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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

agtech

FieldDock Project Gets $1.4M Grant for AgTech Drone Base Station

The FieldDock looks like something the Skywalkers had on their moisture farm on Tatooine. It has a bunch of antennae and solar panels and in the middle of everything is a bay that opens up to reveal a landing pad for a drone. And while FieldDock is the stuff of the future, this week the project received a grant to make it happen closer to today.

Nadia Shakoor, Ph.D., a senior researcher at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, was awarded a three-year $1.4 million grant from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture and the National Science Foundation to develop the FieldDock. Here’s the official description of the project from the press release:

The FieldDock will be a novel all-in-one system that integrates a sensor base station with GWAS/G x E x M/crop model edge processor, remote wireless sensor network and autonomous UAV drone deployment to generate a daily scalable, cohesive and interconnected set of field microclimate data. FieldDock will capture measurable plant traits, water usage, overall environmental and soil conditions as well as daily snapshots of how a crop is performing in real world conditions. The FieldDock platform will run entirely on renewable energy and is designed to ultimately have a zero-carbon footprint.

The data collected by the drone and FieldDock system will ideally be able to help researchers and plant breeders developing energy-efficient crops hardy enough to withstand variable climates, as well as guide crop management and watering decisions made by farmers.

While probably the most sci-fi looking solution to do such things, FieldDock is not the only high-tech solution aiming to help deliver actionable data to farmers. In March, Arable launched the second-gen version of its sensor that monitors plant and moisture conditions on farms. And CropX, which makes in-ground soil sensors, acquired irrigation tools provider CropMetrics at the start of the year.

All of these tools have the same goal of providing farmers with deeper insights into their operations to reduce waste and boost yield. With some money to further develop her project, we’ll see if the Force is with Shakoor and FieldDock.

Bright Idea! Saga Robotics Uses UV Light to Kill Crop Mildew

Ultra-Violet light is having a moment because of its germ and virus killing capabilities. While there is a lot of interest in using UV light inside food delivery lockers and vehicles, a Norwegian company called Saga Robotics is using UV light to kill off mildew on crops like strawberries and grapes.

We came across Saga’s robotic platform this week via a story in The Finger Lake Times. Saga’s technology is being used to combat Erysiphe necator in local vineyards. Erysiphe necator is a powdery mildew that attacks a range of plants and can thrive in areas with high humidity and moderate temperatures.

Dubbed “Thorvald,” the autonomous robot can be outfitted with a bank of lights that shine UV rays on plants to help kill the mildew. The trick, however, is that the light treatment must be done close to nightfall because the darkness inhibits the mildew from repairing itself. You can read a deeper explanation of the process and its history at The Finger Lake Times.

What’s interesting about Saga’s technology is that it kills this mildew without a pesticide, so you can reduce the amount of chemicals used in the growing process. Because the Saga robot is self-driving, you can have it run autonomously and don’t need to divert labor and other resources towards spraying.

Saga is part of a bigger wave of agriculture robotics hitting farms. Augean Robotics makes the Burro, which hauls equipment and crops around a farm. And Small Robotics Company has a trio of robots in development to help around the farm including one that zaps weeds with electricity.

This type of automation should hopefully usher in an era of precision agriculture that is more efficient with water usage and less reliant on harsh chemicals. That is something we’ll gladly shine a light on.

S2G Ventures’ Managing Director on the 4 FoodTech Trends That Will Rise Post-COVID (Spoon Plus)

I wanted to (virtually) sit down with Krishnan to discuss S2G’s recent white paper entitled “The Future of Food in the Age of COVID-19.” It outlines four foodtech trends that S2G expects will grow in the coming months and years: digitalization, decentralized food systems, de-commoditization, and food as as medicine. Krishnan and I unpacked these four trends — and speculated about how investors will change their focus post-COVID — in our call.

The Deep Dive interview is available for subscribers to Spoon Plus. You can learn more about Spoon Plus here. 

Clean Crop Technologies Zaps Up $2.75M to Prevent Food Waste and Crop Loss

Clean Crop Technologies announced this week that it has raised $2.75 million in Seed funding for its crop loss prevention tool. The round was led by Prime Impact Fund with participation from Factor[e] Ventures, Innova Memphis, the Syndicate Fund and the Alchemy Fund.

