Doriane Launches Bloomeo Breeding Platform with €10M Investment to Transform Plant Breeding Data Management
Doriane has unveiled Bloomeo Breeding, a workflow‑driven software platform that unifies genetics, environment and management data for plant‑breeding programs. The launch follows a €10 million (≈$10.8 million) four‑year development effort, with Doriane pledging an additional €2 million (≈$2.2 million) each year for ongoing enhancements. Early adoption metrics show a 95% usage rate among 550+ Limagrain users of the earlier Bloomeo suite. Bloomeo Breeding will be showcased live at the ISF World Seed Congress 2026 in Lisbon and via a June 18 webinar.
Novin AgriTech Secures USDA SBIR Grant to Develop Nitrogen Use Efficiency Trait in Elite Wheat Cultivars
Novin AgriTech secured a $174,906 USDA SBIR Phase I grant to fund an eight‑month project that will embed a nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) trait into elite wheat cultivars using its proprietary InPACT transformation platform. InPACT is a genotype‑independent, tissue‑culture‑free system licensed...
U.S. Sugar Launches Largest Commercial Autonomous Tractor Fleet in American Sugar Industry
U.S. Sugar has deployed the largest commercial autonomous tractor fleet in the American sugar sector, operating five John Deere tractors equipped with Autonomous Solutions Inc.’s Vehicle Automation Kit across its 255,000‑acre South Florida operation. The fleet runs 24 hours a day, seven days...
Bioceres Crop Solutions Reports Q3 FY2026 Revenue Decline as Seeds Transition and Pro Farm Foreclosure Weigh on Results
Bioceres Crop Solutions posted Q3 FY2026 revenue of $39.4 million, a 23% year‑over‑year drop, as Crop Protection demand softened and the Seeds business continued its shift toward an asset‑light structure. Crop Nutrition was the only segment to grow, up 15% to...
Free Webinar: Fertiliser, Fuel and Grain Markets.
Judo Bank and Episode3 are hosting a free webinar to dissect the forces reshaping Australian agriculture in 2026. The session will examine how global conflict, volatile energy prices, fertilizer supply constraints, and shifting grain fundamentals are creating unprecedented uncertainty for...
Freight Costs Are Becoming a Farmgate Issue
Freight costs have emerged as a critical, often overlooked factor in agricultural profitability. The Baltic Dry Index has more than doubled year‑over‑year, reflecting tighter shipping conditions, while container rates surged during COVID and remain elevated. Higher shipping expenses increase the...
Apollo Agriculture and Kaleidofin Close Kenya’s First Private-Sector Smallholder Agriculture Securitisation
Fintech platform Kaleidofin and agri‑lending firm Apollo Agriculture have completed Kenya’s first private‑sector, local‑currency securitisation of smallholder farmer loans. The deal packaged KES 370 million of receivables, mobilising KES 276 million (about $2.1 million) for 23,839 borrowers, half of whom are women. Agusto assigned a...
Sustainability for Whom? Why Cocoa’s Green and Ethical Systems Still Leave Farmers Exposed
The cocoa sector has embraced "sustainability" as a branding and compliance rallying point, deploying traceability tools, EU deforestation rules, and a growing cadre of ESG specialists. Yet recent stock build‑ups in Côte d’Ivoire and delayed payments reveal that farmers remain...
ISS Expedition 74 Crew Conducts DNA Nano-Therapy and Space Agriculture Research
On Thursday, Expedition 74 crew members performed a suite of high‑impact experiments aboard the ISS. NASA engineer Jessica Meir used a spectrophotometer to study DNA‑like nanomaterials, data that could accelerate cancer‑targeting nano‑therapies. ESA’s Sophie Adenot tended alfalfa in the Veggie unit, probing...
How to Start a Vertical Farming Business: A Practical Roadmap
Vertical farming promises year‑round, pesticide‑free produce with up to 95% less water, but success hinges on disciplined planning. The article outlines an eight‑step roadmap—from defining target markets and selecting high‑margin crops to choosing the right hydroponic system, site, and technology...
Brainfood: Targets, Plant Treaty, Decolonization, Fonio Germination, Recalcitrant Seeds, Microbiome, Taro Seed System
A recent analysis highlights that only 21% of threatened plant species are conserved in genebanks across 44 European and western Asian countries, underscoring a critical biodiversity gap. The international Plant Treaty shows promise for enhancing germplasm exchange, as illustrated by...
