Amazing stuff
In a row of six greenhouses on a remote stretch of the Hawaiian island of Lanai, Larry Ellison is trying to use his golden touch in tech to remake the way people around the world eat.
The company behind his effort, Sensei Ag, is eight years in the making and has cost the world’s fourth-richest person more than half a billion dollars—far more than he spent buying the island itself. Early on, Ellison touted cutting-edge technology that would modernize agriculture, make a big impact for society and eventually help grow food in places such as Africa. The billionaire has told executives he sees the project as part of his legacy.
So far, it’s mostly been a bust.
Little of the revolutionary tech the company has extolled—sensors to monitor development, artificial intelligence to breed crop varieties and robots to harvest plants—is being used, according to people familiar with Sensei. The company has been beset by problems typical to tech startups, including executive changeovers, shifting goals and bad Wi-Fi. It has also stumbled from farming inexperience. The greenhouses, for example, weren’t built to withstand Lanai’s strong winds and their solar panels have broken down. Some of its top executives are tech veterans who have no commercial agricultural experience.
Paywalled, but if you're wondering how it all went wrong:
The 80-year-old Ellison and his Sensei Ag co-founder, celebrity doctor David Agus, [...]
Agus, a medical doctor with no previous agricultural experience, [...]
Sensei Marketing Director Jonathan Lee said last month the company is making major investments in technology to grow food better.