Clean Crop Technologies actually seems pretty cool. Dubbed High Voltage Atmospheric Cold Plasma (HVACP), it basically zaps the air around food after harvest with electricity to create ionized gases. According to the company website, these ionized gases:

  • Remove up to 83% of toxins from grains & nuts without harming food quality in the process.
  • Remove 99%+ of molds and pests.
  • Extend shelf-life for perishable foods for up to 7 days.

After processing, the reactive gases revert back to ambient air, leaving no harmful residues on the food product.

Dan White, Co-Founder and CEO of Clean Crop Technologies told AgFunder that his company’s approach to crop loss is safer than chemical applications and more effective than on-farm genetic modification approaches.

Clean Crop is part of an emerging cohort of companies looking to reduce food waste. Apeel and Sufresca both make coatings for produce to extend their shelf lives. StixFresh does the same by using a sticker. And TeleSense uses sensors and IoT services to monitor the storage conditions of grains.

Right now, Clean Crop Technologies is focusing on nuts and grains, and is the in process of building its proprietary ionized air generator. It will begin field tests in the US later this year and plans commercial deployments in 2021. The company said it will use its new funding to expand its technical and product development teams.

Researchers Hope Sprayable ‘Barcoded’ Microbes Provide Better Food Traceability

While interest in the topic of food traceability has intensified due to a certain pandemic, tracking down the origin of food has been a puzzle scientists were trying to solve long before any of us heard of COVID-19.

Whether it’s food blockchain or edible food sensors, there’s been no shortage of ideas over the last few years for better food provenance. And now, thanks to a team of Harvard researchers, we have a new approach: using sprayable inert bacteria or yeast spores that could act like DNA “barcodes” to help identify us the source of food.

Here’s how the team described their discovery:

We created a synthetic, scalable microbial spore system that identifies object provenance in under 1 hour at meter-scale resolution and near single-spore sensitivity and can be safely introduced into and recovered from the environment.

What’s interesting to me is how durable the spores are, detectable all the way to the consumer plate as they withstand the cooking process.

To test out their idea, the researchers tested the microbes across various surfaces and put them through the paces of washing, frying and more.

From the New Scientist:

The team then sprayed the spores on various surfaces including sand, soil, carpet and wood. They were able to detect them three months later even on surfaces that were swept or vacuumed, or subjected to simulated wind or rain.

Next the spores were sprayed on plants growing in pots. A week later, the team were able to identify which pot a leaf came from. To their surprise, the spores remained detectable even after washing, boiling, frying and microwaving. So if unique spores were sprayed on crops at different farms before harvesting, authorities could rapidly find out where any specific produce came from.

While the idea of putting inert spores on food holds significant potential as a way to help during outbreaks of food-borne disease, unlike other approaches like blockchain, this approach would not give us visibility into the myriad stops a food travels on its way to the consumer plate beyond its original source of origin. That said, it’s a promising new approach as we move towards a post-COVID world where food source tracking is fast becoming a requirement.

Russian Digital Ag Marketplace Agro.Club Raises $1.5 Million

While North America and Western Europe have seen fairly strong adoption of digital marketplaces by farmers and their buyers, the Russian market has lagged a little behind when it comes to digital transformation.

But Agro.Club hopes to change that and, according to a report from Agfunder, the Russia-based digital marketplace just raised a $1.5 million seed round to help them do so.

According to the report, it looks like they’ve already made good progress since they started the company just under two years ago. From Agfunder:

Since launching in Russia in August 2018, the self-described fintech startup said that 20% of farmers in the region signed up for the service within 18 months leading to millions of euros in transactions. Over 4,000 grain companies have signed on to the platform and Agro.Club reports agreements with multinationals like Cargill, Bayer, and EuroChem.

While Agro.Club allows farmers to connect with buyers, it also has other features:

(AgroClub) allows users to monitor grain prices with automated logistics, obtain analytics, trade grain, obtain ag inputs, receive weather forecasts for specific fields, and share best practices with other farmers. Users can also seek advice from experts.

Digital marketplaces had already been a hot vector for investment, with startups like WeFarm and Indigo Agriculture raising rounds in the last year and a half or so. Now, with the pandemic disrupting many farmer’s traditional supply chains, we might see an even greater interest in these types of markets as farmers look to accelerate their digital transformation.

