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How Is AI Disrupting Food Production?

Chart of the Week – How Is AI Disrupting Food Production?

This week, we review what agri-food tech sectors are seeing most companies flaunt their use of AI, in a disruption of food production which could lead to a gentler impact on the planet.

At New Food Finance, our focus is driving a green transition in food production. We follow more than 3,300 companies leading that transition, and have classified these according to more than 1,700 sectors, sub-sectors, markets and technologies that mitigate pollution, greenhouse gases or biodiversity loss.

We study every company, for their market, technology and fund-raisings over time, and summarise their business solutions in a 1-paragraph description.  

The chart above compares the percentage of companies where we have mentioned the word “AI”, in this description, by “green transition” sector.

It isn’t surprising that robotics comes out top – AI is integral to the automation systems that guide robots, which are disrupting orchard harvesting, for example, and mechanical weeding. Start-ups in this space include Bonsai Robotics and Dahlia Robotics.

Second and third in our ranking come the Integrated Pest Management sector, which refers to technologies for monitoring and / or trapping of pests, to minimise use of pesticides, and Precision Ag. In both cases, AI applications include the use of computer vision, for example to identify pests, where examples include CropVue and FarmSense, or to apply variable rates of pesticide or fertiliser.

Fourth is our sustainable varieties sector, where some companies are using AI-based techniques to identify genetic regions associated with traits of interest, from pest resistance to climate resilience, where examples include Avalo and Keygene. And fifth is our carbon and nature sector, where some companies are using machine learning algorithms to combine various data sources, including remote sensing, to monitor environmental impact or performance, from soil carbon sequestration to biodiversity restoration. Examples include Jesac and ReSeed.

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“Green Transition” Deals of the Week

ISRAEL, June 19 2024 ($10m) – Ever After Foods is a cultivated meat optimisation company, which says it has developed a unique technology platform for 3D cell expansion environment that is designed to mimic cells’ natural environment.

UNITED STATES, June 17 2024 ($11m) – Tender Food says it produces whole-cut meat substitutes from natural plant protein fibres.

UK, June 17 2024 ($2.5m) – THIS is a producer of soy and pea-based meat substitutes.

UK, June 13 2024 (£1.7m) – BetaBugs is a developer of black soldier fly breeds, for the commercial insect farming market.

What We’re Reading

(with a Brazilian focus this week!)