AgTech Digest is a weekly ten-minute briefing on the deals, funding rounds, acquisitions, product launches and policy moves shaping agriculture technology. Every Friday: who raised, who bought whom, which inputs and machines cleared regulators, and what it means for growers, input companies and investors, drawn from the iGrowNews newsletter and database. Produced by iGrowNews. Narrated with an AI voice from a human-edited script.
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The largest farm carbon deal ever signed covers 4.45 million tonnes across Kazakhstan
Episode 122
Friday, September 11, 2026 โข Duration 11:10
Agricultural carbon just stopped being a pilot project: two record offtakes landed in the same week, one of them 4.45 million tonnes.
Agreena signed a seven-year agreement to sell 4.45 million tonnes of CO2e soil-carbon credits to an unnamed global commodity trading house โ the largest publicly disclosed agricultural carbon deal to date. The credits come from a targeted 1.6 million hectares in northern Kazakhstan's grain belt, Agreena's 21st market, where the move away from conventional tillage is expected to save farmers 40โ60 litres of diesel per hectare. Days later, Mitti Labs committed up to 1 million rice-methane credits to Google by 2030, the largest rice-methane offtake on record, across three Indian states.
Also this week: Innventure opened Food and Agtech Fund II with ecosystem partners including Bayer Crop Science, Aapresid and Bolsa de Comercio de Rosario; Tellia raised $5 million in pre-seed led by Revent for voice data capture in the field, reporting 80% daily active use at Campos Brothers Farms and Duckhorn; Bayer and Neste finalized a commercial agreement to scale newgold winter canola across the U.S. Southern Great Plains; Corteva and Globachem formed a 50/50 crop-protection joint venture for Europe and the Americas; Amoeba secured exclusive European distribution with Syngenta for its Willaertia-based biofungicide from 2028; AMVAC launched Duro LQ and BioWorks launched BioRain Ax; KUHN debuted the 47-foot GMD 15030 mounted disc mower; Napa Green won a $3 million conservation grant with $2 million passed directly to growers; Flyttr broke ground in San Antonio on the first U.S. large-scale pest-biosecurity platform; and Purdue's Ag Economy Barometer rose to 135 in August.
This week's premium edition, Thin Harvest, narrows the ledger to agriculture alone: $670 million flowed into ag in August 2026, a debt-heavy month in which government money and loans outweighed venture rounds and the average check shrank sharply from July โ deal by deal, with M&A and year-to-date context from the iGrow Intelligence database.
Seaweed feed cuts cattle methane by up to 77%, and Japanese investors just funded it
Episode 121
Friday, September 4, 2026 โข Duration 10:08
A seaweed additive that cuts cattle methane by 49โ77% just took its first venture cheque โ in the same week a single Brazilian sugarcane mill changed hands for $148 million.
Adecoagro completed its acquisition of the Caarapรณ Mill from Raรญzen Group for approximately $148 million, folding it into the company's existing three-mill sugarcane-processing cluster in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The all-cash deal, first announced in July, is expected to be immediately accretive to adjusted EBITDA โ and reads as a clear signal that scaled operators are buying capacity from portfolio-pruning majors.
Also this week: DN AGRAR signed a binding offer for Romania's Panorganic Vitavit at about โฌ750,000 ($869K), a 14-hectare glass-greenhouse lettuce site in Arad County it plans to scale from 1.2 million to 2.0 million heads a year; Olam's ofi raised $100 million via a five-year private note; Corvus Robotics closed a $20 million Series A-2 led by Catalyst Investors with S2G Investments, Spero Ventures, F7 Ventures and Cibus; Sunshiki raised pre-seed funding led by SBI New Business Investment to commercialise an Asparagopsis feed additive; Bayer began commercialising Plenexos and the Preceon Smart Corn System toward a goal of 10 products with โฌ500 million-plus peak sales each; AGCO's Fendt staged its first U.S. global tractor launch and CLAAS rolled out a new ARION/AXION lineup; Corteva spin-off Vylor projected $2 billion in incremental revenue by 2035 from a yield-stability corn trait; ADAMA launched Ravari in Latin America and Nofence debuted the N3 cattle collar; the USDA unveiled a Data Modernization Plan with NASA; AgriCapture and Google moved 6,000 acres of Trinity River Basin rice to water-saving irrigation; Chobani broke ground on a $1.2 billion dairy campus in Allentown, Pennsylvania; and the Center for Food Safety sued to overturn EPA approval of the PFAS pesticide trifludimoxazin.
