Nina Sparling, Author at AgFunderNews

Nina Sparling

Scholarship Fund at Rodale Institute to Train Young Farmers to Grow Organic

August 31, 2018

The Next Generation Scholarship Fund will provide interns with housing, food, education, and a weekly stipend.

Ag Industry Brief: USDA Approves CRISPR-Edited Food While Bucking NOSB Recommendations, more

April 6, 2018

The USDA makes multiple impactful rulings while Food System 6 Accelerator chooses a new cohort and BayWa announces an agtech competition in this week’s brief.

US Farm Management Software Market to Reach $1.62bn – Report

April 4, 2018

Working from data collected from a survey of 1490 farmers in January 2018, a new report estimates the US market for farm management software could grow to $1.62 billion.

Ag Industry Brief: Drones and Ag Inputs See M&A, Indoor Growers Form Safety Working Group, Corporate VC Staff Shift, more

March 30, 2018

One agrifood tech VC vet heads from Monsanto Growth Ventures to Temasek while indoor growers get together to develop industry safety standards, plus agtech M&A in this week’s brief.

Ag Industry Brief: Y Combinator Sweet On Cultured Meat, Granular Partners with Planet, Another Startup Pays for Data, more

March 23, 2018

Granular and Monsanto have new partners, Y Combinator requests cultured meat proposals and more in this week’s brief.

Social Enterprise Raises $3m to Digitally Support Smallholder Farmers in Myanmar

March 19, 2018

The bulk of Impact Terra’s new funding will support Smart Agriculture Myanmar (SAM), a project that uses remote sensing to provide advice to farmers about crop timing, pest management, and irrigation.

Ag Industry Brief: More Exec Churn at Chipotle, EU Changes Protocol on GMOs, TechAccel Funds New Grants, more

March 16, 2018

Chipotle loses a controversial executive, cultured leather comes to New York, TechAccel commits to innovation at UC Davis, and more in this week’s brief.

Ag Industry Brief: Insect M&A, Kraft Heinz Launches Incubator, Startup Makes Egg Protein from Fungi, more

March 9, 2018

A major insect farm purchases a CPG startup, Kraft Heinz gets in the startup incubation game and more in this week’s brief.

Ag Industry Brief: Bowery Opening Second Farm, JUST Eyes Africa, Dan Barber Starts Selling Seeds, more

March 2, 2018

Indoor farming startup Bowery is opening a second farm while chef Dan Barber starts selling seeds and JUST creates a product just for Africa, plus more in our weekly brief.

Indian Milk Delivery Disrupter Raises $2.2m Seed Round from Omnivore

February 27, 2018

Doodhwala is building its own logistics service, overriding India’s established and complex network of middlemen and dealing directly with farmers.

Ag Industry Brief: Tyson Partners with Accelerators, CRISPR 3.0 Gets a Patent, Unilever Moves Toward Transparency, more

February 23, 2018

Benson Hill Biosystems patents CRISPR 3.0 while Tyson Foods looks to accelerators for innovation plus more in our weekly brief.

Women in Agtech: Serial Foodtech Entrepreneur Jennifer Goggin Ponders a Food Supply Chain Run by Women

February 20, 2018

We caught up with Goggin about working in the supply chain and with legacy grocery stores – both corners of the food system dominated by men.

Ag Industry Brief: Syngenta Acquires FarmShots Plus More M&A, Trimble Joins THRIVE, more

February 16, 2018

North Carolina-based satellite data analytics startup FarmShots has been acquired by Syngenta for an undisclosed amount plus more in our weekly brief.

Ag Industry Brief: Walmart Buys into VR, Nestle Bets on AI with Nuritas, Florida Citrus Growers Get Some Relief, more

February 9, 2018

Both Walmart and Nestle are getting into new technologies while Florida citrus growers get some relief and the cannabis industry gets some M&A, plus more in our weekly brief.

Newly Implemented FDA Produce Rules Offer Food Safety Startups a Boost

February 8, 2018

Produce farmers from the Salinas Valley to the Hudson Valley are beginning to make sense of a new set of rules that regulate how they do business.

Ag Industry Brief: USDA Makes Digital Moves, Argentina Supports AgriFood Startups, Wheatsheaf Comes to America, more

February 2, 2018

The USDA is shuffling its digital tools to catch up with times while Argentina’s government sends millions toward agrifood startups and more in our weekly brief.

Ag Industry Brief: Gates Puts $40m Behind Livestock Vaccinations, Kroger Courts Alibaba, New John Deere Partners, more

January 26, 2018

Bill Gates invests $40 million in livestock health research through a Scottish non-profit, Kroger wants to challenge Amazon with the help of Alibaba, and more in our weekly brief.

Ag Industry Brief: Plenty Makes Plans in China, Remote Sensing Startups Merge, Ex-Cisco CEO Invests in Agtech, more

January 19, 2018

Indoor farm Plenty makes plans in China while startups merge and launch new products in this week’s brief.

US Govt Task Force Calls For Smoother Path to Market for Ag Biotech Innovation

January 15, 2018

According to the US Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity agtech innovations are a key means to better business and improved life for rural Americans.