Company-level funding of a green transition in food production continued to fall globally, in the first half of 2024, with Europe now following the United States downwards after propping up investment last year, but high-growth sectors remain.

At New Food Finance, our focus is highlighting a green transition in food production. Our focus to date is tracking company-level investment, including via government grants, as well as seed, venture capital, private equity and public and debt fund-raisings.

Our chart of the week shows that investment continues to fall globally, comparing 2024 H1 vs 2023 H1, continuing a downward trend since an investment peak in 2021.

A drop in company-level investment has been a feature across the global economy, attributed to higher interest rates, in particular, squeezing company growth and refinancings, as well as investor returns and exit opportunities.

At New Food Finance, we have created a taxonomy to define an agri-food green transition, including more than 100 sectors and sub-sectors, and more than 1,500 markets and technologies. This taxonomy enables detailed, granular data aggregation. Using this taxonomy, we highlight continued growth trends.

For example, bucking the general trend, following are examples of three of the top sectors that grew from H1 2023 to H1 2024:

• Integrated Pest Management – this sector saw its highest H1 investment since 2020. An example was WeedOUT’s $8 million funding in February.

• Robotics and Automation – H1 growth was led by investment in the Middle East and Europe. One example was Belgium-based Robovision’s $42 million funding in March.

• Carbon and biodiversity – This sector comprises direct provision of public goods, for example via carbon and nature markets or MRV, and saw continued H1 on H1 growth. The standout fund-raising was Indigo Ag’s $270 million raising in January.