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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

ag tech

Soli Organic to Advance Indoor, Soil-Based Agriculture Through Selective Breeding, AI, and Machine Learning

Soli Organic (previously known as Shenandoah Growers) is an agriculture company that operates indoor growing operations to produce organic culinary herbs. Today, the company announced two new partnerships with Rutgers University and AI/IoT company Koidra that will help enhance its cost advantage and increase the accessibility and affordability of its products.

In the multi-year partnership with Rutgers University, Soli Organic will work with plant breeding experts from the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The focus of the collaboration is to optimize the nutrition, flavor, aroma, and yields of selected crops. Additionally, the partners will research what crops that are not feasible for outdoor production but are potentially viable for commercial production in an indoor growing operation.

While leafy greens and herbs are often the most popular types of crops grown via indoor cultivation, there is vast potential for additional crops in this space. Dr. James (Jim) Simon, the Director of the Rutgers New Use Agriculture and Natural Plant Products Program, said, “Of the over 400,000 plant species on the planet, we consume less than 100. We have not even scratched the surface of the different flavors and textures of plants. What will be key to a sustainable future is identifying plants that offer consumers the highest nutrient density combined with flavor, texture and shelf appeal, and the lowest possible environmental impact.”

With Koidra’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, Soli Organic intends to automate the operation of its growing facilities. This technology will not necessarily replace human growers, but streamline operations and allow growers to make data-informed decisions. In a greenhouse setting, Koidra use of artificial intelligence, data collection, and sensing technology is able to increase yields, profitability, and consistency.

“Soli Organic is relentless in our pursuit of technologies and partnerships that support our vision to offer our retailer partners and consumers nationwide a variety of nutrient-dense, differentiated fresh products in a manner that maximizes profitability while minimizing environmental impact,” said Soli Organic’s Chief Science Officier Tessa Pocock about the new partnerships.

Soli Organic has seven growing facilities and supplies to 20,000 retailers across the country. According to the company, it is the only indoor grower that has soil-based, controlled environment growing operations. Most of the big players in this space, like Gotham Greens, Bright Farms, and Bowery Farming, use hydroponic growing methods instead.

If you have ever seen indoor-grown greens or herbs in your grocery store, you may have noticed that most of these products are a bit pricier than the standard options. Soli Organic already offers affordable herbs, but following the new partnerships, hopes to bring even more indoor-grown produce to consumers.


Food & Ag-Tech Companies Make TIME’s Best 100 Inventions of 2021 List

Every year, TIME puts together a list of 100 inventions that change the way we live for the better. The publication judges contenders, who were nominated by TIME’s editors and correspondents, based on creativity, originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact.

The list spans multiple categories, such as accessibility, artificial intelligence, consumer electronics, fitness, medical care, transportation, and of course, food and drink. This year the list featured a whole bunch of food tech, including many companies The Spoon has previously covered like SAVRPak, MeliBio, InnerPlant, and Upside Foods.

Here are just a few that made the list:

Kuleana

This San-Francisco-based food tech start-up has developed a “sushi-grade” plant-based tuna made from ingredients like algae, koji, radish, bamboo, and potato. Kuleana‘s tuna deep red color mimics ahi tuna, and it also contains nutrients like B-12, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids. Like regular tuna, alternative tuna filet can be eaten in poke bowls, sushi, and ceviche. The start-ups next planned product is plant-based salmon.

SAVRPak

The goal of SAVRPak is to eliminate food waste, and keep delivery food warm and not soggy. In October of this year, the company unveiled a prototype of its delivery packaging aimed at keeping food at 140o or above for more than 20 minutes. The start-up has also developed small packs that can be placed inside to-go food boxes that absorb moisture to keep food fresh and crisp.

Sfoglini Cascatelli

This invention is relatively low-tech, but as one of the three best inventions in the “food and drink” category, it’s worth a mention. Dan Pashman, foodie and the host of The Sporkful podcast, could not find a pasta shape that held the ideal amount of pasta sauce, stayed on the fork, and was satisfying to sink your teeth into. He, therefore, decided to invent, the Cascatelli pasta, which is a short, ruffled noodle that has a half tube shape. The pasta is manufactured by pasta company Sfoglini, and it costs $19.96 for 4 lbs.

