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.
2017 was a year of extremes in agrifood tech investing. Large deals pushed the total investment volume up to post an encouraging 29% growth, but deal count fell by 17% to 949, with the most dramatic contraction at the crucial seed stage.
Only 3% of growers are currently using robotic harvesting, but there is indeed a constituency for early-stage robotics technology, a recent report reveals.
Plant-based protein startups using technology to create and mass produce their products have traditionally received support from a small but dedicated group of investors, which is increasingly being joined by major food and agriculture players as this trend solidifies.
A small group of farm robotics startups is taking on various farming tasks in the hopes of saving labor, adding efficiency, and improving precision agriculture.
The data used to answer increasing inquiries about the sustainability of large agrifood company supply chains is not keeping up with the pace of demand, leading to figures that are largely theoretical.
A recent report evaluating new innovations in the food system based on potential impact on post-harvest food waste and commercial feasibility reveals what the authors call “high-priority investible innovations.”
Though historical Israeli agritech strengths are in irrigation and water management, and livestock and poultry, smart farming has developed three times faster than other sectors, with 29 new companies forming in the last five years.
In a comprehensive assessment of the potential for automation by McKinsey, agriculture ranked fourth with a 57% potential for automation, behind accommodation and food services (73%), manufacturing (60%), and transportation and warehousing (60%).
Since 2014, insect startups raised $124 million. Of this, $4.2 million went to companies creating consumer products for human consumption - the rest went to insect farming operations.
Early stage investment in agrifood tech startups reached $4.4 billion in the first half of 2017, posting a 6% year-over-year increase reversing the downward trend of 2016 when agrifood tech investing dropped 17% to $6.9 billion from $8.3 billion in 2015.
After a series of high profile acquisitions and more likely on the way, China is poised to have a much larger footprint in the global food supply chain in the near future, according to a new report from Rabobank.
Smart farming is the use of digital technologies on the farm to help farmers manage their operations more reliably and efficiently, largely through precision agriculture.
Brexit presents an opportunity for the UK to re-pivot, refocus and redeploy its capital and energies towards the nation’s value-added agricultural technologies and cutting-edge science capabilities, writes Richard Ferguson.