What’s Next for Vertical Farming? Proprietary Strawberries and Other Non-Leafy Produce

Agtech investment firm AgFunder announced this week that it has added agtech company SinGrow to its investment portfolio for an undisclosed sum. AgFunder founding partner Michael Dean wrote in a post that SinGrow “isn’t just looking to be another vertical farmer selling leafy greens.” Instead, the company uses a combination of plant biology, hydroponic vertical farming, and other technologies to grow what it hopes will be a range of produce types, starting with its own novel varieties of strawberries. 

As Dean lays out in his post, SinGrow has developed a vertical farming solution that addresses every stage of a plant’s agricultural journey, from breeding to harvesting. (Most vertical farm solutions do not address plant breeding.) It breeds strawberry varieties adapted to humid weather, and has two proprietary strawberry cultivators specifically developed for Singapore’s tropical climate. Both of those things mean SinGrow’s system uses less energy because it needs less air conditioning pumped in to cool the facility and reach the ideal growing temperature for the strawberries.

The company also grows the plants on a strawberry-specific rack it has developed, where the plants grow outward instead of upward. That in turn allows a harvesting robot to to drive alongside the rack and simply snip the strawberries off rather than pick them. 

Why strawberries? Well, first, they’ve been a hobby of SinGrow cofounder Bao Shengjie, who has been cross-breeding strawberry seeds since 2016. That particular fruit was of interest to the founders because it’s difficult to actually get in Singapore, at least at an affordable price point. SinGrow lists expense, poor taste, and an unstable supply chain as reasons strawberries are difficult for the average consumer to buy in that region.

The company has this neat explainer video that delves more into the specifics on how it grows its strawberries.

Singapore also relies on imports for about 90 percent of its foods, hence the Singaporean government’s 30x30 initiative launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Singapore should have 30 percent of its foods produced domestically by 2030. 

On that note, SinGrow hopes to soon move beyond strawberries to grow grapes, saffron, and other crops, according to Dean’s post.

A (very small) handful of companies are also exploring what else they can grow beyond the leafy green. UK-based Phytoponics is trialing a system for plants like cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. And a while back, San Francisco startup Plenty said it wanted to grow “exotic” produce on its farm Tigris. To date, though, the company’s website still offers only leafy green varieties.

If a company like SinGrow can show others how to use biology, technology, and farming to grow a greater assortment of produce items, it could change vertical farming’s role in our system from an add-on method to a primary source for getting certain fruits and vegetables. It’s early days yet, but the technology looks to be moving in that direction. 

Steward is a Crowdfunding Platform for Small, Sustainable Farms

During this pandemic consumers have been trying to shop from local farms more than ever. And yet these farms — small, family-owned operations — are having a tough time scaling up and pivoting to serve increased demand from new sales channels.

One thing that might help is if they had easier access to funding. An online platform called Steward is trying to help sustainable farms attract more capital. Steward lets individuals invest in pre-vetted local farms via its website. The company also recently launched new software to allow farmers to sell directly to consumers and even raise funds for projects, like building a new barn or expanding CSAs.

Dan Miller, the CEO and founder of Steward, told me over the phone recently that he got the idea for his company after he heard from lots of individuals who wanted to support sustainable local food systems, but weren’t sure exactly how. “There were way too many intermediaries,” he said. 

Steward funded its first farm, an urban farm in Detroit, in 2017. Since then they’ve funded 15 more farms with a total of $3 million. Over 50 farms also use Steward’s software for their own fundraising ventures. 

“Funding is hard to come by,” said Miller. “Traditional [investment] sources are focused on big commodity farmers, and sustainable farmers are often dismissed as not serious enterprises.” The reality, he argues, is that if farmers get access to the capital they need they can grow enormously.

On the flip side, it’s also hard for individuals to figure out how to invest in farms. Miller said that the business is “heavily regulated,” and that Steward simplifies the process. He told me that the majority of their investors are individuals who go in for a few hundred to thousand dollars.

Photo courtesy of Steward

Right now, individuals have two ways to invest through Steward. They can either invest in the Steward Farm Trust, which is a portfolio of loans picked by the Steward team. They receive interest payments from the loans of 8 to 10 percent. People can also look through the farms on Steward’s platform and invest individually, but Miller said that’s trickier because it involves regulatory hurdles (read: is probably not for the casual investor).