Seeds of Power: China Turns to Genetic Engineering to Become Global Superpower
China is intensifying control over seed genetics, using hybrid breeding and GM technologies to narrow yield gaps with the United States and cut import dependence on corn and soybeans. The global seed market is dominated by Bayer, Corteva, Syngenta and...
Transforming Farming and Nutrition with AI and Robotics? Larry Ellison’s Half-Billion-Dollar Hawaii Greenhouse Dream Goes Bust
Larry Ellison has poured over $500 million into Sensei Ag’s high‑tech greenhouse complex on Lanai, Hawaii, promising AI‑driven crop breeding and robotic harvesting to reshape global food production. The venture, eight years in development, has struggled to deploy its advertised sensors,...
Gaps Galore in Collards Collections
Ethnobotanists Bronwen Powell and Abderrahim Ouarghidi examined the origins of collard greens cultivated in Morocco’s Draa and Ziz oases, combining historical texts, linguistics and Indigenous knowledge. Their companion study notes that Genesys lists just over 1,500 Brassica oleracea var. acephala...
Aplantex Closes $5 Million Bridge Round to Accelerate Shift to Production-Scale Green Biotechnology
Aplantex announced the close of a $5 million bridge financing round in 2025, exceeding its original target. The round was led by board member François Ravenelle with Investissement Québec’s Impulsion Fund as a principal backer. The capital will fund the company’s transition from...
Loop Chemicals Licenses Sandia National Laboratories Technology to Localize Ammonia Production for U.S. Agriculture
Loop Chemicals has licensed a chemical‑looping ammonia technology from Sandia National Laboratories, co‑developed with Arizona State University, to build a distributed production platform. The startup will first target the U.S. fertilizer market, positioning small reactors near farms to cut logistics...
Yimutian Launches Wolaicai Sales Assistant, China’s First AI Agent for Agricultural Product Trading
Yimutian Inc. has introduced Wolaicai Sales Assistant, China’s first AI agent embedded in agricultural product trading, offering sourcing, pricing, procurement guidance, and transaction execution. A one‑week pilot with roughly 100 daily business customers generated about ¥1,000 (≈$140) in revenue per...
TACC: Scientists Uncover New Information on How DNA Works in Maize
Researchers from Florida State University and North Carolina State University, aided by the Texas Advanced Computing Center, have identified two distinct sub‑compartments within maize euchromatin that differ in replication timing and spatial organization. The discovery relied on high‑throughput sequencing and...
Farmers Get Short-Changed in Our Current Food System
USDA’s Food Dollar series shows that U.S. farmers receive less than six cents for every food dollar earned in 2023, while processing, retail and service sectors capture the bulk of revenue. The stark distribution explains the ongoing decline in farm...
Greenhouse Farming: A Shift in the Industry
Greenhouse farming is experiencing accelerated global growth, with the market projected to rise from $2.9 billion in 2023 to $5.1 billion by 2030. Investment is spilling into new regions, notably the Gulf Cooperation Council, where Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 drives multi‑million‑square‑meter high‑tech projects....
US Imports of Brazilian Beef Surged in First Quarter
U.S. imports of Brazilian beef jumped 21% in Q1, reaching $795 million, as overall beef imports rose 28% to $4.5 billion. The surge occurs amid U.S. officials accusing Brazilian packers of corruption and investigating anti‑competitive practices, while the USTR pursues Section 301 cases...
Suterra Acquires Vestaron’s Biological Pest Control Product Lines and R&D Pipeline
Suterra, the ag‑tech arm of The Wonderful Company, has acquired Vestaron’s Spear and Basin biological pest‑control product lines, active ingredients, and the company’s R&D pipeline. The acquisition also includes assets from Vestaron’s Kalamazoo research facility. Suterra plans to launch its...
MyEasyFarm and Geocledian Partner on ESA Climate Smart Agriculture Project to Scale Satellite-Driven Regenerative Farming
MyEasyFarm, a B Corp‑certified regenerative AgTech firm, has partnered with German remote‑sensing specialist Geocledian to serve as the system integrator for the European Space Agency’s Information Factory Climate Smart Agriculture project. The collaboration, running through the end of 2027, embeds...
Targeting Crop-Munching Agricultural Pests with Nanotechnology
Researchers at Agriculture and Agri‑Food Canada, using the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, have demonstrated a nanotechnology‑based screening platform that maps chemicals inside crop pests such as lygus bugs and cutworms. By combining X‑ray fluorescence imaging with 3‑D virtual‑reality models, the...
