You may have seen The Production Board crop up on a few agrifood tech investments, but there's little publicly-available information about the investment holding company founded by David Friedberg. Until now.
According to the report, some $85 million worth of farmland in its first fund — Vital Farmland LP — generated a financial return of 67%, but also $21.4 million in ecosystem service value, which accrues to the surrounding communities and environment.
We caught up with farmland investor Shonda Warner to find out where frustrations with agtech startups start for farmers, and what low commodities prices mean for tech startups.
While a number of outside investors have been great assets to our industry, many others have been a net negative for agriculture, writes Jim Budzynski.
We are very proud of the coverage we've given the food and agriculture technology market over the year, but there are always, of course, stories in other publications that we wish we'd written!
Sixty-seven percent of the large institutional investors invested in agriculture in Prequin's database said they were interested in investing in agtech.
US farmland values fell 0.2 percent in Q3, representing a shift from 0.7 percent growth during Q2. Whole Foods is in a spot over two cases of Hepatitis in Detroit, while Western Growers plans to award startups at its upcoming AGM.
Public and philanthropic investors provide the bulk of funding for initiative trying to reverse or prevent land degradation globally, but there's a role for private investors too, argues Renee Cheung, founder of Bonterra Partners.
Today BEE, a Mexican-American agricultural venture development firm, comes out of stealth to launch an end-to-end agriculture platform for emerging markets.
An Australian farmland fund joined a drone company, microbe manufacturer, consumer products, and food e-commerce startup to raise funding and highlighting the diversity of the ag investment space.
A private equity exit, a new hire in the farmland investment market, continued public concern over GE food labeling, and the plight of the bee contribute to this week's industry-in-brief.
Fish traceability, Paine & Partners Verdesian Life Sciences, farmland investment, GMO labeling, and dangerous pesticides make up this week's Industry-in-Brief.
Three industry mergers & acquisitions top this week's Industry-in-Brief as the debate over GM salmon and food labeling continues, and a Saudi Arabian dairy company's purchase of alfalfa land in California causes concern.
Last month AgFunderNews caught up with Andy Ziolkowski, managing director at Chicago-based agtech VC Cultivian Sandbox, to discuss a growing trend for investing in both farmland and agtech.