Steward makes money by charging farmers a 2 percent origination fee for investment, and collecting a 1 percent servicing fee yearly from investors. They also make money from the SaaS side of the business, which costs $95 per month. Thus far Steward is self-funded.

COVID is upending the entire food system and prompting consumers to examine where their food comes from in a way they might not have pre-pandemic. According to Miller, sustainable farms are benefiting from this emphasis on transparency. “We’ve seen boosted sales on all of the farms that we support,” he said.

To adapt to this spike in sales, small farmers are facing new challenges. They need to set up e-commerce sites to fulfill new demand, and figure out how to sell produce now that restaurant sales are down.

“They need capital to up their production,” Miller told me. He hopes that Steward will be able to provide some of that capital to help sustainable farms continue to grow, in COVID and beyond.

Chipotle Announces the Eight Ventures for Its Second Aluminaries Project Accelerator Program

Chipotle today unveiled the eight ventures selected for the second class of its Chipotle Aluminaries Project, the food-focused accelerator program the company does in partnership with non-profit Uncharted. This year’s company’s are all growth-stage startups addressing the problems currently facing young farmers and small farms, reliable access to farmland being a major one.

Around the U.S., the average price of farm real estate has more than doubled, according to the National Young Farmers Coalition. The Coalition also notes that over the next five years, almost 100 million acres of farmland will change hands, and that at least some of it will go towards non-agricultural uses. 

Given that diminished access to land, the bulk of the companies and organizations chosen for Chipotle’s Aluminaries Project 2.0 are developing solutions to address the land access issue:

  • Agrarian Trust is a land trust working to acquire and hold farmland and provide farmers access to it through long-term leases.
  • American Farmland Trust helps new farmers gain access to land through national and localized networks and services in order to transfer farms from one generation to the next.
  • Demeter Mobile uses an app to pair growers with service providers (harvesting, sweeping, etc.).
  • Farm Commons provides legal resources to farmers.
  • F.A.R.M.S also offers legal services to the farming community.
  • Rogue Farm Corps provides farm-training programs in agricultural communities across Oregon.
  • Sustainable Iowa Land Trust protects Iowa’s farmland.
  • Viva Farms provides bilingual training in organic farming practices, as well as access to land, infrastructure, equipment, marketing, and capital.

The selected companies participate in the seven-month-long program, which connects them with mentors, potential investors, and support from Chipotle executives as well as others from around the food industry. While most of the program is conducted virtually, there is a five-day in-person summit companies attend in Newport Beach, CA. There’s no cash investment involved, but participants do get free burritos. 

Chipotle launched the Aluminaries Project in 2019. It has so far seen participation from ImpactVision, Sophie’s Kitchen, and AgVoice, among others.   

 

Pico, the Mini Indoor Garden that Can Grow Herbs and Tomatoes, Busts Through Kickstarter Goal

With quarantine keeping us all at home, people are growing plants both for mental health and as a food source. But even if the enthusiasm is there, there are still plenty of pitfalls to accidentally kill your plant friends — overwatering, underwatering, not enough light, etc.

For those reasons, plus a growing (ha!) interest in food sovereignty, coronavirus could actually present a real market opportunity for smart gardens; automated indoor grow systems to manage the health of your plants. But, as Mike Wolf noted in his piece last month, one big hurdle standing in smart gardens’ way is their cost. The systems can range in price from hundreds to even thousands of dollars.

That’s where Pico, a new automated indoor garden currently making a splash on Kickstarter, could really distinguish itself. Early Backers can secure a Pico for only $32. The intended MSRP is $45.

When we say Pico made a splash on Kickstarter, we’re not exaggerating: at the time of writing the company has raised $1.3 million on Kickstarter (its initial goal was $10,000). The small self-contained grow system that can be affixed to walls and features an LED light mounted on an adjustable arm, which can be moved up as plants grow. It can also self-water, provided someone fills up its tank once a week.

Like most indoor garden systems, Pico is limited in terms of what plants can grow. The Kickstarter says it can be used for decorative plants, like succulents, as well as to grow herbs and leafy greens. It even claims it can grow cherry tomatoes and chili peppers, though its small size could limit the amount.

