Agtech (In)Action | Week of 03.26.22 - 04.01.22
Agtech (In)Action is a weekly newsletter highlighting current events in the world of agtech, and some light-hearted commentary
A ban on chocolate milk in schools in a major US city, avocados help your heart and how one agtech startup is supporting global food security. Challenges of plant-based protein formulations, a breaking point is coming for hunger in the MENA region, and animal agtech is ready for the big time (investment)!
We are in the midst of a rebrand so we are experimenting with a new title for the newsletter (April Fool’s!). The theme of the agtech week—leadership—has to do with the April Fool’s rebrand. And why it is food and agriculture ecosystem’s responsibility to lead and not react in order to address global food and agriculture issues.
Food and the World:
Farm Bureau, industry groups call for emergency cropping on prime CRP land
Avian Flu Pressures Easter Egg Supply and Price
Ukraine's Grain Export Situation Worsening by the Day, says Agriculture Minister
USDA Announces Resources to Expand Meat and Poultry Processing
Using social for business: Get personal, in a measured way
Supreme Court Takes Up NPPC, AFBF Challenge to Proposition 12
4.3M Ukrainian children displaced (0:00 mark)
St. Louis-based Airly Foods creates a climate-friendly cracker
John Deere And Surepoint Ag Enter Joint Venture
EPA Lifts 2022 Enlist One, Enlist Duo Herbicide Restrictions In 134 Counties
Food costs to rise up to 4% this year (0:00 mark)
What to Know Ahead of USDA’s Prospective Plantings Report
Vilsack Makes 3 USDA Announcements at 2022 Commodity Classic
U.S. looks at Adding more Ethanol to Gas to Lower Pump Price - Sources
Shoppers can use supplemental benefits to buy fruits, vegetables at Albertsons Cos. stores
WEBINAR RECAP: Supply Chain Woes Likely to Continue for “Decades, Not Years”
Rural population increases (0:00 mark)
Easter egg supplies at risk (0:35 mark); due to deadly bird flu
Argentina Exchange Warns Frosts could cause Further Hurt to Soy, Corn Crops
John Deere Expands Access to Self-Repair Resource Service
U.S. Farmers Pursue Soybean Profits, Shrug at Tight Wheat Stocks
Zimbabwe repossessing unused land from Black farmers
As Trade with Russia Halts, Countries Turn to Canada
Russia bans sunflower seed exports, imposes quota on sunoil
Millions nearing food ‘breaking point’ in the MENA region (0:00 mark)
Hunger concerns grow (0:35 mark); survey of Americans
Agtech in the News:
Biased Attacks on Beef Industry Debunked by Facts
Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and the OCP Group launch a $50M agrifood fund
Natural capital, focus on the means, and additionality challenges (check out this newsletter)
Thai Union Public: SPACE-F Batch III driving Innovation in FoodTech in Asia with its world-class Accelerator and Incubator Program (Congratulations to Mi Terro, a YLI Sustainable Agtech Challenge finalist and the only US startup to be accepted to this program)
Un-manured money in animal agtech (great take on the opportunity for innovation, startups in animal agtech, we agree that this is a bullish opportunity)
U.S. source for natural rubber is potential farm opportunity
Collaboration key for ongoing severe California drought
Rabobank report looks at fruit and nut breeding business growth
2022’s s***show highlights the need for more manure tech
Gotham Greens doubles greenhouse footprint with five-state expansion
From Shockers to Snoozers, Here Are The Big Takeaways From FBN's Farmer Planting Survey
Pairwise to bring genetically edited greens to market
FBN Expects Fewer Corn Acres in 2022
Fun:
Can Practicing Presence Make Farming Less Stressful?
Ban on chocolate milk? (1:00 mark); NYC mayor critical of its sugar content,
Not All Boundaries Are Physical
Self-Care Is Mental Health Maintenance
2 servings a week of avocado help the heart (0:30 mark)
E.L.F Cosmetics teams up with Dunkin’ (1:00 mark)
Most-stressed out states (1:00 mark); Louisiana comes in at #1
Helpful Resources:
Iowa Farmland Soars 14% Higher in Past Six Months
Interesting Reads:
War's ESG dilemma for investors: Solve short-term needs or confront long-term goals
World Bank approves $341M loan to Turkey for 'green' agriculture
Economic games can be used to promote cooperation in the field
NCBA response to Bill Gates advocating for synthetic meat
Overcoming the challenges of plant-based protein formulations (a big challenge for broader adoption and scale of plant-based proteins)
A Bold Idea to Stall the Climate Crisis—by Building Better Trees
Venture Capitals without Women in Top Level Struggle in Women-Centric Business: Report
E85 a hit in California (0:35 mark)
10 minutes of insights from Africa: The Big Deal, with the voice-over
‘Smart Wetlands’ to Combat Gulf’s Hypoxia Threats
Climate claims critical for millennial consumers: Global Beef Roundtable chief
Biden's USDA Budget Proposal Seeks Big CRP Boost with $2.4B to Enroll Targeted 27M Acres
Environmental, Social, And Governance (ESG) Scores
Fresh vegetables buck inflation trends
Driscoll’s and Plenty Commit to Build Their First Commercial Strawberry Indoor Vertical Farm
Growmark, One of North America’s Largest Ag Coops, Tests a Farming Robot from Solinftec
What Are The PRLR-SLICK Cattle?
