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Hortau has won the 2017 North American Smart Irrigation New Product Innovation Award, presented by Frost & Sullivan.

The award was handed out Sept. 18 at the Growth, Innovation & Leadership Awards Gala at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa in Austin, Texas.

A provider of precision irrigation management systems and services for agriculture, Hortau was recently named to the THRIVE AgTech Top 50 Growth companies list and was a finalist for the 2017 CognitionX Best AI Product in Agriculture award.

Hortau’s crop stress management platform reports to growers how crops are faring in real time – before stresses such as drought or lack of aeration can have a negative impact on a crop. This proprietary, plant-centric approach measures plant stress using soil tension, ensuring optimal crop growth, and reducing water and energy consumption, as well as environmental impacts such as leaching.

“It’s always nice to be recognized for your hard work, and the Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Award is an honor that is appreciated by our entire team,” said Hortau CEO and Co-Founder Jocelyn Boudreau said. “We’ve put a lot of time and passion into our platform, whether its with the development of our robust hardware, our user-friendly software, or the best-in-class service we support our growers with. Without all of the above, and the people behind it all, innovation isn’t possible.”

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

“Frost & Sullivan found that one of Hortau’s most striking competitive differentiators is its proactive sensor-based agronomic services,” noted Frost & Sullivan Analyst Sharath Thirumalai. “Most competitors’ systems react to weather parameters and the measurement of water volume in the soil, regardless of the crops’ actual needs. Hortau is unique in that it can determine the precise amount of water available to crops by measuring soil tension. Crop stress information is updated every minute to give farmers comprehensive information about the amount of water the crop actually takes in for efficient growth.”

Learn more about Frost & Sullivan, the awards gala and its industry reports at http://www.frost.com.

Visit Hortau.com for more information on Hortau’s proprietary irrigation management systems, and simplified software and mobile apps, or contact a local representative at (805) 545-5994, ext. 358 or media@hortau.com.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today’s market participants.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Learn more at http://www.frost.com.

About Hortau

Hortau, a global leader in wireless, web-based irrigation management systems, was founded in 2002 by two agriculturally minded entrepreneurs, Dr. Jean Caron, agronomist, Ph.D in Soil Physics, and Jocelyn Boudreau, agricultural engineer, M.Sc. in Soil Physics.

Hortau’s patented, irrigation management solutions help growers detect plant stress, ensuring optimal crop growth while reducing water and energy use as well as eliminating the environmental impacts of crop production.

Hortau has offices, representatives and technicians throughout the U.S. and Canada. Learn more at Hortau.com.