Precision Agriculture: What Is It, Current State & Key Technologies
Precision agriculture is reshaping crop production by integrating GPS, IoT sensors, AI analytics and autonomous equipment to apply inputs at the field‑level. In 2025, $668 M was raised across 37 funding rounds, with autonomous weeding robots drawing the fastest‑growing investment. John Deere and CNH Industrial each completed major acquisitions to embed aerial imaging and autonomous spray capabilities. Emerging regulations on deforestation, Scope 3 emissions and water use are creating new demand for verified, granular data.
Valkyrie Analytics Secures $3 Million Seed Investment, Rebrands as Nirova LLC
Valkyrie Analytics secured a $3 million seed round and rebranded as Nirova LLC, a Boise‑based firm focused on real‑time monitoring of anaerobic digesters. The funding enables the rollout of a near‑infrared spectral platform that optimizes biogas production from livestock, food‑waste and...
Scotts Miracle-Gro Completes Sale of Hawthorne Gardening Company to Vireo Growth
Scotts Miracle‑Gro has finalized the sale of its Hawthorne Gardening Company to cannabis operator Vireo Growth, receiving Vireo shares held by an independent strategic partner. The divestiture reclassifies Hawthorne as a discontinued operation starting Q1 FY2026 and leaves Scotts’ fiscal...
Steve Mantle’s Harvest Replay: How Innov8.ag Is Reshaping Agricultural Economics Through Farm Data
Innov8.ag has unveiled Harvest Replay, an operational intelligence platform that delivers real‑time labor tracking tied to environmental, agronomic and market variables. The service leverages payroll‑grade data, which the company argues is more precise than satellite or weather models. Labor can...
SAS Partners with NC Universities on Agricultural Sensor Project to Combat Flooding and Soil Salinity
SAS has teamed up with North Carolina State University, the NC State Plant Sciences Initiative, and East Carolina University to launch a pilot sensor network in Hyde County. The affordable devices monitor water depth, soil moisture and salinity, sending real‑time...
UNS Farms Opens 10,000 Sqm Tomato Facility in Al Ain
UNS Farms, a subsidiary of the UAE‑based Speedex Group, has launched a 10,000‑square‑metre high‑tech tomato farm in Al Ain. The facility targets an annual production of about 150,000 kg of non‑GMO, pesticide‑free tomatoes using hydroponics combined with IoT, AI and data‑driven controls....
NCGA Survey Reveals Growing Fertilizer Cost and Supply Concerns Among U.S. Corn Farmers
The National Corn Growers Association’s March 2026 surveys reveal U.S. corn farmers are facing unprecedented fertilizer affordability challenges. Farmers now require 185 bushels of corn to buy a ton of urea, the highest ratio on record, while concerns about 2027...
How Schools Fund Container Farms: Grants, Budgets, and Alternative Funding Models
Schools are turning to container farms to boost STEM agriculture and food‑literacy programs, but financing remains the chief hurdle. Grants—federal, state, and county—provide a primary entry point, yet many districts now rely on capital‑budget allocations and hybrid funding models. The...
Spire Global Expands Agriculture Intelligence With Integrated Soil Moisture and Weather Forecasting
Spire Global announced an expanded agriculture intelligence suite that now incorporates near‑real‑time soil moisture mapping and up to 45‑day weather forecasts. The service leverages the company’s proprietary GNSS radio occultation and reflectometry data, delivering a continuous past‑present‑future analytics framework via...
Syngenta Launches VIRESTINA™, First New Selective Herbicide for Resistant Grass Weeds in Nearly 40 Years
Syngenta has launched VIRESTINA™, the first selective herbicide in nearly four decades that tackles grass‑weed resistance in soybean and cotton. The product, featuring the novel active ingredient metproxybicyclone, received its inaugural approval in Argentina, with registrations slated for Brazil, Australia,...
Foray Bioscience and Z’s Nutty Ridge Partner to Scale Hazelnut Trees With Fabricated Seed Technology
Foray Bioscience has entered a three‑year partnership with New York‑based Z's Nutty Ridge to develop fabricated seeds for the nursery’s proprietary hybrid hazelnut varieties. The deal includes a multi‑million‑dollar forward purchase agreement that aims to accelerate the rollout of cold‑hardy,...
