Agtech Action | Week of 10.19.24 - 10.25.24
Agtech Action is a weekly newsletter highlighting and commenting on current events in the world of agtech
McD’s has an e.coli outbreak, more restaurants hit bankruptcy, and Keurig buys an energy drink maker. Mexico sends soldiers to protect lime growers from extortion, agtech’s plant-based steaks make US retail debut, and an Ohio prison hosts public meal on facility grounds.
Desperate times in agtech call for drastic measures. The nuts and bolts are there but something is missing. A reset may be needed. Given the market conditions, an agtech reset could not come any sooner. We’ll explore what an agtech reset means in this week’s newsletter.
Food and the World:
Hurricane Milton hits phosphate production, damages citrus groves
Summit continues to face headwinds on carbon pipeline project
A new opportunity for feed buyers
Speedy U.S. corn and soy harvests strain farmers, storage capacity
FTC investigating John Deere over ‘right to repair’ (good! Time to open it up)
Empty Tables and Rising Costs Push More Restaurants into Bankruptcy
U.S. Exporters Race to Ship Soybeans as Looming Election Stokes Tariff Worries
Corn Harvest Progress Passes the Halfway Mark
Potential Federal Policy Responses to Negative Grain Farm Incomes
How’s the Country’s Corn Harvest Going?
Illinois is Racing Through Harvest Season
Argentina Rains ‘Turn Game Around’ for Grains After Drought, Exchange Says
FDA looking at Taylor Farms as possible source of McDonald's E. Coli outbreak
Food and Ag PACs Largely Supporting Republicans
Costco recalls salmon over listeria concerns
Agtech in the News:
Q3 2024 AgTech Venture Capital Investment and Exit Round Up
US Agriculture Dept approves blockchain-based certification system
This app set out to fight pesticides. Once VC stepped in, the app helped sell them. (turns out selling chemicals is good business, and VCs want returns)
As beer loses share to hard seltzer, US barley farmers scramble
Readout of White House Roundtable on U.S. Leadership in AI Infrastructure
Five factors to consider before purchasing swine barn technology
Gates Ag One discusses the tech solutions on its radar
Predator too? BioArmix tackles bacterial pathogens with novel ‘predatory’ biologicals
Pie charts Showcase the High-Speed Progress of Nebraska Harvests
Ranchbot Appoints Greg Mellinger to Advisory Board
Global farmers eye agtech and sustainability
How farmers can use solar power without damaging the rest of their operation
Ohio State announces AgTech Innovation Hub projects
Chunk Foods makes US retail debut with plant-based steaks
Keurig Dr Pepper to Buy Energy-Drink Maker Ghost for Over $1 Billion
Farmbot Wins AgTech of the Year at the 2024 Technology Scale-up Awards
Fun:
The ‘sound’ idea of John Deere power
Pork producer gives consumers a peek behind the curtain through social media
15 minutes with pasture pig farmer David Borrowman
How to Use Crossbreeding to Improve Cattle Performance
Helpful Resources:
Fire risk persists across Midwest with little rain in sight
Q3 2024 Agtech Public Comp Sheet and Valuation Guide
Pet-focused Vetted Capital targets $150M+ first-time VC fund
Q3 2024 Foodtech Public Comp Sheet and Valuation Guide
Defense-tech boom spawns wave of new European GPs
Q3 2024 PitchBook Analyst Note: The Evergreen Evolution
Q3 2024 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor
Interesting Reads:
Foodie thieves snatch $2.5 million in olive oil from Houston warehouse
“No Person Shall Keep Roosters”
RaboResearch calls for healthy dairy margins ahead
Time to bust the meat trust (I thoroughly enjoy when publications like this are quick to talk about breaking up ‘trusts’ in agriculture and the first one to mind is meat; look upstream like seeds, equipment if you want to do that exercise)
Can Sustainable Restaurants Make Their Guests Care About Climate Change?
A Radical Approach to Flooding in England: Give Land Back to the Sea
Mexico sends 660 soldiers, National Guard to protect lime growers suffering extortion by cartels
Will Congress force this controversial alcohol study to stop?
Wyoming rangers stop blowing up dead horses due to wildfire risk
Ohio prison holds first-ever five-course meal open to public on facility grounds
The Q3 Round-Up in Africa (part 3)
Potential for Trump tariffs worries farmers
Ten Years Is Enough for Methane Credits on Manure Digesters, Says Analyst
Animal agriculture leaders discuss antimicrobial resistance in Atlanta
USDA grant boosts local ranching co-op's expansion in Helena
Oklahoma tribes' meat processing plants reverse historic ag consolidation
McDonald's linked to E. coli cases
Finance:
Macdoch Ventures seeks to plug ‘big gap’ in agtech funding
AI-Powered Carbon Robotics Secures $70 Million in High-Profile Series D Round
Hatch Blue Raises €93M to Advance Sustainable Aquaculture Technology
Carbon Robotics eyes new Seattle office on heels of $70 million round
Blue Stripes Attracts Return Investors in $20M Series B Round to Transform Cacao Supply Chain
Danish agtech FarmDroid secures €10.5M for its autonomous, solar-powered agricultural robot
Toxic Mars soil could potentially get a microbial makeover for future farming
Hyperspectral imagery startup Wyvern looks to raise US presence with $6M raise
Agriculture Capital adds ex-Equilibrium exec for carbon credit push
Forestry-Linked Securities acquires debut timberland asset
Venture debt activity picks up in Europe
Forestry asset securitization – is it a viable exit plan?
‘They came to us for a deal’ – Pittman explains $289M Farmland Reserve Sale
Theme of the Agtech Week: Reset
For the video game enthusiasts, do you remember what you did when you could not get past a certain level? You pushed the reset button! It’s a very good time for agtech to push the reset button for several reasons:
Progress (revenue, growth, profit) seems to be slowing down
Markets are declining, or stagnant, in most ag good and services.
Other external factors that are beyond your control (e.g. geopolitics, policy, inflation)
A reset can mean many things to agtech. It can include:
Re-evaluation of your business priorities. Do you need to focus more on your current markets and customers? Is this the right market for you? Do you need to plan for expansion? Reset your business objectives.
Technology and delivery. Is your technology delivering on its promises? Are you as a business delivering to your customers? Reset your operations and goals.
Capital. Do you need to raise more capital to sustain your business? Or would it be best to sell more to generate more capital and re-invest in the business? Reset your capital stack.
Marketing and Branding. Is your technology offering clear to the market? Are you communicating it to the right customers? Is your brand aligned with your objectives? Sometimes simple marketing resets can yield drastic commercial gains.
Talent. Are you deficient in a certain skillset within your organization? Are you equipping your existing talent with the resources, support they need? Search internally for those talent resets before going externally. People have a way of stepping up to the challenge, they just need an opportunity.
As in video games, a reset can mean starting from square one but it does not have to be. It could be a reset of direction, priority and energy for the business. Reset does not have to be rewrite, it can mean re-orient, re-engage or re-energize. While the market is in a holding pattern, now is a perfect time to do a reset. Once it turns around, and it will, the reset will propel agtech forward in leaps!
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.