Fertilizer prescriptions are only as good as the soil measurements behind them.
That is the thesis behind TerraBlaster, a precision ag startup developing real-time, in-field soil nutrient measurement technology. The company says its Blaster 1000 can create soil fertility maps at 0.15-acre resolution — roughly 16 times finer than a conventional 2.5-acre grid sample — and deliver results in the field within seconds instead of days later from a lab.
Elevated Soil Measurement
“The applicators are ready. The prescription tools are ready. What’s missing is the measurement,” says Jorge Heraud, TerraBlaster co-founder and CEO.
Heraud argues the weak link in fertility management is no longer the spreader, toolbar or rate controller. It is the measurement layer that feeds the prescription.
Heraud is familiar with bringing sensors into crop input decisions. Earlier in his career, he worked at Trimble on GreenSeeker technology, which used optical sensors to assess crop vigor and support variable-rate nitrogen recommendations. He later co-founded Blue River Technology, the computer vision startup acquired by John Deere in 2017 and tied to Deere’s See & Spray platform.
Now, with TerraBlaster, Heraud is turning that sensing playbook below the soil surface.
TerraBlaster announced it has raised a $12.5 million seed round led by Ulu Ventures, bringing total capital raised to $16.5 million. Khosla Ventures, Trailhead Capital and Builders Vision also participated, along with Ag Startup Engine, Artesian, Reservoir and Sunna.
Partnering with ag retailers and service providers, TerraBlaster is launching an early-access program this fall. Learnings from those demonstrations are expected to feed into systems delivered in spring 2027, when TerraBlaster plans to begin commercial operations. Heraud says the company’s team is split with product development in Menlo Park, Calif., and agronomy and support team based in Iowa.
Precision Application Has Outrun Precision Measurement
Traditional soil fertility programs commonly rely on grid samples or management zones, with one composite sample representing several acres. Those samples are pulled manually, sent to a lab and returned days later. In the meantime, the final fertilizer prescription depends on a relatively small number of measurements across a field that may have much more variability than the sampling pattern reveals.
The company’s first product, the Blaster 1000, is a towed implement that opens a shallow trench and measures soil fertility as it moves through the field. TerraBlaster says the machine can operate at up to 6 mph, taking roughly 20 readings per second and producing nutrient maps at a resolution of 0.15 acres — about an 80-ft. by 80-ft. area.
That resolution is roughly 16 times finer than a conventional 2.5-acre grid sample.
Just as important, the company says, the results are available in the field within seconds rather than days later from a lab.
From Mars Soil to Midwest Fields
The science behind TerraBlaster is Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). The technology uses a laser to analyze the elemental makeup of a material based on the light emitted when a small amount of that material is energized.
It is a technology with roots beyond agriculture. TerraBlaster board member Dr. Pablo Sobron helped spearhead the use of LIBS to analyze Martian soil for NASA with a laser installed on the Mars rover.
“The science existed. The challenge was making it work at field speed, in real soils, behind a tractor,” he explains.
In its now agricultural application, the Blaster 1000 measures nutrients directly in the field and reports each nutrient 6” deep as a composite reading plus six one-inch soil layers. The company says the system can measure more than 20 nutrients and soil properties, including: N, P, K, soil organic matter, pH, buffer pH, cation exchange capacity, base saturation and micronutrients.
For growers and agronomists, the practical question is whether that higher-resolution data changes how they optimize yields and manage costs.
Same Average, Different Prescription
In one TerraBlaster field case study, the company compared conventional 2.5-acre grid sampling with TerraBlaster’s 0.15-acre measurement resolution for potassium.
The average potassium recommendation was the same in both cases: 118 lb. per acre. But the placement of that potassium changed substantially.
According to TerraBlaster, about 60% of the field received the same fertilizer recommendation either way. The remaining 40% was mis-prescribed under the coarser grid, with 20% receiving more potassium than needed and 20% receiving too little.
“The question is not only how much fertilizer you apply. It’s whether the right pounds go to the right part of the field,” Heraud says.
The case study estimated an added value of $10 per acre from improved potassium placement alone. TerraBlaster says broader benefits from improved nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and lime management, combined with reduced soil lab and labor costs, can reach $45 per acre in some cases.
The company breaks that example into roughly $10 per acre in reduced soil lab and labor costs and about $35 per acre in yield gains, assuming $5 corn and $12 soybeans.
TerraBlaster notes those economics depend on field type, crop, weather, fertility status and commodity prices. The company also says the yield impact in the potassium case study was estimated from published agronomic literature, not measured from a strip trial on that field.
Heading To A Field Near You
TerraBlaster’s initial focus is row-crop agriculture in the Midwest, including growers, retailers and agronomists. This fall, the company will have a handful of units in Iowa in partnership with SoilView and others. The company expects pre-sales to open this fall.
“The next step is proving this across more acres, soils and farming systems,” he says. “We don’t want to replace the agronomist. We want to give the agronomist better data.”
For retailers, TerraBlaster could represent another layer of service around variable-rate fertility. For growers, the value proposition will likely depend on whether better nutrient placement consistently translates into lower costs, higher yields or both.
The Next Precision Ag Frontier
For Heraud, TerraBlaster represents another attempt to push precision agriculture from broad averages toward real-time field decisions. TerraBlaster is making a bet on improved fertility: measure soil more precisely, write better prescriptions and put nutrients where they create the most value.
If Blue River helped show what was possible when machines could see weeds, TerraBlaster is betting the next frontier is helping machines understand the soil.
“We think real-time soil measurement is going to become a standard part of fertility management,” he says.
Heraud says in a few short years his team will have TerraBlaster units ready for installation to be integrated into existing passes in the field—not just dedicated tow behind tractor passes. And next will be real-time application based on TerraBlaster readings.
“If you can measure every part of the field, you can manage every part of the field,” he says.
