Agtech Action | Week of 02.24.24 - 03.01.24
Agtech Action is a weekly newsletter highlighting and commenting on current events in the world of agtech
US schools consider chocolate milk ban, Farm bill could be delayed to 2025 and plastics producers deceived the public about recycling. Lady bug scents as crop protection, chocolate that is cocoa-free and a Georgia dairy farmer teaches NBA stars how to milk a cow.
For agtech to make the next leap forward, it must ask itself this question: is it ready for investment? This is a loaded question because it entails many different things. Not all agtech is investment-ready. Let’s explore what that means in this week’s newsletter.
Food and the World:
FTC files lawsuit against Kroger-Albertson merger
Sub $4 Corn Futures, Now What?
Market of Choice Partners with Royal Ranch to Offer Carbon-Neutral Beef in Oregon
What lies ahead for farmland values?
EPA: Governor’s ethanol ‘victory’ will result in higher fuel costs for Iowans
Activist group claims European produce shows rising ‘forever chemicals’
Wildfires Raging in Texas, Oklahoma Panhandle Region Threaten Residents and Livestock (please be safe!)
Walmart settles $45M weighted grocery lawsuit
Smokehouse Creek Fire is Officially the Largest in Texas History
Agtech in the News:
Exploring the vineyard of the future project's broader impacts
The Decline of Vertical Farming is a Prelude to Innovation and Profitability
WinField United Creates BioVerified designation to vet the booming biologicals market
Driscoll’s and Partners Purchase Costa Group
Bio-Logical and Microsoft Partner For Carbon Removal in Kenya
What Can Be The Impact Of CEA On The Local Economy?
Ag insights platform Gro Intelligence unable to make payroll, replaces founder with new CEO
This stunning new Italian airport will also be a vineyard
Biden Admin Shells Out Taxpayer Dollars On Getting Americans To Eat Trash-Fed Bugs
Cargill bolsters animal nutrition with real-time mycotoxin monitoring tools
Indigo Ag Announces Third Carbon Crop
2024 BNEF Pioneers Finalists Tackle Clean Power Bottlenecks, Building Decarbonization, and the Next Generation of Net-Zero Fuels (Congratulations to the CoverCress, a Yield Lab N. America portfolio startup, on being named a finalist!)
Harvest Returns Partners with Good Agriculture to Empower Farmers
Nocera and Chang Tai Explore Aquaculture and Solar Energy
It’s official: France outlaws ‘steak’, ‘sausage’ and ‘bacon’ terms for plant-based meat
A New Patent Could Enable Rice Seeding with Drones, Revolutionizing Sustainable Agriculture
Fun:
Tree Rustlers Steal Timber, Damage Graves At Historic Slave Cemetery
Georgia Dairy Farmer Teaches NBA Superstars, Including Charles Barkley, How to Milk a Cow by Hand
Northwest Iowa farmland sells for $29,600 per acre
Inside a farmer's 63-year fascination with horsepower
Helpful Resources:
Global league tables: 2023 Annual
Strategic Casting: How to Fish For Your Ideal Clients and Employees
Q4 2023 US Public PE and GP Deal Roundup
2023 VC Emerging Opportunities
Fraud Alert: Don’t Fall Victim to These Common Schemes
Q&A: Manulife secondaries exec on finding alignment in continuation funds
Interesting Reads:
How High Interest Rates Sting Bakers, Farmers and Consumers
Melatonin, a sleep aid, is a surprising treatment for food waste
Can We Eat to Improve the Climate? (if it proposes banning entire food groups that are proven to be nutritious, then it’s not a serious ‘climate’ solution)
Eggo in partnership to help Black farmers
This Maverick Delivery Person Wants You to Break Free of the Apps (by ordering from his app?!)
For Sale: Shark Jaw, Tiger Claw, Fish Maw
Is the future of chocolate cocoa-free? Voyage Foods thinks so
Ladybug scents offer a more ecologically friendly way to protect crops
Women Farmers Are Using Alcohol to Cope
South Africa to Start Work on Stablecoin Regime, Will Start by Considering Use Cases
Nigeria blocks access to crypto exchanges in effort to curb currency slide
Why Sequoia’s Klarna board drama made the VC world wince
Saying Adios To 80 Dams In 2023
‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals
Older Farmers Running Bigger Farms: What Does This Mean for Agriculture?
The forgotten investment class
What's New In U.S. Agriculture--Tales from the 2022 Census of Agriculture
USDA approves climate funds for unproven practices, say EWG
Stabenow would delay farm bill to 2025 to prevent SNAP and climate cuts
Senate passes ban of lab-grown meat
How a Solar Revolution in Farming Is Depleting World’s Groundwater
Got chocolate milk? As US schools consider a ban, an old, sketchy study holds sway
Bee Vectoring Technologies News: Advances Strategic Partnerships in Global Agriculture
Finance:
Australian forestry manager finds solution for waste in e-fuels
Biodiversity net gain units herald a new nature market
LPs debate the usefulness of impact-linked carry
Oishii raises $134M in Series B funding
MEAG hits $207M first close on debut forestry fund
Chipotle’s Cultivate Next Fund: Doubling Down on Innovation and Sustainability
Hippo Harvest Secures $21M Series B For First-Of-Its-Kind Modular Greenhouse Design
Simple Planet Closes On Oversubscribed $6M Pre-Series A Funding
Cargill Joins Growth Funding Round For Enough, Agrees To Use And Market Its Mycoprotein
Food supply chain decarbonisation startup Mondra closes out £3.6 million pre-Series A funding round
Starfish Bioscience, the start-up tackling soil microbiota
Trinitas bankruptcy clears the way for California almond ‘fire sale’
Moroccan logistics startup secures USD $1.55M in seed funding for Pan-African expansion
Blackstone bets on coffee culture with 7 Brew
Q1 2024 PitchBook Analyst Note: Estimating US VC First-Time Manager Dropouts
Theme of the Agtech Week: Investment Ready
Not all agtech is ready for nor should they accept investment. In my opinion, there is a bare minimum criteria that agtech must meet in order to be investment-ready. What is that criteria you may ask?
Agtech that is investment-ready must have the following:
Revenue or cash-flow positive
Product, or technology, in or sold in the market
Growth trajectory could be expedited with strategic investors or partners (e.g. hiring of new talent, or acquiring new assets, etc.)
Achieved market success thus far without investment (e.g. through friends and family, grants or other sources, or you’ve basically done more with less)
Technology requires strategic investment for scale (think crop protection, biologicals for example)
For you agtech startups and entrepreneurs, criteria #1 and #2 are the bare minimum to talk to investors. If you don’t have these, it’s best to focus on product-to-market and sales before approaching investors. Criteria #3 through #5 is the next obstacle once you’ve hit revenue positive with a product in the market. You’ve hustled your way to market, made strong sales with limited, or no, investment but now to get some real growth you need a strategic investor.
The other important factor is timing. By nature of your product or market, the biologicals example, you may need investment very early to get revenue positive. Or if you are a later stage agtech, strategic investment may be the missing component to your growth trajectory not only for the capital but also the network that your new investor has as their disposal.
Know where you are; know where you want to go and find friends, with money, who can and want to help you get there. Thanks for reading.
BD
Brandon Day is the Chief Operating Officer of The Yield Lab Institute, the global agtech think-tank, ecosystem builder, non-profit arm of The Yield Lab global network of venture capital funds. The views, opinions and commentary expressed are solely those of Brandon Day.