They call it precision agriculture, and it’s a hot topic. Across the country, new-age farmers are hacking their operations with robots, sensors, drones, and good-old circuit boards, hoping to increase both the quality and quantity of their fruits, vegetables, and grains.

But that’s merely a first step. Thanks to the burgeoning field of “cloud-based genomics,” we will further improve our crops by, well, plugging them into the internet.

Scientists and entrepreneurs have now sequenced the genomes of plants such as the tomato, potatoand oil palm, and using this information, they can better understand the evolution of these fruits and vegetables — and ultimately improve them. This isn’t just about better taste or bigger crops. In some cases, it’s about saving iconic crops, such as the orange, from parasites.

Big research institutions and corporations such as Monsanto are already pushing into this field, but a new company in Seattle, Spiral Genetics, wants to bring the benefits of genomics to the little guy. Spiral is developing “cloud-based” genomics algorithms that anyone can use over the net.

WIRED caught up with Spiral co-founder and CEO Adina Mangubat at our offices in San Francisco to discuss how the company is tackling the new world of bionic ag.

To continue reading:http://www.wired.com/business/2013/07/adina-mangubat/