GreenSTEM Technology Introduces BioProspector™ Fertilizer and Seeks Field Trial Participants
GreenSTEM Technology Corp has launched BioProspector™ (BioPro), a fungi‑based fertilizer aimed at enhancing plant resilience to abiotic stresses such as drought, extreme heat, salinity and nutrient deficits. The company is inviting farmers to join free field trials, covering product costs...
NFWF Awards $32.8M in First Round of Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative Grants
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has awarded $32.8 million in first‑round grants for its Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative, with an additional $9.1 million in matching contributions bringing total impact to nearly $42 million. The seven‑year program, launched in 2025, targets...
Entomol Partners with Purdue University on $2 Million USDA-Funded Avian Influenza Research
Entomol Products LLC has joined Purdue University and 1,4Group in a USDA‑funded, $2 million research effort to test hydrogenated catmint oil (HCO) as an antiviral fog for poultry facilities. The project, led by Purdue’s Dr. Ekramy Sayedahmed, will evaluate HCO’s ability...
Crop Genomics Leadership 2026: The Rise of the Scale-Up CEO
Crop genomics firms are swapping scientific founders for seasoned scale‑up CEOs, a shift dubbed the ‘Founder Flip.’ The pattern is evident at ALORA, where Adam Helms takes the CEO role while founder Luke Young moves to CTO. Hiring priorities now...
Biotalys Achieves First Research Milestone in Syngenta Partnership for Novel Bioinsecticide Development
Biotalys announced the first research milestone in its Syngenta partnership, confirming promising in‑vitro results for a novel bioinsecticide built on its AGROBODY™ platform. The achievement moves the collaboration into the next phase of in‑vivo testing on living organisms. The milestone...
FMC Receives EU Regulatory Approval for Isoflex Active Herbicide
FMC Corporation announced that the Herbicide Resistance Action Committee (HRAC) has granted rimisoxafen, marketed as Isoflex, a historic dual‑mode‑of‑action classification, placing it in Groups 12 and 32. The herbicide uniquely blocks both phytoene desaturase (PDS) and solanesyl diphosphate synthase (SDPS), a first...
Whysol Renewables Secures €319M Green Financing for Italian Renewable Energy Projects
Whysol Renewables Group, through its subsidiary Whysol ION Holding, closed a €319 million green financing facility backed by six major banks, including CDP, BNP Paribas, and UniCredit. The loan will fund two battery energy storage system (BESS) plants and four agrivoltaic installations...
AGRO-AI Completes Technical Integration with WiseConn API
AGRO‑AI announced the completion of a technical integration with the WiseConn API, extending its irrigation intelligence engine to WiseConn‑controlled farms. The integration pulls farm, zone, telemetry, weather, and irrigation data, feeding it into AGRO‑AI’s recommendation, reporting, and execution‑assurance workflow. By...
Primient Launches Biosolutions Business Unit to Scale Bio-Based Manufacturing
Primient has launched a Biosolutions business unit to scale bio‑based manufacturing while committing to aggressive climate goals. The company aims for a 46.2% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a similar cut in Scope 3 by 2030, with a 26% decrease...
Monarch Tractor’s Future in Doubt After Mass Layoffs and Headquarters Closure
Monarch Tractor, once valued over $500 million, has shuttered its Livermore headquarters, auctioned key equipment and laid off nearly all staff after a series of lawsuits and a failed pivot to a software‑licensing model. The company had raised $220‑242 million, including a...
UAE University Launches Smart Mushroom House to Support Food Security and Circular Agriculture
UAE University has opened the Smart Mushroom House, an IoT‑enabled research facility at Al Foah Farm that turns date‑palm waste into mushroom substrate. The plant can process up to 600 cultivation bags per cycle, delivering 20‑30% yield across species such as...
Regrow Ag and PUMA Complete Merger to Create Unified Agricultural Sourcing and Sustainability Platform
Regrow Ag and Latin American agri‑data firm PUMA have completed a merger, creating a unified enterprise platform that links field‑level data with corporate procurement and sustainability reporting. The combined system integrates Regrow’s scientific data infrastructure with PUMA’s execution network across...