Photo: Pico’s grow system, by Altifarm

Pico may be extremely affordable, but it doesn’t have quite the same stramlined user experience as some of the pricier home gardens. For one, Pico has to be plugged in to work. It’s powered with a USB Type-C cable, so it can plug into a phone or computer charger. Pico comes with a 3-meter long cable with magnetic organizer loops to more easily route around kitchen appliances, so that helps. But it still seems like kind of a pain to set up. That said, Pico is small enough to fit pretty much anywhere, and can also be mounted on walls to position it closer to a wall outlet. You can also connect three Picos together at a time and power them with the same charging cable.

The Pico price only includes the device. Users have to add in their own soil and seeds. To be fair, that’s not a huge lift, but it does mean the Pico isn’t a straight plug-and-grow option, like Aerofarm or Click & Grow.

It also isn’t 100 percent automated. Users have to manually turn the LED light on and off to imitate the rise and fall of the sun. They can also purchase a timer to automate the process for an additional cost.

Altifarm, the company behind Pico, has some experience making automated grow systems. They’ve already launched Herbstation, an indoor farm that was also funded by Kickstarter. The company has just concluded fulfillment of Herbstation preorders after a self-admitted “share of delays, mixups, and drama.” Buyer beware.

Photo: Altifarm

As of now, Pico is slated to begin shipping in May/June, though a small disclaimer at the bottom of the campaign notes that that could be delayed due to stay at home orders. Buying a product off a crowdfunding site is always a risk — especially now, when COVID-19 is disrupting manufacturing supply chains across the globe. However, Altifarm states that since Pico is their third global product launch, they’ve learned how to efficiently get a hardware product to market.

Despite the risks, Pico couldn’t be hitting the market at a more opportune time. With COVID nudging consumers to be more aware of where their food comes from — and people consequently gaining an interest in food sovereignty — home gardening is blooming (okay, last plant pun).

Pico’s stellar Kickstarter campaign illustrates just how enthusiastic consumers are about finding ways to easily grow their own food at home. Now we’ll have to see if they can follow through to make all those backers happy home gardeners.

Iowa AgriTech Accelerator Goes Virtual, Application Deadline Extended

The Iowa AgriTech accelerator is following the ranks of other programs and going virtual for its upcoming cohort, according to an email sent to The Spoon. The program has also extended its application deadline to May 1 at 11:59 p.m. Central Time.

Like other food-focused accelerator programs, social distancing has presented Iowa AgriTech with the challenge of delivering a collaborative, immersive experience to its participants while still keeping everyone safe. 

“First and foremost, we wanted to ensure the health and wellbeing of everyone involved, but we also knew how important it would be to continue to provide the support and mentorship that is so vital to the startups, especially at a time like this,” the program’s Executive Director Nadilia Gomez told me over the phone today. 

Under normal circumstances (i.e., not during a pandemic), the Des Moines, Iowa-based program runs for a little over three months, offering startups mentorship and networking opportunities as well as office space in Des Moines. Participants also get $40,000 in seed funding (for 6 percent equity). While the cash investment and the networking opportunities remain in place, this year’s cohort will operate 100 percent virtually, with all programming and curriculum taking place online.

Gomez said that program organizers are very open in terms of which specific tools they will use to deliver a high-quality experience to participants. “I would say that we will try to bring in as many elements as are necessary to ensure the quality of the mentor interaction. That could be the same virtual tool but it could be utilized in different ways,” she said. She added that virtual breakout rooms and whiteboard activities as well as enhanced chat functions are among the options on the table. Since the program hasn’t actually started yet, it remains to be seen which programs wind up being the best options for this cohort.

She added that “More important than the tools is the design of the format so that we have the best interaction.”

Six startups will be selected to participate in the program. While agtech is the main focus of the accelerator, the range of what individual companies do is fairly wide. Gomez said that Iowa AgriTech considers everything from startups working on data transparency to companies creating solutions around automation, sensors, predictive analytics, livestock, greenhouses, and much more.  

Past participants include Rabbit Tractors, maker of autonomous tractors, Phenomics Labs, whose platform does predictive phenotyping, and Birdpreneur, who helps small-scale poultry farmers in Africa scale up their business.