Can Blockchain Fix the Chocolate Industry’s Labor Issues?
Is the U.S. Already Energy Independent?
How war, weather, and Covid-19 are rekindling the food vs. fuel debate
Federal appeals judge allows Black farm group to join defense in debt cancellation case
Maine Farmers Face a Crisis Over Forever Chemicals
Realizing the Potential for AgTech in Alberta
Burning Up: The Controversial Biofuel Threatening BC’s Last Inland Rainforests
Unnatural Barriers: How the Boom in Fences Is Harming Wildlife
A Bold Idea to Stall the Climate Crisis—by Building Better Trees
How companies are hiding inflation without charging you more
Why Bill Gates’ climate VC firm is focused on the tech we don’t have
Finance:
Prestige Funds’ Islamic vehicle seeded by Middle East LP
ADM, LDC, Cargill back $8M Series A for Brazilian agri app Grao Direto
Koidra Raises $4.5M Seed Funding to Bring Intelligent Automation to Greenhouses and Beyond
How Gro Intelligence Is Supporting Global Food Security Amid Russia-Ukraine War
First Molecular Dairy Startup In APAC Region Emerges From Stealth With $2.4M Seed Funding
Q1 2022 AgTech Venture Capital Investment and Exit Round Up (Great Q1 summary from the Yield Lab’s Kyle Welborn)
Morocco’s Al Mada launches pan-African $109.5 million VC fund
Square Roots taps URB-E’s last-mile fleet to deliver CEA grown greens
Faux Meat and Dairy Startups Consume Nearly Half Of Record $13B VC Investment Into Foodtech
Leaf Agriculture Raises $5M Convertible Note Led by S2G Ventures
Equilibrium plans Asian expansion of CEA and renewable natural gas
FarmTogether steps into the institutional LP-GP nexus
MycoTechnology nets $85m Series E funding from Omani sovereign fund, multiple ag & food giants
Beewise Raises $80m Series C to Save Bees from Climate Change
First Molecular Dairy Startup In APAC Region Emerges From Stealth with $2.4M Seed Funding
Farmland LP completes second fund, raises over $130 million
Foreign ownership of Australian water: 2021 statistics
Arch Grants: AgriFoodTech Track, Apply now before April 15th
Arch Grants has a special new initiative focusing on attracting AgriFoodTech startups to the resource-rich ecosystem that is St. Louis, and they strongly encourage founders of startups in that space to apply.
Through the Arch Grants annual Competition, Arch Grants plans to award approximately 20 innovative, scalable, and job-creating startups with $75,000 non-dilutive grants and access to an ecosystem of resources (plus an additional $25,000 for those relocating to St. Louis from outside of Missouri or more than 150 miles away on the Illinois side).
Since 2012, Arch Grants have funded over 200 companies and awarded over $10.5 million dollars in non-dilutive grants.
For more information about Arch Grants’ annual Startup Competition, please visit www.archgrants.org/competition.
The application window is open from March 18 through April 15, 2022.
If you’d like to be kept up to date on application deadlines and any other updates related to the 2022 Startup Competition, please visit www.archgrants.org/competition.
Theme of the Agtech Week: Leadership
Leadership is the theme of the agtech week and I’ve been wanting to address this for some time, so here it goes. It is time for the food and agriculture ecosystem to lead in addressing global food and ag issues, and not react to said food and ag issues. What do I mean by that? We should not be waiting for impending crises—see Ukraine/Russia and fertilizer, wheat disruption—or food supply disruptions—see bottlenecks at the ports in 2021 and meat processing plants during the height of the pandemic—to enact initiatives, policy changes or other approaches.
While it is good that governments recognize the need to produce their own inputs, see Biden admin and fertilizer program, or the Europeans looking at putting in production fallow land with Ukraine’s grain potentially out of the market. These are actions that should have been in place well before global events prompted them to be. This is where I feel the food and ag ecosystem, and its stakeholders, need to lead and explore innovative solutions and technologies. Perhaps that involves reconstructing supply chains, bringing processing to the inputs;being less dependent upon one country/region for a key input (see Russia and potash); or repurposing inputs/constituents for new end uses; or other solutions. Unless the food and agriculture ecosystem leads in this effort, it is susceptible to outside voices, who may not have the best intentions, that suggest solutions like ‘we need to rebuild a broken food and ag’ system. I don’t subscribe to the notion that food and ag is broken (topic for another newsletter).
Rather than take action, or inaction (there’s that title), that is reactive, food and ag needs to lead from a proactive perspective, from a strategic perspective and from a long term perspective. I have all the faith that food and ag will do that (see USFRA, USB, AgFunder, AgLaunch and countless others leading the way).
Hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter. More to come. Have a wonderful agtech Friday and weekend.
BD
Brandon Day is the Chief Operating Officer of the Yield Lab Institute, the global agtech think-tank, non-profit arm of The Yield Lab global network of venture capital funds and accelerator programs. The views, opinions and commentary expressed are solely those of Brandon Day.