MeliBio

Using synthetic biology and precision fermentation, MeliBio has developed plant-based honey that has the same taste, texture, and mouthfeel as honey made from bees. Earlier this year in March, the start-up raised a pre-seed round totaling $850,000. To hear more about the company, watch The Spoon’s interview with the founder Darko Mandich.

Upside Foods

Upside Foods announced in May of this year that its first product will be cultured chicken, which is still pending regulatory approval. Since then, the start-up unveiled its state-of-the-art facilities (totaling 53,000 square feet) in Emeryville, California where it will be capable of producing up to 50,000 pounds of cultivated chicken every year. Check out a glimpse inside the new facilities here.

InnerPlant Innersoy Living Sensor

InnerPlant edits the DNA of plants to enable them to glow a certain color when the plant is stressed from lack of water or under attack from pests or fungal infection. The start-up has so far worked with tomato and Arabidopsis plants, and InnerSoy is the plant it is currently working on commercializing. InnerPlant recently gave The Spoon an exclusive viewing of its glowing living sensor plants, and you can watch the video here.

Napa Valley Winery Uses Cisco’s IoT Sensors in Vineyard

Bouchaine Vineyards, based in Napa Valley, California, shared this week that it has integrated Cisco Systems‘ sensor technology throughout its 100 acres of vineyards.

The Cisco Industrial Asset Vision sensors are installed in multiple areas throughout the vineyard to gather data points, including humidity, water availability, temperature, and light. Large vineyards are broken up into “blocks” separated based on topographic features or soil type. The sensors track data block-by-block and upload it to a real-time dashboard.

Each block might receive a different amount of light, and Cisco’s technology can determine how much light is hitting each grapevine in a single block. This information gives insight into the development of tannins and can also be used to inform leafing, fruit thinning, and irrigation of the vines.

A critical insight for the California-based vineyard is water usage. With California constantly experiencing droughts and strain on water sources, knowing when to irrigate is essential. Since the sensors track temperature, this can help the winery irrigate the vines when only necessary, therefore reducing its water usage.

According to a study done by Cornell University, climate change has reduced farm productivity by 20 percent since the 1960s. As a result, farmers are increasingly embracing Internet of Things technology like Cisco’s to monitor and adapt to changes in temperature, precipitation, and humidity to fight back. Arable has developed sensor-filled discs that monitor metrics like rainfall, humidity, soil moisture, plant temperature, solar radiation, wind speed and direction, and chlorophyll index. InnerPlant actually turns plants into “living sensors” that change color when something is wrong with it (disease, pests, not enough water, etc.). Another agtech company called CropX uses in-ground sensors to measure soil moisture.

In addition to sensors, Bouchaine uses Cisco Webex, a virtual meeting and event platform, to allow its customers to book virtual tastings through the winery. In the virtual tastings, customers can view a live stream of the vineyard, and a dashboard with information gathered from the sensors.

John Deere Acquires Bear Flag Robotics for $250M

John Deere announced today that it is acquiring autonomous tractor driving technology startup Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million. According to the press announcement, “The deal accelerates the development and delivery of automation and autonomy on the farm and supports John Deere’s long-term strategy to create smarter machines with advanced technology to support individual customer needs.”

Bear Flag’s technology turns tractors into self-driving vehicles, allowing them to autonomously complete tasks such as spraying, mowing, discing and rippling. The fact that Bear Flag sold for that much is pretty impressive, considering the company had only raised a total $12.5 million.

But the big price tag is a reflection of the growing importance of automation in agriculture, which is in the midst of severe labor shortages that are getting worse. In addition to being short staffed, farm work is hard work that can involve heavy lifting in extreme heat for long hours, or managing fields in inclement weather. Automation like that from Bear Flag Robotics can run in adverse conditions without needing to take a break or run the risk of getting injured. Additionally, automation and robots can bring about more data and precision to agricultural processes, reducing the amount of herbicides and pesticides used, as well as optimizing fertilizer and water usage.

