Agtech Action | Week of 10.23.21 - 10.29.21
Agtech Action is a weekly newsletter highlighting current events in the world of agtech, and some light-hearted commentary
Glyphosate prices soar as it disappears from the market, this year’s Thanksgiving will hit the wallet, and N. Korea is promoting the consumption of black swan meat. McD’s unveils its first NFT, supply chain crisis is hitting farmers very hard and scientists tell lawmakers that genetic engineering is the future of agriculture. The Sustainable Agtech Challenge wrapped up with a fantastic finale where we announced the 3 winners and share insights from the to be published white paper policy assessment. And the second episode of Unconventional Growth, a podcast of the Yield Lab Institute, drops.
The theme of the agtech week brings together two key stakeholder communities that are needed to address the challenges in food and agriculture—innovation and policy. Interestingly, this was the aim of the UNEP Sustainable Agtech Challenge. More on that and theme later. Enjoy!
Food and the World:
FCC announces over $500M in rural broadband funding
Trucking workforce issues top the list of industry concerns
The Input Supply Chain is Scary for U.S. Farmers, Here's Why it May Be Worse in Brazil
Appliance shortage: supply chain issues amid high consumer demand (0:40 mark)
Will the Run Up in Retail Meat Prices Continue? USDA Thinks So, Says Consolidation Isn't to Blame
Glyphosate Prices Soar As Much As 300%, And That's If You Can Even Get It
Is a Flood of FSA Staffing Shortages Coming Soon? USDA Denies FSA Vaccine Exemption Request
How did ancient people store food before refrigeration?
EEOC Sues McDonald’s Restaurants for Sexual Harassment of Young Workers
This Year’s Thanksgiving Feast Will Wallop the Wallet
5 Tips For Nutrient Management This Fall And Next Spring
High Food Prices Have Consumers and Aid Agencies Scrambling
Report: Some Midwest Land Prices Are Up 20% In Last Year
Genetic Engineering is the Future Of Agriculture, Scientists Tell Lawmakers
Peru’s public and private sectors come together to minimize impact due to logistics crisis
White House announces deal on spending package, offering potential pathway for infrastructure vote
International Fresh Produce Association Announces the Board of Directors
Rains soak California but grapes expected okay
The pandemic disrupted Americans’ access to food. Not everybody suffered equally
CDC director encourages Halloween trick-or-treating
Mushroom production could be down because of supply chain crunch (0:40 mark)
Lawsuit Charges Poultry Price-Fixing, Asks Restitution
Gene-edited strawberries (1:10 mark)
At Rwanda’s Favorite Bars, Forget the Beer: Milk Is What’s on Tap
Agtech in the News:
Fyto: The Start-Up Growing Protein with Robots To Decarbonize Agriculture
Digital Twins in Agriculture: Breakthrough or Hype?
$1B to Biofuels in Build Back Better
Inland Cellular inks $15M deal with Trilogy for precision ag
Biotalys Awarded Multi-Year Grant to Develop New Biological Solutions for Cowpea and Other Legumes
Ants offer plant protection where herbicides may fail
Corteva Appoints Chuck Magro Chief Executive Officer
Inari Collaboration with Eden Enterprise Expands Access to Corn Genetics
European Innovation Council Grants Kaffe Bueno €2.5 Mn to Build The World’s 1st Coffee Biorefinery (a Yield Lab Europe portfolio co.)
N2 Applied receives €15M in EU grants (a YLI Manure Challenge and Yield Lab Europe portfolio co.)
Technology Is … Harvesting Data to Make Management Decisions
Danish Government Allocates 1 Billion Kroner To Ramp Up Plant-Based Food Production
Clinton Griffiths: Two New Farm Innovations to Watch
Kenya’s share of the African start-up ecosystem
USDA To Spend Up To $1.15 Billion On Rural Broadband
The Corn Belt’s Harvest Remains Ahead Of Schedule, USDA Reports
Indigo Announces New Investments to Drive Discovery in Soil Carbon Science and Adoption of Agriculture as a Nature-Based Climate Solution (Congratulations to SoilMetrics, a Soy Innovation Challenge winner!)