This week's premium edition, Brand Aid, unpacks how America's indoor farms are pivoting away from produce toward CPG brands, cannabis and software โ and what the 2022 boom collapse means for anyone underwriting controlled-environment agriculture today.
In this episode:
(00:00) Cold Open
(00:32) The Impact Scorecard
(02:50) Corporate and Financial Shifts
(04:53) Innovation and Public Strategy
(07:10) Market Signals and Operations
(08:23) Close
The U.S. cattle herd is at its lowest level since 1951, and investors just put $27M behind the platform tracking what's left of it.
Episode 120
Friday, August 28, 2026 โข Duration 11:39
The U.S. cattle herd is at its lowest level since 1951 โ and investors just put $27 million behind the platform tracking what's left of it.
Consolidation defined the week. CropX Technologies acquired lab-analysis firm SCIO โ its eighth acquisition since 2020 and its largest to date, terms undisclosed โ while Indigo Agriculture spun its microbial crop-protection science out as a standalone company, ENAI. At the other end of the cycle, 54-year-old horticultural distributor BFG Supply filed for Chapter 11 with $342.5 million in debt and a $55 million DIP loan, targeting a going-concern sale by October 22 after cutting nearly a third of its workforce.
Also this week: Breedr raised a $27 million Series B led by Partech, with more than 2 million cattle listed and close to $500 million in livestock trading this year; Saudi Arabia's NADEC agreed to pay $22.7 million for a six-hectare Pure Harvest greenhouse in Haradh under Vision 2030; TerraBlaster closed a $12.5 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures for its Mars-derived soil-chemistry sensor; VitalFluid raised a $19.9 million Series A co-led by Invest-NL; Blue Radix took an undisclosed follow-on from Navus; AGCO unveiled new Fendt, Massey Ferguson and PTx equipment at the Farm Progress Show alongside lidar plans with GUSS Automation; Solinftec became the first ag-robotics company to sell parts via Amazon as its Solix fleet grew 15-fold to over 55,000 acres; USDA and HHS committed up to $95 million to the Harvest to Hallways initiative; Al Dahra activated a five-year, $500 million wheat framework with Egypt; Reservoir landed a $10 million R&D partnership with John Deere; Halter expanded virtual fencing onto BLM lands in New Mexico and Wyoming with nearly $3 million from the Foundation for America's Public Lands; and three nonprofits sued Driscoll's over its sustainability marketing.
The premium edition goes deeper: Big Ag Is Buying Its Way Into Biology maps crop protection's pivot from synthetic chemistry to biology โ at least seven biological specialists absorbed into strategic hands, funding back above $500 million in 2026, the first new herbicide and fungicide modes of action in roughly 40 years, and the deleveraging of legacy portfolios at FMC and Bayer.
A salmon farmer just got cleared to raise half a billion dollars in green bonds โ collateralised, effectively, by 300,900 tons of fish.
Norway's Financial Supervisory Authority approved SalMar, based in Frรธya, to list NOK 5 billion (roughly $531 million) in green bonds on the Oslo Stock Exchange, backed by record 2025 harvest volumes. It is one of the larger debt raises to hit the sector this year, and a signal that lenders are now comfortable underwriting aquaculture at scale.