As is always the case in a market sector when a big acquisition happens, industry watchers will start to guess who the next acquisition target will be. There are actually a number of ag tech robotics startups that could be, well, ripe for picking. Augean Robotics and Future Acres both make autonomous vehicle platforms for farms that are meant to haul crops and gear around. Farmwise makes an autonomous weeding robot. And Small Robot Company makes a trio of autonomous robots to map and zap weeds.

It’s also worth noting that this is not John Deere’s first trip to the farm robot rodeo. In 2017 the company bought Blue River Technology, which made the LettuceBot robot for $305 million.

If you want to learn more about agricultural automation, check out the video from the “Crops and Robots: How Automation is Changing Agriculture” panel we held at our ArticulATE food robotics conference in May that featured Aubrey Donnellan, Founder and COO of Bear Flag Robotics (Spoon Plus subscription required).

Food Tech News: Vanillin Made From Plastic Waste, Plant-Based Pâté, and Strella Biotechnology’s Win

The sun is sweltering, the flowers are in full bloom, and food tech news is coming in hot. In this week’s roundup, we have news on the launch of a plant-based pâté, the winner of GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition, scientists transforming used plastic into a food flavoring, and a fully compostable coffee pod.

Plant-based pâté launches in U.S.

Plantcraft shared in an email this week that its plant-based pâté has entered the U.S. market after launching in Erewhon’s (an organic grocer in the Los Angeles area) six locations. The plant-based pâté is made from a combination of ingredients including green banana flour, golden flax seeds, sunflower protein, and grapeseed oil. In the plant-based space, many companies produce meat analogs like burger patties, sausages, crumbles, and strips, but alternatives to charcuterie meats like pâté are uncommon. In addition to pâté, Plantcraft will also launch plant-based pepperoni slices, which will debut in August at the National Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you do not live near an Erewhon, Plantcraft will be making its pâté available for foodservice locations and on its website in the upcoming months.

Strella Biotechnology wins first prize in lab pitch competition

Strella Biotechnology is an ag-tech startup that uses sensors to measure produce maturity, and it was recently announced the winner of the third-annual GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition. The startup won the first prize of $10,000 and will be writing a white paper with GS1 about supply chain practices and how technology can be used to improve them. The company has recently been focused on is expanding its apples and pear packing business, where it monitors the storage of these perishables for packers. Additionally, Strella has gotten involved in monitoring shipping containers traveling overseas filled with perishable produce. Katherine Sizov, the founder of Strella, said the company is currently hiring and looking to partner with more retail chains.

Scientists convert post consumer plastic to vanillin

A team of scientists from the University of Edinburgh has discovered a novel method of converting post-consumer PET plastic to vanillin, an organic compound often used as a flavoring agent in the food industry. For the conversion, the team engineered the bacteria E. coli to transform a molecule derived from PET, called terephthalic acid. This transformation resulted in the molecule that gives real vanilla its taste and smell. Vanillin, produced from various sources such as wood pulp, raw petrochemical materials, or biomass, is cheaper and easier to come by than real vanilla, which is a product of orchids. The researchers believe that the vanillin they produced could be consumed by humans, but more research needs to be conducted to confirm.

NEXE launches fully compostable coffee pods

NEXE Innovations, a material company that develops plant-based products, shared this week about the launch of its new coffee products packaged in compostable pods under the brand XOMA Superfoods. The coffee pods can be used in a Keurig, and varieties include mushroom-infused, MCT-infused, and high-fat Keto coffee. The pod packaging is made from plant fiber, compostable polymers, and a bamboo casing, and is fully compostable in as little as 35 days. NEXE encourages consumers to dispose of the pods in the green commercial composting bins, but also says that pods can be added to your backyard composting set up. The pods are currently available for purchase, and the Xoma variety pack consists of 12 pods that costs $11.99.

Subpod Takes the Mess (and Smell) Out of Composting

Composting is a seemingly simple solution that all of us could participate in to help reduce the amount of food waste that enters the landfill. However, we offer plenty of excuses not to do it, like our available space or the smell. Enter the Subpod. This startup is producing mini composting units that are buried directly into your garden, keeping it out of sight — and smell.

