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Editor’s note: Agtech Seedlings provides a weekly overview of the latest advancements in agricultural technology, focusing on venture funding, product launches, and pivotal innovations. Do you have news to share? Contact us here.
North American Farmers Back InnerPlant’s $30 Million Funding Round for Crop Communication Technology
InnerPlant, a pioneering synthetic biology company, has successfully raised $30 million in funding aimed at enhancing its soybean insight platform. This innovative technology allows farmers to monitor plant signals, enabling them to identify when crops require additional water, fertilizer, or other essential interventions.
Leading this investment round is a coalition of North American farmers, spearheaded by Canadian grain operator and investor Coutts Agro, along with contributions from Systemiq Capital and existing investors Deere & Co. and Bison Ventures. As reported by Crunchbase, this funding round brings InnerPlant’s total capital raised since its inception in 2018 to $52.3 million.
“Farmers are our ideal investors, as they directly benefit from our technology’s success,” stated CEO Shely Aronov in an interview with AgFunderNews.
InnerPlant’s Living Sensors allow crops to convey their needs, helping farmers take timely action to safeguard them, reduce chemical treatments, and boost yields. Approximately 30% of chemicals used in conventional agriculture are over-applied, while about $800 billion, or 20% of annual crop yields, are lost due to pathogens.
“We engineer crops to communicate,” Aronov explained, adding that InnerPlant’s technology enables plants to emit fluorescent signals that can be detected by satellites, facilitating quick responses to plant issues with minimal human oversight.
The newly acquired funding will aid the launch of CropVoice, a comprehensive platform designed to aggregate data from a network of soybean plants and provide recommendations for addressing fungal infections. The CropVoice platform is projected to debut in Illinois and Iowa by 2025 and expand its reach through 2027.
“Empowering farmers with data about plant stress connected to physiological signals fundamentally transforms crop management, resulting in improved profitability,” commented Matt Couts, CIO of Coutts Agro.
Innovative Technology Monitors Plant Health on Tanzanian Coffee Farms
Tanzania ranks as the third-largest coffee producer in Africa, following Ethiopia and Uganda, and is among the top 20 globally. However, the coffee farms are currently facing challenges due to erratic droughts and shifting rainfall patterns, affecting 93% of their production that is exported worldwide.
To assist coffee growers with efficient water management, Cisco is collaborating with the ConSenso Project—a partnership among Tanzanian espresso farmers and Italian researchers—to develop technology that enables plants to “communicate” their hydration needs.
Tunasikia Farm, located in Utengule, Tanzania, has been equipped with 65 solar-powered sensors that gather data on soil conditions, climatic factors, insect activity, and the plants’ electrical fields. This data undergoes analysis on-site before being sent to Florence for in-depth research. According to researchers from the Accademia del Caffè Espresso, much of the underlying technology has been in development for years, making this one of the initial implementations in a real-world farming context.
The coalition envisions that this technology can be scaled up and applied by farmers across Africa, South and Central America, and Southeast Asia.
“The plants hold the answers; we just need to listen,” asserted Massimo Battaglia, coffee research leader at Accademia del Caffè Espresso in Florence.
New Insect Protein Research Center Opens in Canada
Bühler, a leading technology group, along with NRGene Canada—a branch of Israel’s NRGene Technologies Ltd.—has established a significant research and demonstration center focused on insect protein in Canada. This project is seen as a landmark achievement in the evolution of insect-based protein production in North America.
The North American Insect Center (NAIC) serves as both a research and demonstration facility where clients can assess the performance of different black soldier fly varieties for various applications. These flies and their larvae have diverse uses since they feed on organic waste such as manure and carrion, offering a valuable protein source for livestock and acting as fertilizer for agricultural crops.
Consequently, the production of black soldier flies is gaining traction as a viable approach to addressing waste management challenges and protein shortages, with an estimated annual output reaching up to 300 billion individual flies.
Currently, the demand for large-scale insect protein production is around 10,000 metric tons, but projections suggest this demand could soar to as high as 500,000 metric tons by 2030, placing the NAIC in a pivotal position within a rapidly growing market.
“Developing insect proteins as a sustainable source of protein presents substantial business opportunities,” stated Johannes Wick, CEO of Bühler’s Grains & Food division. “This new facility will pave the way for startups and established businesses alike, bringing together the research, tools, technologies, and expertise necessary to optimize the production of protein-rich insect larvae.”
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Maria Sanchez completed her Bachelor’s degree in Plant Sciences from the University of California, Davis, in the USA. Her studies focused on plant genetics and biotechnology, with an emphasis on developing disease-resistant crop varieties. Maria has contributed to several research projects aimed at improving crop resilience to climate change and is now pursuing her Master’s degree in Plant Breeding.