PepsiCo and TalusAg Announce Low-Carbon Ammonia Attribute Agreement to Accelerate Fertilizer Decarbonization
PepsiCo and ag‑tech firm TalusAg have signed a low‑carbon ammonia environmental attribute agreement covering about 30,000 metric tonnes, with an option to add another 41,000 tonnes. The deal uses a book‑and‑claim system that separates verified emissions‑reduction credits from the physical fertilizer, and S3...
Pacific Hybreed Closes $1 Million Round to Scale Hybrid Oyster Seed Production
Pacific Hybreed, a Hawaiʻi‑based aquaculture biotech firm, closed a $1 million funding round led by Hawaiʻi Angels and Blue Startups. The capital will fund expansion of its commercial‑scale hatchery to meet rising demand for its hybrid oyster and clam seed. The...
TerraClear Launches AI Giant Ragweed Mapping Service to Give Organic Farmers Surgical Weed Control
TerraClear has introduced an AI‑driven Giant Ragweed Mapping Service that uses high‑resolution drone imagery to locate individual ragweed plants in large organic corn and soybean fields. Each ragweed can produce up to 10,000 seeds, creating a multi‑year seed bank that...
Soil Health Institute Launches Free Drought Resilience Calculator With Cargill Support
The Soil Health Institute (SHI) has launched a free, science‑based Drought Resilience Calculator (DRC) that lets farmers and agronomic advisors model how soil‑health practices affect water availability during dry spells. Built on open‑source simulation models and historical weather data, the...
Nanocellulose From Pineapple Waste for Soil-Saving Desert Agriculture
Researchers have transformed pineapple peel waste into nanocellulose fibers that dramatically improve sandy‑soil performance. In laboratory tests on three UAE desert sands, the amendment raised water‑holding capacity by up to 32.7% and cut permeability by 58%, while quadrupling compressive strength...
The War in Iran Is Making Coffee Production More Expensive
The U.S.-Iran war is driving a sharp rise in fertilizer costs, pushing the International Coffee Organization’s price index up 2.3%. World Bank forecasts a 31% jump in fertilizer prices for 2026, with urea soaring 60%, threatening the 2026/27 coffee harvest....
Acumen Backs Nigerian Poultry Venture
Acumen has invested in Pullus Africa Solutions, a Nigerian agribusiness that aggregates smallholder poultry and builds cold‑chain infrastructure. The funding will enable new cold‑chain hubs in Nasarawa, extending reliable year‑round market access for farmers in Abuja and surrounding states. Pullus...
Cibus Transfers Gene-Edited Herbicide-Tolerance Traits in Rice to Interoc Ahead of Latin American Launch
Cibus Inc. has transferred gene‑edited rice material that confers herbicide tolerance to its Latin American partner Interoc, meeting a scheduled development milestone. Interoc will begin testing and scaling production to launch Cibus‑enhanced seed varieties across the region. The transfer leverages...
Cattle Availability Builds as Processor Leverage Returns
Cattle availability in Australia rose in March, driven by strong yardings and processing in New South Wales and Queensland, but the surge was uneven across states. In April, NSW yardings eased while Queensland continued to climb, concentrating supply in the...
Misinformation and Climate Change Are Endangering Summer Watermelons
Watermelon breeding faces mounting pressure from climate volatility, rising disease pressure and a shrinking toolbox of crop‑protection chemicals. The crop’s narrow genetic diversity makes it difficult to improve polygenic traits like sweetness, yield and stress tolerance without compromising quality. Breeders...
The Input Spike Leaves a Long Shadow
Input costs for U.S. farmers surged as diesel nearly doubled and fertilizer rose about 80% above pre‑conflict levels, then eased modestly. Because many growers purchased inputs at peak prices, the subsequent price declines do not relieve their cost base. Wheat...
John Deere Made Two Precision Ag Acquisitions in Three Months
John Deere announced two strategic acquisitions in 2025, buying Sentera in May and GUSS Automation in August to add drone‑based multispectral imaging and autonomous sprayers to its precision‑ag portfolio. The moves complete a layer‑by‑layer strategy that began with Blue River...
CF Industries and PepsiCo Partner to Deploy Certified Low-Carbon UAN Fertilizer Across Frito-Lay Potato Supply Chain
CF Industries and PepsiCo have signed a commercial agreement to supply certified low‑carbon urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) fertilizer to farmers growing potatoes for Frito‑Lay. The product, produced at CF’s Donaldsonville, Louisiana plant using carbon capture and nitric‑acid emissions abatement, earned...