Fun:
Webinar: The REAL Scoop on Regenerative Agriculture
COAST DENTIST HUNTED: Wanted in Halloween 'Treat' That Made Children III
‘I hug them’: meet the farmer raising 2,000lb pumpkins
McD’s unveils first NFT (for the McRib) (1:15 mark)
Helpful Resources:
Rocket Boosters to Accelerate Climate Action: Why Article 6 of the Paris Agreement Matters
Introduction to Climate Tech: A Taxonomy Overview
There May Be Science Behind Why You Love or Hate Candy Corn
In-Depth 92-Page Introduction to Tilapia in Sub-Saharan Africa
Interesting Reads:
Cattle Contract Bill Is First Market Reform To Win House Panel Backing
Most expensive Thanksgiving meal on record? (0:05 mark)
Why do we value some fish more than others? It’s time to reconsider “rough” fish
Vermont law banning food waste leads to more compost—and “separation” anxiety
Farmers need immigration reform
Under guise of climate benefit, manure is more valuable than milk at California dairies
First School of Sustainable Food and Farming launches in the UK
Continuum Ag Founder On The Role Of Soil Data In Regenerative Farming
What It Means To Be A Supportive Change Agent
Nutella not so sweet for Turkish farm workers
Rise in human bird flu cases in China shows risk of fast-changing variants: experts
India's record rice crop brings problem of plenty for farmers juggling protest
The regenerative revolution in food
Conservationists See Rare Nature Sanctuaries. Black Farmers See a Legacy Bought Out From Under Them
How a McDonald’s Knockoff Became the Immigrant Dream
Why do we value some fish more than others? It’s time to reconsider “rough” fish
Finance:
Great Barrier Reef water quality market heats up as QLD buys 18,000 credits
Builders Private Capital Launches $300m Clean Energy Platform
Nairobi venture fund gets IFC backing in call for Sh1.6 billion
Kilter Rural secures $50M mandate from US institutional investor
Hancock Agriculture appoints John McKillop as CEO
Bill Gates Backs Lab-Grown Breastmilk Startup Biomilq Again in $21M Series A
Australian soil carbon startup Loam Bio raises $40 million from venture capitalists
Three Questions With… Pebble Labs
Cult Expands Cellular Ag Portfolio With Analogue Wagyu Ribeye Maker Ohayo Valley
CIBO Technologies Closes $30m Series C To Advance The Adoption Of Regenerative Farming
Fake meat company hits a financial snag
Amundi seeks up to €200M for second Italian foods vehicle
Food security investments grow in scope and importance
Sixth Street Agriculture exec joins sports-focused PE firm
BTG Pactual launches LatAm impact strategy
Declining food security should galvanize LPs
Sustainable Agtech Challenge Finale: We have our winners!
It's been an amazing journey so far with the UN Environment Programme Sustainable Agtech Challenge.
But here we are with our 3 winners: SAVRpak, ucrop.it and ClearLeaf.
To recap the finale event this week, the opening remarks were made by Piedad Martín, Deputy Regional Director Latin America and Caribbean UN Environment Programme; and the Policy Assessment white paper key outputs were presented by Ana Inés Navarro, Director of the Economics Department at Universidad Austral, Buenos Aires.
Also the Panel discussion “Policy and Innovation: How they drive forward Sustainable Agtech” was integrated by Anna Ricoy, Disaster Risk Management Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean at the FAO; Camila Petignat, Partner at The Yield Lab LATAM and Adriana Zacarias Farah, Head and Global Coordinator #GO4SDGs.
The call for this challenge was aimed at innovations and startups with products, services and/or technologies that are contributing to fight the causes and impacts of climate change, thus creating more regenerative, sustainable and inclusive agrifood systems.
The Sustainable Agtech Challenge is brought to you by UN Environment Programme, The Yield Lab Institute, and #GO4SDGS in partnership with FONTAGRO, IDB Lab, Gerencia Ambiental, AgriGate Global, The Yield Lab LATAM, and Universidad Austral, Buenos Aires and sponsored by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Read more about the challenge finale here: https://lnkd.in/e8hTvne3 and catch a replay of the finale here.
A special thank you to our partners, sponsors, judges and teams who made the challenge and policy assessment a success! Stay tuned for the white paper policy assessment to be published.
Unconventional Growth Episode 2: A Podcast of the Yield Lab Institute
On Episode Two of the Unconventional Growth Podcast, host Dan Reus discusses the future of space food with Anajan Contractor from BeeHex and Graham Greene from Astraeus. BeeHEx and Astraeus are developing better food options for both astronauts as well as people here on earth that address the needs of proper nutrition as well as texture and flavor and the food experience.
The episode’s conversation today is based on the technologies developed by NASA to help increase the shelf life of food expertly craft it down to the micronutrient level, as well as how this technology designed for astronauts can impact nutrition back on Earth.
Anajan Contractor is the CEO and co-founder of BeeHex 3d printing company that has roots from NASA. Anjan is also one of the creators of NASA's 3D food printer. Graham spent over seven years working in Michelin star restaurants both in the United States and abroad. Now Graham and his team are focused on improving nutrition through developing better technologies that address how we both grow and consume food.
To listen to the interview, head over to the podcast site or search for Unconventional Growth on your favorite podcast app.
Theme of the Agtech Week: Innovation and Policy
The theme of the week brings together two key stakeholder communities that are needed to address the pressing challenges in food and agriculture: innovation and policy. As an organization that plays in a bit of both worlds, the Yield Lab Institute recognizes how a handful of agtech startups can disrupt and change paradigms in food and ag, but that has its limits (e.g. regulations, standards, etc.). Eventually, the public sector needs to get behind, craft and enact legislation that encourages, enhances and fosters innovation forward. And it cannot be a one-size fits all, as each region/country has its own particular challenges and inherent obstacles that can be best addressed by local governments. Interestingly, this was the aim of the UNEP Sustainable Agtech Challenge: to highlight sustainable agtech innovations in the Latin America and Caribbean region, promote and suppor their advancement and highlight the obstacles that these startups and their ecosystems face from a policy perspective and ultimatley make policy recommendations to better support agtech entrepreneurs and ecosystems. These two tactical approaches must be coordinated, aligned and not be siloed or fragmented for agtech to scale and adopt globally. We at the Yield Lab Institute hope to play a key role in that effort.
As always thanks for reading and share our newsletter with your friends!
Brandon Day is the Chief Operating Officer of the Yield Lab Institute, the think-tank, non-profit arm of The Yield Lab global network of venture capital funds and accelerator programs.