This ag-tech startup kept digging, and found an electrifying idea to zap weeds and soil pests.

GEEKWIRE
BY LISA STIFFLER on October 2, 2023
Initially the goal was to keep the wriggling worms alive, to use a jolt of electricity to stimulate their nerve cells in the pursuit of scientific discovery. But the research device was malfunctioning and killing the nematodes outright.  Electrical engineer and entrepreneur Jason Crisp fixed the machine, nipping some stray voltage that was causing electrocutions. The worms lived. Done and done.  Except it wasn’t.  Crisp began wondering about useful applications of that electricity to target soil nematodes that can damage valuable crops and vegetation.  That spurred the idea for what is now Lisi Global, a Richland, Wash., startup that replaces chemical pesticides with devices that zap soil pests with a jolt akin to a controlled lightning strike.
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