The Subpod Mini is capable of composting up to 22 lbs of food per week, which is impressive considering its small size (16.93″ high by 19.45″ wide and 17.72″ deep). What makes this composting system different than other traditional models is that it is inserted directly into a garden bed and functions as a worm farm. It requires the same amount of effort as a traditional system, as the user’s job is only to dump composting scraps into the unit. From here, the worms and microbes in the soil do the work of breaking down the scraps. A head of lettuce takes roughly seven days to breakdown in the Subpod Mini.

One slight downside to this setup is that worms are required for it to work. Approximately 500 composting worms must be purchased separately, which can be found locally or online for about $40-$50.

Roughly 108 billion pounds of food is wasted each year in America, which is a lot of extra (and unnecessary) weight in our landfills. In addition to reducing the amount of food in landfills, composting can also reduce methane emissions, and increase water retention and carbon sequestration when added to the soil. A German-based startup called Kalea launched an in-home composter that converts food scraps to compost in 48 hours, but the appliance will set you back $889 USD. Vitamix also released an in-home composter that is compact enough to fit on a counter, and it is priced more affordably at $399.

It’s great the startups all over the globe are offering different equipment to deal with food waste on an individual level. There are a growing number of options to choose from for managing food waste, but it seems to come down to simply getting people to commit to composting. For those who are interested in composting, the Subpod Mini is available at a reduced pre-order price of $119 for a limited time. Pre-orders are expected to ship out in June 2021.

Finistere Ventures Launches New Agrifood Fund in New Zealand

Food tech-focused firm Finistere Ventures announced today the launch of its Finistere Aotearoa Fund done in partnership with New Zealand Growth Capital Partners. The $40 million NZD (~$28.1 million USD) fund will support early-stage companies developing technologies for agriculture, alternative protein, supply chain, and other areas of food tech.

Finistere is no stranger to food tech, having invested in the past in CropX, Memphis Meats, Plenty, and several other well-known innovators in the food world. The goal of the Aotearoa Fund, besides supporting more such innovation, is to invest in specifically New Zealand startups to get them the help they need to make an impact worldwide. 

“While more than $46B has been invested in agrifood tech over the last decade – a trend likely to increase with the growing focus on sustainability – New Zealand hasn’t had the connected capital players necessary to help our companies take full advantage of this trend,” said Dean Tilyard, founder and director of Sprout who will now lead the new fund. “Our innovation cluster here is as good as anything in the Netherlands or Israel, but has been less well known. That is changing.”

Finistere, of course, already has offices in New Zealand. The new fund’s operations will be based in Palmerston North at R&D incubation center The Factory, which Finistere already has a longstanding relationship with. The fund will focus on a number of areas within food tech, including crop protection technologies, nutrient management, alternative proteins, food delivery, and supply chain advances. 

The launch comes the same week another fund, PeakBridge FoodSparks, launched in Europe with a focus on early-stage agricultural and food tech startups in that region. Both funds underscore the recent growth of the food tech sector, which nabbed more than $4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to Pitchbook data.  

Finistere hasn’t yet said how many companies it is looking to invest in with the fund, but did note that over the next year, it plans to garner more investment from partners including Rabobank, RIV Capital, and Yamaha. 

Zayndu Uses Plasma for Seed Sterilization and Crop Loss Prevention

Electricity may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you want to sterilize something, but that is exactly the tool UK-based startup Zayndu is using on seeds. As AgFunder reports, Zayndu uses plasma to ensure that seeds don’t carry disease or fungi with them when planted in the ground.

Afflicted seeds may not germinate as well, or worse, bring infection into the soil and damage future crops. Sterilizing seeds before planting helps mitigate these issues.

Based on decades of research from Loughborough University, the early stage Zayndu’s technology works by placing seeds in a rotating drum and then running an electric current through the air inside the chamber. As Ralph Weir, CEO of Zayndu explained to AgFunder, this electric current creates plasma, which is a combination of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species [RONS]. These RONS are disinfectants, which destroy bacteria, fungi and viruses without damaging the seeds themselves. When the chamber is open, all that is left are sterile seeds and fresh air.

According to Weir, Zayndu’s plasma technology sterilizes seeds better than existing chemical treatments do. Chemicals have can have a negative environmental impact and are increasingly expensive. Additionally, chemicals don’t work on every seed disease.

