Tag: biological

Why plant nutrition is the driver of soil regeneration

March 27, 2023

While it is true, as the saying goes, that ‘healthy soils produce healthy plants’, the question is: “What creates healthy soils?” asks John Kempf.

Innovation in agriculture and food and its vital role in fighting climate change

January 4, 2023

Through innovation, six major trends, from agrifintech to farm management software, are repositioning the sector and unlocking its game-changing potential.

Brief: Vive Crop Protection closes $26m Series C to accelerate precision chemistry

August 24, 2022

Vive Crop Protection, a Canadian developer of crop protection products, plans to hold a second close of the round later this year as other investors continue due diligence.

EXCLUSIVE: Brazil’s Decoy scores $2m seed round to bring biologicals to animal ag

April 28, 2022

When it comes to crops, biologicals are all the rage as a means to reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint – and increasingly as a solution to supply chain disruption. Decoy says livestock will be next.

Data Snapshot: As agrochemical prices skyrocket, so do investments in biological alternatives

February 16, 2022

Startups developing biological crop inputs secured a total of $892 million in funding last year.

Syngenta acquires biologicals company Valagro

October 6, 2020

Italy’s Valagro produces biostimulants and specialty nutrients for farming, as well as specialty ingredients for use in food, cosmetics, and animal feed.

How the Colorado potato beetle inspired a $102 million fundraise – and could yet inspire a Covid-19 vaccine

June 17, 2020

Switching sharply to developing a vaccine for Covid-19 appears to have proved a boon for GreenLight Biosciences, a company that previously focused on developing biological pesticides.

Andes Ag is integrating seeds with beneficial microbes to combat inherent delivery challenges for biologics

June 9, 2020

You’ve probably heard of microbials used as seed coating and soil amendments but what about incorporating them directly into seeds?

Biotalys increases Series C to $55m to mimic the immunity of certain animals in biological crop protection

March 9, 2020

Chemical fungicides are a tried and tested way to get rid of fungal outbreaks like powdery mildew and botrytis; but many of these are coming under scrutiny from consumers and regulators. So Biotalys is working to produce biological alternatives by mimicking the immune response of certain animals, such as llamas.

BRIEF: Boost Biomes raises seed funding from Japan’s Kureha to develop microbial products for ag

February 25, 2020

Boost’s microbe discovery platform enables it to conduct multiple micro-experiments to measure the performance and interactions of different microbes in agriculture.

Bayer is betting on chemical ag with new herbicide slated for 2030. What about biologics?

February 18, 2020

Although it’s interested in biologics, it claims farmers still need the high rate of efficacy that chemical agriculture has to offer.

One future of pest control: Grow and release swarms of sterile male insects

February 5, 2020

UK-based BigSIS has closed a pre-seed round of funding, AFN can reveal.

AgroSustain aims to curb food waste with time-release biologicals

January 23, 2020

The Swiss company has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from California-based Agroecology Capital, an agtech venture capital firm.

Uh, can you spell that again? Belgium’s AgroSavfe rebrands as Biotalys

December 10, 2019

Belgium’s startups are not always so easy to spell. For Ghent-based AgroSavfe, dire misspells have been an unfortunate but perhaps an avoidable feature since its founding and naming back in 2013.

Plant Response Biotech merges with Koch spin-out in first move of biologicals roll-up

November 18, 2019

Plant Response Biotech has merged with Koch Biological Solutions in the first of a planned series of “rollup” deals for the biological crop input category, AFN can exclusively reveal. Read on to get the scoop on how this deal came about.

Paine Schwartz is eyeing plant-based revolution with new $1.5bn PE fund

November 6, 2019

Institutional investors are increasingly looking to invest in important sectors that matter and food and agriculture is one of them, according to Kevin Schwartz.

“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” – how crop tech startups like Lavie Bio chart the market

September 10, 2019

The Tel Aviv-based biologicals startup is leveraging an investment from Corteva to introduce and market a new line of biological crop treatments.

Terramera raises $45m Series B on mission to reduce chemical use in ag by 80%

September 5, 2019

Karn Manhas, CEO of Terramera, believes organic input products could soon be as effective if not more effective than damaging chemicals used today.

Brief: AgroSpheres raises $4m Series A with Ospraie, Wilbur Ellis, for ‘Minicell’ pesticide tech

August 28, 2019

The Virginia-based startup is developing a novel delivery system for crop protection products using nano-technology for its ‘Minicell’ platform.

How fertilizer companies are using technology to stay relevant

August 5, 2019

Charlotte Hebebrand, is director-general of the International Fertilizer Association (IFA), a nonprofit organization that represents the global fertilizer industry, on issues related to the promotion