“We historically try to pick a combination of startups that have a strong impact on the farming community,” said Gomez. “But we are not specifically looking for a sub-sector within agriculture.”

How much social distancing changes the program permanently is another to-be-determined factor. Startup accelerators in general are now having to pivot to remote programming, decide whether or not to host things like demo days, and in general operate with some level of uncertainty about the design of future programs. Other programs, including Food-X and BSH, have successfully introduced virtual elements into their programming, which is a good sign for those like Iowa AgriTech, who are just starting out on this digital journey.

At the same time, Gomez made clear that, at least now, being able to bring startups to Des Moines in the future is “the preferred practice for the accelerator.” She cited Iowa’s unique place in the agricultural sector as a big reason in-person programming remains attractive once we’re past the pandemic. However, she added that she could “definitely” see Iowa Agritech using more virtual elements as add-ons to the regular programming for future cohorts.  

The next Iowa AgriTech cohort will run from July 8 – October 16.

Harvie’s Customizeable D2C Farm Sales Platform Could Help Local Growers Survive

Connecticut farm Farmer Joe‘s Gardens announced today it is partnering with Harvie, an online farm share platform, to pivot and serve people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pittsburgh, PA-based Harvie connects people online with local farm shares, also known as Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs). By using its service, Farmer Joe’s Gardens can specialize its CSA boxes based on individuals’ preferences. “For 10 years, we’ve packed a standard box of food for each member regardless of what they like and what they don’t like,” Farmer Joe noted in a press release. “We now have the technology that allows us to customize each box, so we make sure each member gets what they want.”

Going forward, Farmer Joe’s Gardens will go onto Harvie’s platform and enter a list of all its available crops. At its core, Harvie is a D2C sales platform connecting small farmers with local consumers. Harvie’s algorithm will match the crops to each member’s preferences to optimize their order, which can be one-time or a subscription box, like a CSA. It sends the lineup to the customer, who has 24 to 48 hours to make changes and order extras from the farm, like milk or eggs. Harvie then sends the optimized order back to Farmer Joe’s Gardens, which takes care of the fulfillment and delivery.

To be clear, Harvie does not actually grow any crops itself — it just manages farm share subscriptions for agricultural producers. According to Harvie’s CEO Simon Huntley, who spoke with me earlier today, the service’s real value-add is in its personalization feature. “The original CSA box is just farmers throwing whatever they have in a box,” he said. “We’re helping farms provide customization at scale.” Harvie also handles any customer service requests and provides add-ons, like recipe recommendations and storage tips.

Farmer Joe’s is a hyper-regional example, but overall Harvie — or services like it — could be key to help local farms survive through the coronavirus pandemic. In a time when small farmers are struggling to stay afloat with COVID-19 shutting down farmers markets and restaurants who typically purchase farm-grown food, growers are looking for new ways to get their products into the hands of consumers. Optimizing D2C sales, like CSAs, could make the difference between surviving the growing season and having to fold completely.

Thankfully for farmers, the popularity of CSAs is actually on the rise. According to Yelp, sales of farm shares have risen a whopping 405 percent since the beginning of March. But in order to make it through this crisis, farmers will have to make sure that folks who sign up for CSA continue their membership. Having a customized produce offering could go a long way in maintaining customer loyalty. As a bonus, personalized CSAs could help cut down on food waste, since people aren’t stuck with a basket of produce they don’t like or know how to prepare.

Thus far Harvie works with 150 small farms in the U.S. and Canada. According to their website, Harvie member farms see an average increase in retention rates of 15-20 percent. According to Huntley, the coronavirus pandemic has actually helped sales for their growers — Harvie farmer’s sales are up almost 200 percent. He also noted that they’re seeing an increase in farmers signing up for the platform. “We’re in the right place at the right time.”

To work with Harvie, farms pay a $500 setup fee and a 7 percent transaction fee on all farm share purchases. Harvie also takes a small percentage of credit card sales.

That cost is not insignificant, especially if you’re a local farmer struggling to stay operational. But with markets and restaurants closed, or at least drastically reduced, CSAs are the only way forward for many farmers. If services like Harvie can help them gain a larger swath of loyal customers, even just to get through the pandemic, it’s likely worth the fee.