Also this week: Mรฉrieux NutriSciences agreed to acquire Certified Group, further consolidating global food-safety testing; GrubMarket made its first move outside North America by buying UK fresh-produce distributor JR Holland; Haifa-based Ever After Foods acquired Belgium's Fishway with a $2 million strategic investment and aimed its first commercial program at premium pet food rather than retail seafood; Mafix raised $5.4 million pre-seed for a CO2-removing silicon fertilizer, Computomics closed a โฌ6.3 million Series B, and Above Food Ingredients took a $1.375 million strategic investment; Mosaic Biosciences launched Renuvis Enzara, showing stand-establishment gains up to 5.6% across 91 corn-on-corn trial locations and projected savings of $15 to $20 per acre; FarmRaise rolled out Passport across a dozen program partners including Blue Diamond Growers and the USDA Farm Service Agency; HabiTerre launched SYMFONI+, GoSun unveiled the Moonrider solar-electric tractor, and Agtonomy added autonomous maneuvering; Cirkla will build the first US molded-fiber meat-packaging plant in Hall County, Georgia โ a roughly $5 million facility and 140 jobs; Vรถlur signed an annual contract with Spanish pork processor Grupo Avinyรณ; and the Weed Science Society of America put the cost of an Illinois glyphosate ban at up to $609 million a year.
The paid edition this week is a Trends Analysis: Gene Editing Grew Up. The Genetics Land Grab Is On. โ 33 database entries across crop genomics, science and seeds since mid-May, including Tropic's acquisition of Rahan Meristem and Corteva's spinoff of its seed-and-genetics arm as Vylor. The argument: the most valuable asset in agriculture right now is the gene, not the field.
In this episode:
(00:00) Cold Open
(00:57) The Impact Scorecard
(02:38) Corporate and Financial Shifts
(05:01) Innovation and Public Strategy
(07:13) Market Signals and Operations
(08:22) Close
Citrus greening has wiped out 95% of Florida's citrus production โ and this week the EPA registered an RNA-based, non-GMO therapy to fight back.
The week's lead deal came out of Europe: Germany's EW Group completed its acquisition of French natural-solutions maker Olmix from Amadeite and Motion Equity Partners on August 7, adding nine industrial sites and algae-, clay-mineral- and yeast-based biologicals sold across more than 100 countries. Olmix, founded in 1995 and based in Brehan, Brittany, now sits inside a life-sciences holding spanning 300-plus subsidiaries and more than 30,000 employees. Terms were not disclosed.
Also this week: Australian livestock-monitoring firm Ranchbot raised more than $15 million (A$22 million) in a Series B led by Lewis & Clark Partners and Fulcrum Global Capital, standing up a U.S. holding company in Fort Worth, Texas, on the back of roughly 10 million cattle and 15 million sheep monitored for 12,000-plus customers; USDA and DHS signed a New World screwworm memorandum targeting the smuggling of some 800,000 head of cattle a year, about $320 million in illicit trade, with drones and AI-assisted screening at ports of entry; Netafim launched GrowSphere FLEX for smallholders; Varda Foundation open-sourced its SoilHive soil-data platform; Zoetis won emergency-use authorization for Simparica Trio against screwworm; BASF Agricultural Solutions is building a climate research center at its Limburgerhof headquarters; Bongards' Creameries is spending $135 million to add 180 million pounds of process-cheese capacity in Bongards, Minnesota; atNorth and Selected Group will pipe data-center waste heat into a Danish commercial greenhouse; Maple Agro Farms signed an LOI on a 10,000-acre palm oil leasehold in Ghana; and ADAMA named Orly Pascal Chief Human Resources Officer.
This week's premium Trends Analysis edition โ โGene Editing Grew Up. The Genetics Land Grab Is On.โ โ argues crop genetics is now an asset class, citing Tropic's purchase of Rahan Meristem, Corteva's Vylor spin-off, a โฌ300 million EIB loan to Limagrain, and licensing deals linking Bayer, RAGT, Limagrain and Pairwise.