Cattler Raises $2 Million Led by Homegrown Capital to Scale AI-Powered Cattle Operations Platform Across the Americas
Cattler, a beef‑industry software startup, announced a $2 million financing round led by Homegrown Capital with participation from Grit Road Partners and other AgTech investors. The capital will accelerate AI‑driven product development and geographic expansion across North and South America. Cattler’s...
H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech Announces Inaugural Seven-Startup Cohort Focused on Biological Agriculture Solutions
H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech, operated by The Yield Lab Institute, announced its inaugural cohort of seven startups developing biological solutions for agriculture. The cohort—Agragene, Impetus Agriculture, Invasive Species Corporation, NewLeaf Symbiotics, Pluton Biosciences, Prospect Growth and SugaROx—was selected by an independent advisory...
Haiti’s Development Network Foundation Launches Precision Agriculture Initiative to Transform Farming Productivity
The Haitian Development Network Foundation (HDN) announced a precision‑agriculture initiative on Haiti’s Agriculture and Labor Day, targeting pilot projects in key farming regions later this year. The program will provide soil sensors, satellite imagery, and targeted irrigation systems, coupled with...
Best of April: Seven Stories You May Have Missed
The April "Best of" roundup spotlights seven diverse African business stories, from a Tanzanian waste‑to‑feed startup poised to hit $1 million in sales to a West African private‑equity firm’s investment playbook. It also highlights the extended deadline for Africa’s Business Heroes,...
Surprise: “Pasture-Raised” Eggs Still Run on Corn and Soy
A recent viral post reveals that even premium "pasture‑raised" eggs are largely produced on corn‑and‑soy based feed, not solely on grass or insects. Chickens, as fast‑metabolizing omnivores, need dense calories, complete protein, and minerals, which the conventional grain diet supplies...
Sugar Recovery Gains Momentum, but Global Supply Expansion Still Caps the Upside
Global sugar production for 2025/26 is projected to reach a record high, driven by output gains in Brazil, India and Thailand. India has approved its full export allocation and signaled no restrictions, adding further supply pressure. In Brazil, soaring gasoline...
When the Levee Breaks
The Punjab Agricultural University’s community seed‑bank program helped flood‑stricken farmers quickly access quality wheat seeds, enabling a farmer in Baopur Jadid to harvest roughly 23 quintals per acre. By providing improved varieties such as PBW 872, the banks cut sowing delays...
Forest Gardening for Resilience: Growing Regenerative Food Systems in New Zealand
A new guide from the Aotearoa Permaculture Workshop and Resilio Studio translates 15 years of research into practical forest‑gardening methods for New Zealand. The authors identify three climate‑adapted garden types—subtropical, deciduous and Mediterranean—matching the country’s diverse temperate ecosystems. By aligning garden...
Underselling Breeding, and Conservation
A Reddit post highlighted that the $100 billion global coffee industry allocates only a tiny share to breeding and conserving plant genetics. The same underfunding applies to other “opportunity crops” such as fonio and Bambara groundnut. Despite clear biological upside and...
Precision Agriculture Funding in 2025 Reached $668M — But the Distribution Tells a More Complicated Story
Precision agriculture attracted $668 M in equity funding across 37 rounds in 2025, but the capital was heavily skewed toward a handful of late‑stage deals. Four Series C and D rounds alone accounted for 47% of total dollars, while early‑stage seed activity...
Crop Price Index Hits Highest Since November 2023
The Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index climbed for a third consecutive month, reaching its highest level since November 2023 as the Iran‑related war in the Strait of Hormuz and severe weather disruptions tighten global crop markets. Wheat futures on the Chicago Board...
BASF and Nutrien Partner to Help U.S. Farmers Access Low-Carbon Biofuel Markets
BASF and Nutrien have launched a joint initiative that links BASF’s xarvio digital farming platform with Nutrien’s on‑farm agronomy network to help U.S. corn growers document and lower the carbon intensity of their crops. The xarvio BIOENERGY tool records field‑level carbon...
Netafim Reports 7% Revenue Growth in Q1 2026, Orbia’s Precision Agriculture Segment Advances on Turkey, Brazil, and Africa Demand
Orbia’s Precision Agriculture unit, branded as Netafim, posted Q1 2026 revenue of $290 million, a 7% year‑over‑year increase driven by strong sales in Turkey, Brazil and project work across Africa. EBITDA rose modestly to $34 million, but the margin slipped to 11.8% as...