Compeer Financial and PepsiCo Launch RegenLend to Lower the Cost Barrier to Strip-Till Adoption
Compeer Financial, PepsiCo, EDF and the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund have launched RegenLend, a pilot program that leases strip‑till equipment to farmers while PepsiCo covers two annual lease payments. The initiative targets growers managing at least 600 acres, aiming to lower the upfront cost barrier to soil‑conservation practices. Strip tillage promises better soil health, higher yields and reduced fuel and labor expenses. By embedding cost‑sharing into the supply chain, RegenLend showcases a collaborative financing model for sustainable agriculture.
Leaf Agriculture Raises $13M Series B to Scale AI Data Infrastructure for Agribusiness
Leaf Agriculture closed a $13 million Series B round co‑led by Leaps by Bayer, positioning the startup as the data‑infrastructure layer for AI‑driven ag‑tech. The company aggregates and cleans farmer‑owned data from machinery, satellites and farm‑management platforms, currently covering over 20% of...
T3Bioscience Secures First International Patent for RejuAgro as EPA Submission Approaches
T3Bioscience announced that Taiwan has issued its first international patent for RejuAgro, expanding the product’s IP portfolio beyond the U.S. patent granted in 2023. RejuAgro is a naturally derived metabolite from *Pseudomonas* that acts as both a bactericide and fungicide...
Aphea.Bio Partners with Bayer to Accelerate Bioinsecticide Development Against Sap-Sucking Pests
Aphea.Bio announced a strategic research partnership with Bayer to co‑develop bioinsecticides targeting sap‑sucking insects, a pest group with few effective controls. The deal combines Aphea’s proprietary microbial metabolite pipeline with Bayer’s global development and commercialization capabilities, initially focusing on fruit...
GrowDirector Enters Latin America with New Distribution Partners and GrowDirector 4 PRO Launch
GrowDirector announced its entry into the Latin American market through a distribution partnership with BARBIER ASOCIADOS SAS in Colombia, complemented by partners in Argentina and Mexico. Simultaneously, the company launched GrowDirector 4 PRO, a modular, wireless greenhouse automation platform that operates without...
New Nanopesticide Shows when Nano Really Matters - and when It Does Not
A recent study introduced a carrier‑free nanopesticide (HOAc‑EB) that isolates the effect of nanosizing on emamectin benzoate. Laboratory tests showed the 7 nm particles cut the 24‑hour LC₅₀ by up to 91% against thrips and 56% against a root‑knot nematode, while...
OneSoil Partners with Rainbow Weather to Add Hyperlocal AI Rainfall Forecasting for Farmers
OneSoil has partnered with Polish climate‑tech startup Rainbow Weather to embed hyperlocal precipitation forecasting into its precision agriculture platform. The AI‑driven feature predicts rain probability and intensity for any field coordinate in four‑hour windows, using radar, satellite and atmospheric data....
Gardin Launches ALPHA Index to Measure Greenhouse Climate Performance in Real Time
Gardin introduced the ALPHA Index, a real‑time metric that isolates climate and irrigation effects on greenhouse plant performance by stripping light influence from its existing EFFICIENCY metric. The tool uses a rolling five‑day baseline and refreshes every five minutes, flagging...
NC State’s AIRS Project Brings Autonomous Drone Technology to Agricultural Research Stations
North Carolina State University’s AIRS project launched a software suite in December 2025 that streams weekly drone‑collected imagery from the Sandhills and Central Crops research stations. The system uses an autonomous drone‑in‑a‑box operating under a rare FAA beyond‑visual‑line‑of‑sight waiver, allowing...
How A Tiny Insect Decimated Florida's Citrus, And What Orchardists Are Doing About It
Florida's citrus industry has collapsed from a peak of 600 acres in the 1970s to just five acres today, driven primarily by the Asian citrus psyllid‑borne greening disease. Since its 2005 arrival, the disease has slashed orange production by 95%,...
Crop Monitoring Tools for Corn: What Is Now Commercially Available in 2026
AI‑powered platforms such as Treefera and TerraClear are now commercially available, providing corn growers with weekly probabilistic yield forecasts and drone‑based ragweed mapping. These tools achieve forecast accuracy within 1 % of the USDA final estimate and deliver GPS‑precise weed data...
Limagrain Secures EUR 300 Million EIB Loan to Accelerate Plant Genetics R&D
The European Investment Bank approved a €300 million (≈$324 million) loan to French seed giant Limagrain to accelerate plant‑genetics research. The financing, delivered through the EIB’s TechEU programme and backed by an InvestEU guarantee, will fund Vilmorin & Cie’s projects on higher...
Switch Bioworks Launches Authorized US Field Trials of Engineered Microbial Fertilizer
Switch Bioworks has received USDA and EPA authorization to begin field trials of its engineered microbial fertilizer on corn across multiple Midwest sites. The platform uses a genetically encoded switch that first secures microbes on plant roots before activating nitrogen...
SPECIAL REPORT: Will The Fertilizer Shortage Create A Global Food Crisis? | Bruce Sherrick
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 30‑34% of the world’s seaborne fertilizer moves, raises concerns about fertilizer availability for the Northern Hemisphere harvest. Professor Bruce Sherrick says immediate risk to this year’s crops is limited, but longer‑term...
Wine Waste Could Offer a Grape Way to Wean Chicken Farms Off Antibiotics
Cornell researchers found that adding just 0.5% grape pomace— the pulpy by‑product of wine production— to broiler chicken feed can nearly match the performance of zinc bacitracin, a widely used antibiotic growth promoter. In a 42‑day trial, pomace‑supplemented birds showed...