Welcome back, listeners! In today's episode, we dive into the latest developments in AgTech โ the latest consolidation analysis revealing where M&A is reshaping the industry, Diane Holdorf on why nature-positive agriculture requires measurable farm-level data, Corteva and FMC posting strong earnings, Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks partnering on next-generation biological crop protection, Terion launching its first commercial sustainability platform, Semios accelerating post-acquisition integration, and breakthrough advances in digital agriculture, electrification, and wheat genetics. Let's get started!
Hereโs a Quick Snapshot of Whatโs Making Headlines:
Analysis: The Consolidation Map: which segments of AgTech are in active consolidation, which are still fragmenting, and what Q2 and Q3 2026 M&A activity reveals about where institutional buyers see durable value
Interview: Diane Holdorf of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development on the Nature-Positive Agriculture framework and what corporate sustainability commitments actually require at the farm level
Earnings: Corteva posts a strong Q2 beat with seed and crop protection both outperforming; FMC raises full-year guidance; Syngenta Group confirms H1 seed growth offsetting crop protection softness; Mosaic announces CEO transition
Partnerships: Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks sign a precision fermentation partnership for next-generation biological crop protection; Bosch Rexroth secures a major electrification deal for agricultural machinery with a European OEM
Data & AI: Terion โ the Flagship Pioneering company โ launches its first commercial data product, a sustainability verification platform connecting farm-level data to corporate supply chain commitments
Integration: Semios publishes its first post-Pessl Instruments integration update โ iMETOS weather data now flowing into Semios pest and disease models across 10 countries
Connect with Us!
Corteva, Nutrien, AGCO, AppHarvest, Benson Hill, Invaio Sciences, Semios, Pessl Instruments, Rothamsted Research
Welcome back, listeners! In today's episode, we dive into the latest strides in AgTech โ the data ownership question and why farm data is becoming a power issue as AI gets embedded in agricultural decisions, Pieter Lommen of Delphy on why CEA projects fail before they buy their first climate computer, Bayer cutting full-year crop science guidance, Bowery Farming's IP auction concluding across three buyers, Loam Bio's first commercial soil carbon credit sale, and Land O'Lakes expanding its Microsoft AI precision farming collaboration to 100 million acres. Let's get started!
Hereโs a Quick Snapshot of Whatโs Making Headlines:
Analysis: The Data Ownership Question: who owns the data generated on a farm, why current contracts largely favour platforms over farmers, and why the answer is about to matter much more as AI gets embedded in agricultural decision-making
Interview: Pieter Lommen of Delphy on practical CEA consulting โ translating Dutch greenhouse science into commercially viable operations globally, crop-specific knowledge transfer, and why implementation matters more than technology
Earnings: Bayer cuts FY crop science guidance citing US herbicide pricing pressure and glyphosate market dynamics; FMC reports better-than-expected Q2 on Latin America volume; Yara Q2 EBITDA up 14% on ammonia margins; Syngenta Group H1 revenues broadly stable
M&A: BioAtlantis acquired by a strategic buyer โ Irish seaweed bioactives company exits after 20-plus years; Bowery Farming IP auction concludes with hydroponic patents going to three separate buyers
Launch: Protelum launches commercially โ plant-based protein ingredient from lupin and faba bean targeting food reformulation; Loam Bio completes first commercial soil carbon credit sale under its CSIRO-validated methodology
Partnerships: Syngenta and Indigo Ag's Terion sign a multi-year agronomic data sharing agreement; Land O'Lakes and Microsoft expand their AI precision farming collaboration to cover 100 million acres
Welcome back, listeners! In today's episode, we dive into the latest strides in AgTech โ the data ownership question and why farm data is becoming a power issue as AI gets embedded in agricultural decisions, Pieter Lommen of Delphy on why CEA projects fail before they buy their first climate computer, Bayer cutting full-year crop science guidance, Bowery Farming's IP auction concluding across three buyers, Loam Bio's first commercial soil carbon credit sale, and Land O'Lakes expanding its Microsoft AI precision farming collaboration to 100 million acres. Let's get started!