Zayndu is actually the second startup we’ve covered using plasma to prevent food loss. Clean Crop Technologies uses High Voltage Atmospheric Cold Plasma to zap food post harvest to remove toxins, molds and pests, and extend the shelf-life of perishables.

If the promise of these technologies bear out, and are able to scale, we could be seeing more plasma-related startups and technologies applied to our meal journey in the not-too distant future.

ADIO Invests $41M to Improve Farming on Land, at Sea, and in Space

The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) announced today it will invest AED 152 million (~$41 million USD) across three ag tech companies to develop new ag tech innovations on land, at sea, and in space. According to a press release sent to The Spoon, ADIO has partnered with U.S.-based Nanoracks, India-based FreshToHome, and UAE-based Pure Harvest for the initiatives. 

ADIO said in today’s press release that the new partnerships will promote more innovation in ag tech specifically as it relates to food security challenges. One major issue highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic is the fragility of the global food system. In response, various countries, including Singapore, China, and those in the European Union, are fostering innovation at the government level in an effort to improve local food production, build more traceability into the supply chain, and establish more trust between consumers and food producers.

In the United Arab Emirates, one regionally specific challenge is growing more food in a desert climate, in which the ag industry deals with minimal water supply, non-arable land, and climate change issues like drought and rising temperatures. ADIO’s investments are in companies that can both assist in solving these regional challenges and address the issue of food security on a global scale.

Hence, space farming. Nanoracks, one of ADIO’s three new partners, uses the International Space Station and is building the first-ever space research program for ag tech. Its StarLab Space Farming Center in Abu Dhabi will research facility focused on food production both in space and in “equally extreme climates on Earth.” (Spoon readers will recognize Nanoracks as the company that made the Zero G oven, capable of baking cookies in space.)

ADIO’s FreshToHome partnership, meanwhile, will expand the latter’s operational and processing capabilities across land and sea in the UAE. FreshToHome operates an e-commerce platform for fresh produce and controls every point along the supply chain. ADIO said in today’s release that the partnership will also focus on innovations for fish farming and cold chain technology.

Finally, Pure Harvest will use the new partnership to advance its technology and processes for produce grown in controlled environments. That includes more artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, and machines optimized for desert temperatures. The company will also advance work on its commercial-scale algae bioreactor facility to grow Omega-3 fatty acids.

The new partnerships are part of ADIO’s AgTech Incentive Programme, which the Abu Dhabi Government’s Ghadan 21 Accelerator Programme established in 2019. Previous investments from the AgTech Incentive Programme include the $100 million (USD) investment ADIO made in April across four companies: AeroFarms, Madar Farms, Responsive Drip Irrigation, and RNZ.

Applications Are Open for THRIVE’s Ag Tech Accelerator Program

SVG Ventures’ THRIVE platform, which connects farmers, food tech companies, corporations, and investors, is now taking applications for Cohort VII of its THRIVE accelerator program. Typically, the program looks for seed-stage startups from all over the world whose solutions have a tech angle and aim to make the agricultural system more efficient, sustainable, and secure.

The upcoming cohort will run March through June, 2021, according to email from THRIVE sent to The Spoon. Selected companies will participate in the three-month-long program. Like other accelerator programs operating in the midst of the pandemic, Cohort VII will be a mix of virtual and onsite work, with the latter being in the Salinas and Central California growing regions.

THRIVE’s program looks for early- to growth-stage startups working in a number of different areas of food tech: robotics and automation, indoor farming, supply chain management, and biotech, to name a few. Trace Genomics, FarmWise, and Harvest Automation are a few notable alumni of the program. 

Admission to the program is competitive: THRIVE has said in the past it has an acceptance rate of less than 3 percent and pulls from an applicant pool of more than 500 startups from around the world. Of those, just eight are chosen to participate in the accelerator program.

Selected companies receive $75,000 investment ($37,500 in cash and $37,500 in program value). The program website notes there is opportunity for follow-on investment. Startups also receive mentorship opportunities and access to corporate partners and farmers via the THRIVE network. The program ends with a Demo Day at the annual Forbes AgTech Summit.

Separate from the accelerator program, this year SVG /THRIVE have also launched the THRIVE Global Initiative in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S Department of State. Through a series of “challenges” in different regions around the world, THRIVE will award startups for innovative solutions, beginning with the THRIVE Australia Challenge on December 17, 2020. Challenges in Canada and Africa will follow in 2021.

