Plants Know Best: Turning Plant Intelligence into Business Intelligence with AI
In briefAI summary — tap to read
Carrol Plummer, co-founder of Vivent Biosignals, explains how AI and plant electrophysiology decode electrical signals from crops to provide real-time insights into plant stress, water and nutrient needs, and pest or disease threats—enabling farmers to make timely, profitable decisions that reduce water and fertilizer use.
Key takeaways
- Plants possess sophisticated sensing and information-processing systems with around 32 known senses that allow them to communicate stress and health conditions through electrical signals detectable by specialized sensors.
- Vivent's technology attaches small electrodes to sentinel plants in fields, captures their naturally occurring electrical signals, and uses machine learning algorithms to translate these signals into actionable data on crop dashboards.
- The key value for farmers is not what or where to act, but when to act—applying water, nutrients, and treatments at optimal moments improves crop recovery, treatment effectiveness, and resource efficiency.
- Real-world examples show 6% yield increases for potatoes in Poland, significant water and fertilizer savings for blueberries in California and South America, and early detection of nutrient stress in tomatoes weeks before visible symptoms appear.
- Vivent's certified B Corp model aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 6 million tons annually with 10% market share in key crop sectors while improving farm profitability and food security.
About Carrol PlummerCarrol Plummer is a technology entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience building and scaling businesses, holding an INSEAD MBA and senior roles across manufacturing, strategy consulting, and technology. She is co-founder of Vivent Biosignals, a Swiss deep-tech company using AI and plant electrophysiology to improve agricultural decision-making and sustainability.
AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.
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Program: Plants Know Best: Turning Plant Intelligence into Business Intelligence with AI
Speaker: Carrol Plummer
Every week we bring you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how they contribute to service to others.
Plants know more about their growing conditions than any individual sensor can reveal. Vivent’s technology listens to the electrical signals produced by plants and uses AI to translate them into practical insights, helping growers understand when crops are under stress and when action is truly needed.
This presentation explores how turning plant intelligence into business intelligence can enable earlier, better decisions, reduce unnecessary use of water, energy and agricultural inputs, and support a more productive and sustainable future for farming.
Our speaker, Carrol Plummer, is a technology entrepreneur and organizational leader with more than 30 years of experience building, transforming and scaling businesses. An INSEAD MBA, she has held senior roles across manufacturing, strategy consulting and technology, combining operational leadership with a strong ability to connect scientific innovation to customer needs and commercial opportunity.
Carrol is co-founder of Vivent Biosignals, a Swiss deep-tech company using artificial intelligence and plant electrophysiology to interpret plants’ biological signals. She has led Vivent’s development from an ambitious scientific concept into an international agricultural technology business, working with growers and leading agrifood companies to detect crop stress earlier and support more sustainable, profitable food production. She is particularly interested in using AI and biological data to improve agricultural decision-making and build a more resilient food system.
Members and guests, please welcome Carrol Plummer!
To learn more, go to:
https://vivent-biosignals.com
How Vivent uses AI to interpret plant signals:
https://vivent-biosignals.com/artificial-intelligence-in-agriculture
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