Hereโs a Quick Snapshot of Whatโs Making Headlines:
Analysis: The Data Ownership Question: who owns the data generated on a farm, why current contracts largely favour platforms over farmers, and why the answer is about to matter much more as AI gets embedded in agricultural decision-making
Interview: Pieter Lommen of Delphy on practical CEA consulting โ translating Dutch greenhouse science into commercially viable operations globally, crop-specific knowledge transfer, and why implementation matters more than technology
Earnings: Bayer cuts FY crop science guidance citing US herbicide pricing pressure and glyphosate market dynamics; FMC reports better-than-expected Q2 on Latin America volume; Yara Q2 EBITDA up 14% on ammonia margins; Syngenta Group H1 revenues broadly stable
M&A: BioAtlantis acquired by a strategic buyer โ Irish seaweed bioactives company exits after 20-plus years; Bowery Farming IP auction concludes with hydroponic patents going to three separate buyers
Launch: Protelum launches commercially โ plant-based protein ingredient from lupin and faba bean targeting food reformulation; Loam Bio completes first commercial soil carbon credit sale under its CSIRO-validated methodology
Partnerships: Syngenta and Indigo Ag's Terion sign a multi-year agronomic data sharing agreement; Land O'Lakes and Microsoft expand their AI precision farming collaboration to cover 100 million acres
Connect with Us!
CasClear, CRISPR, and AI in Soybean Genetics: New AgTech Frontiers - Interview with Matt Begemann Interview
Unlock the future of agtech and CRISPR with this deep dive into the world of soybean innovation and next-gen crop defense! Matt Begeman, a key voice from Confluence Genetics, unveils how his team is driving breakthroughs in seed genetics and leveraging cutting-edge technologies like CasClear. From transforming the profitability and sustainability landscape for growers to exploring the epic potential of CRISPR-based antimicrobials and cell-specific cancer therapies, this episode journeys across the science and strategy shaping global food and health systems.
Listen in to discover:
The intricate challenges and opportunities facing modern soybean growers
How AI and advanced breeding accelerate development of nutrient-rich, high-value crops
The story behind CasClear and its powerful implications for agricultureโand even cancer treatment
Why data, partnerships, and strategic tech licensing are changing the game
If youโre passionate about the intersection of biology, technology, and agriculture, this episode is packed with thought-provoking insights you wonโt want to miss!
5 Key Takeaways
Take your agricultural strategy to the next level with these essential insights:
AI-driven breeding models like CropOS can significantly accelerate soybean variety development and optimize desired traitsโembrace technology to boost your crop outcomes.
Creating higher-value soybean products with specialty traits unlocks premium markets for growersโseek out partnerships to increase your profitability per acre.
Gene editing and CRISPR-based innovations, such as CasClear, are expanding possibilities for crop protection and qualityโstay informed and engaged with cutting-edge solutions.
Gathering and leveraging high-quality, connected sequence and phenotype data is key to successful breeding and product innovationโinvest in your data strategy.
Memorable QuotesConnect with MattResources MentionedConnect with Us!
Groupe Flore, Groupe Thomas Plants, Tecnosem, Kimitec, DVC Partners, Royal Berry, Dutch Berries, Rize, BNP Paribas Asset Management Alts,
Welcome back, listeners! In today's episode, we dive into the latest strides in AgTech โ tariffs adding 8 to 23% to agricultural hardware costs and splitting the sector between those who localized early and those who didn't, a sharply divided earnings season with Corteva up and AGCO down 18%, three company exits including AppHarvest, Benson Hill, and Invaio Sciences each telling a different story, Semios acquiring Pessl Instruments for sensor hardware, and a 180-year Rothamsted dataset showing UK arable soil carbon declining despite organic matter additions. Let's get started!
