) reflects this real-world impact:
“We’ve been using the Sentinel program this year and love it! Watching our nitrogen and being smart about it has made for a less stressful growing season.”
That kind of feedback, from on-the-ground growers, reinforces that Sentinel is not just a laboratory idea — it is already influencing real crop decisions.
Funding, Grants & Support
From the early days, Sentinel has supplemented private capital with Nebraska-based innovation funding and investor networks:
- In FY 2021–22, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development awarded the company $100,000 via a BIA prototype grant and $250,000 in seed investment under the state’s Business Innovation Act.
- The startup also received its first external venture support through a $25,000 investment from the Husker Venture Fund, a student-led VC fund tied to UNL and Invest Nebraska. Water for Food
- In May 2022, Sentinel closed a $1.2 million seed round including Invest Nebraska, Nebraska Angels, Burlington Capital Ag-Venture, Proven Ventures, and several angel investors.
- More recently, in September 2023, the company announced a $2.5 million Series Seed round, co-led by Homegrown Capital, Grit Road Partners, and Invest Nebraska, with participation from other agtech-aligned funds.
The company has also connected with The Combine, Nebraska’s ag/food incubator program run by Invest Nebraska, which supports mentoring, commercialization resources, and incubation space. Stansell himself has described The Combine as an important resource as Sentinel navigated early growth.
This hybrid funding approach — mixing public grants, university-backed VC, and private seed investors — has allowed Sentinel to bridge the “valley of death” many early-stage agtech ventures face, especially when scaling from research prototype to commercial deployment.
Call to Action: For Growers and Advisors
If you’re a grower or agronomist seeking to maximize nitrogen efficiency, Sentinel offers a compelling value proposition: real-time insights, precise scheduling, and the potential to yield more per pound of nitrogen applied. The system is designed to integrate into existing irrigation and fertigation systems and be supported via a network of Certified Service Providers (local agronomy partners who understand your fields).
If you are a grower or advisor, here’s what you can do next:
- Request a pilot or demo — especially on irrigated corn, where the benefits are already proven.
- Engage your trusted advisor or agronomist and ask if they participate in Sentinel’s “Sentry Network.”
- Evaluate field zones where you’ve been reluctant to reduce nitrogen – Sentinel’s data may give you the confidence to test lower rates safely.
- Monitor nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) metrics — even small percentage gains translate into real dollars and environmental benefit.
With rising fertilizer costs and increasing regulatory pressure around nitrogen runoff and water quality, the timing is right for a tool that gives growers both economic and environmental upside. Sentinel Ag is positioning itself to be that tool — guided by data, grounded in science, and built for farmers.