Meanwhile, the THRIVE accelerator program kicks off in March 2021. Applications are open until November 20, 2020.

11 Food Tech Startups Will Join TechStars 2020 Farm-to-Fork Virtual Accelerator

TechStars today announced the 2020 class of its Farm-to-Fork program, which selects and supports companies and entrepreneurs working in the food and agricultural industries. The program is in its third year, with 2020 being the first time it goes 100 percent virtual, thanks to the ongoing pandemic.

But if there’s anything akin to a silver lining in the midst of a global health crisis, it may just be the many tech innovations now coming out of the food industry at a faster pace than ever before. “The food system has changed more in the last six months than it has over the entire five years I have been investing in the space,” Brett Brohl, Farm-to-Fork’s Managing Director, said in a press release. 

The Farm-to-Fork Accelerator looks for early-stage entrepreneurs and companies addressing major issues in the food chain around food safety and security, supply chain management, and ag tech.

The 2020 class includes 11 startups:

  • AgTools, Irvine, Calif.: A real-time data intelligence platform for the food and ag industries
  • Applied Particle Technology, St. Louis, Mo.: A data platform for automating health and safety in mining 
  • Boson Motors, Freemont, Calif.: Electric vehicles for farmers
  • Canomiks, Rochester, Minn.: A genomics, bioinformatics and AI-based platform for functional food and bev as well as skincare
  • FeedX, Madison, Wisc.: An online marketplace for the animal feed industry
  • H20kInnovations, Boston, Mass.: A contaminant management system for industrial water
  • Iamus, Dublin, Ireland: Uses AI and robotics to help poultry farmers with production safety
  • IXON, Hong Kong: Makes advanced sous-vide aseptic packaging that keeps protein stable at room temperature for up to two years
  • Milk Moovement, Halifax, Nova Scotia: A cloud-based platform for the dairy industry
  • Satis.AI, London, England: Develops AI operating systems for autonomous kitchens in foodservice
  • Toolsvilla, West Bengal, India: A digital marketplace for machinery, tools, and equipment in India

All participants to the Farm to Fork accelerator get $20,000 in return for 6 percent equity (on a fully diluted basis, issued as common stock). In addition, they get access to Techstars resources for life, access to mentors and potential investors, and the chance to participate in a demo day at the end of the program.

The 2020 virtual cohort kicks off on September 8.

AppHarvest Raises $28M as it Builds Out a Massive Greenhouse in Appalachia

Ag tech company, AppHarvest, announced yesterday that it has raised a $28 million Series C round of funding. The round was led by J.D. Vance’s Narya Capital, with participation from Lupa Systems and Rise of the Rest among others. This brings the total amount raised by AppHarvest to $150 million.

AppHarvest is in the midst of building out the worlds largest greenhouse facility in Morehead, KY. When completed, it will be a 2.76 million-square foot indoor faming facility that will use hydroponics and vertical farming to grow 45 million pound of fresh produce a year. The greenhouse is scheduled to open this fall and will employ roughly 300 people.

AppHarvest’s facility is within a day’s drive of 70 percent of the U.S. population, so it will be able to provide fresh produce to grocery stores in Appalachia, as well as surrounding states.

In June of this year, AppHarvest partnered with the State of Kentucky as well as the Dutch government and several universities. These partnerships were designed to create a series of research programs and develop the greenhouse as a “center of excellence” for agtech innovation.

AppHarvest isn’t the only indoor farming startup partnering with a local government. AeroFarms and the World Economic Forum partnered with the City of Jersey City and as my colleague, Jenn Marston wrote last week:

This is the first partnership between a city municipality and a vertical farming company in the U.S. Through it, AeroFarms will build 10 vertical farms in senior centers, schools, public housing, and municipal buildings around Jersey City. Collectively, the farms are expected to produce 19,000 pounds of vegetables annually, according to AeroFarms. Greens will be free of charge to residents, and the initiative also includes healthy eating workshops and quarterly health screenings.

Hopefully projects like AppHarvest and AeroFarms can use their tech platforms to help create a more equitable food system for everyone.