Hereโs a Quick Snapshot of Whatโs Making Headlines:
Analysis: Tariff impact on AgTech hardware: steel, aluminum, and semiconductor duties adding 8 to 23% to equipment costs, supply chains rerouting, and an early mover advantage emerging for companies that localized manufacturing ahead of the current cycle
Earnings: Corteva Q2 strong with seed and crop protection both up; AGCO Q2 weak on North American volume declines; Deere reaffirms full-year guidance; Nutrien raises its potash volume outlook for 2026
Exits: AppHarvest assets sold to AppTech Group in a court-supervised process; Benson Hill formally begins wind-down after failing to find a buyer; Invaio Sciences closes operations
M&A: Semios acquires Pessl Instruments, adding weather stations and soil sensors to its pest and disease monitoring platform; Trimble completes restructuring of its agriculture division into a standalone business unit
Digital Ag: CBH Group launches its digital grain platform across Western Australia; WinField United launches an AI agronomic advisory tool for its network of independent retailers
Sustainability: Yara and CF Industries sign a green ammonia offtake agreement; Nufarm and Corteva expand their omega-3 canola commercial partnership across Australia and Canada
Resear: Rothamsted Research publishes 180-year dataset showing UK soil carbon declining in arable fields at 0.17% per year despite organic matter additions โ a significant finding for net-zero commitments
Connect with Us!
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Discover shows related to AgTech Digest: Weekly Agriculture Technology News & Deals, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
Funding: Aigen raises $28M Series B for solar-powered micro-robot weeding; Agrosphere raises $5M seed for satellite-driven insurance parametrics; Xarvio Field Manager reaches 50 million hectares under management
Events: Commercial UAV Expo (Las Vegas, September 1st to 3rd), Taiwan Smart Agriweek (September 8th to 10th), Women in Agribusiness Global Summit (New Orleans), Global Agrovet Research Conference (Dubai), EIMA International (Bologna)
Funding: Naio Technologies raises 30M euros for vegetable crop weeding robotics; Persephone Biome raises $12M Series A for microbiome-based crop health; Tarfin raises $20M to expand agricultural credit access in Turkey
Events: Commercial UAV Expo (Las Vegas), Taiwan Smart Agriweek, Women in Agribusiness Global Summit (New Orleans), Global Agrovet Research Conference (Dubai), EIMA International (Bologna)
Funding: Naio Technologies raises 30M euros for vegetable crop weeding robotics; Persephone Biome raises $12M Series A for microbiome-based crop health; Tarfin raises $20M to expand agricultural credit access in Turkey
Events: Commercial UAV Expo (Las Vegas), Taiwan Smart Agriweek, Women in Agribusiness Global Summit (New Orleans), Global Agrovet Research Conference (Dubai), EIMA International (Bologna)
Strategic collaborations and technology licensing can help expand the reach of impactful platformsโconsider partnerships to amplify innovation and business growth.
"So if we could take our CasClear technology, design it specifically for their cancer, deliver it to that individual, and basically deliver cell-specific chemotherapy where it only destroys the cancer cells and leaves all the normal cells intact. That's the conceptual idea we've built with CasClear in the oncology space."
"Our goal is to enable as many different companies to use this technology as we can because I can't work on soybeans, antimicrobials, and oncology all at the same time. We've really got to partner with other companies to make this successful."
"If you have decades worth of phenotype data but you've never sequenced your populations or understand your population structure, you're also kind of stuck. You've got to really pull both of these together to enable those AI tools to really drive your breeding organization forward and make better products at the end of the day."
Events: Commercial UAV Expo (Las Vegas), Taiwan Smart Agriweek, Women in Agribusiness Global Summit (New Orleans), Global Agrovet Research Conference (Dubai), EIMA International (Bologna)
