Precision ag dominates alternative proteins, in agri-food green transition M&A, New Food Finance data show, suggesting that alternative protein products – such as plant-based burgers or cultivated meat – are failing to convince trade buyers making hard-nosed investment decisions based on consumer demand.

At New Food Finance, we have tracked more than 3,300 companies directly focused on environmentally friendly technologies, services and products, in food production. We have classified these companies by sector, market and technology, and recorded every company-level fund-raising and M&A transaction.

While alternative protein companies dominate our database by company count and fund-raisings, M&A tells a different story.

The lefthand chart above shows the top 10 M&A investors, by deal count. Precision ag dominates (dark blue). Precision ag typically comprises companies using sensors, IoT devices and computer vision to amass data and insight to reduce use of inputs from pesticides to irrigation water.

The righthand chart shows the top 10 fund-raising investors. Alternative proteins dominate (light blue).

M&A deal values are often undisclosed. Regarding disclosed deals, we find precision ag comes top in aggregate, at $19.6 billion, and alternative protein second at $13.3 billion. The tables are turned, for fund-raisings. Alternative proteins come top, at $36.8 billion, with precision ag third behind sustainable inputs (eg biological pesticides), at $15.3 billion.

Examples of recent precision ag M&A deals include:

• Trimble – AGCO last year acquired an 85% stake in Trimble’s precision agtech business, via a joint venture between the two companies, in a $2 billion deal. Trimble provides precision agriculture products and services including positioning services, to provide real-time, centimeter-level positions via satellite and cellular networks.

• ARAG – Nordson Corporation last June announced it would buy Italy’s ARAG Group and its subsidiaries in an all-cash deal worth €960 million, where ARAG would operate as a division in Nordson’s Industrial Precision Solutions segment.

• Augmenta – CNH Industrial, a global precision agriculture machinery conglomerate, last year completed its acquisition of machine vision company Augmenta, for an enterprise value of $110 million.