News and Analysis on Global Agri-Tech Innovation, Investment and Regulation
Producers at SIVAL 2026 showcased a wave of innovations designed to keep orchards productive and competitive in the face of a future shaped by tougher chemical restrictions, volatile climate patterns and rising pest and disease pressures
Start-up profile
Belgium’s VIB institute, known for generating world‑class plant biotech companies, believes it has found its next success story in Rainbow Crops; a start‑up combining multiplex genome editing, AI and advanced phenotyping to deliver climate‑resilient,...
Crop protection companies like Corteva are blending gene editing and AI technologies to create corn hybrids that can respond to multiple diseases at once
Paris-Berkeley-based start-up unveils BOTANIC, an open‑weight genomic transformer trained on 43 plant species, and says its approach could cut years from the seed development cycle
UK agri‑biotech Tropic has closed an oversubscribed $105m Series C, the biggest raise yet for a gene‑edited tropical crops company, as investors double down on CRISPR‑enabled tools to boost yield, fight disease and strengthen climate resilience across...
UK spinout says its organelle‑engineering platform could unlock traits not possible to achieve with nuclear genome editing, as investors back new crop development programmes across Europe and North America
Israeli biotech and gene-editing company PlantArcBio is partnering with Agroceres Group subsidiary Helix Sementes e Biotecnologia to develop drought-resilient corn for the South American market
Whole‑genome screening, precision trait mapping and hybrid‑breeding advances have enabled Syngenta to deliver Europe’s first commercially scalable hybrid wheat, marking a pivotal moment for a crop long considered too genetically complex for hybridisation
International Seed Federation (ISF) secretary general Michael Keller warns that a fragmented regulatory landscape risks stalling innovation, slowing climate‑resilient crop development and shutting out smaller breeders
University of Oxford spinout expects precision‑bred wheat to reach UK farms within around five years, following the launch of a new consortium with seed giant KWS and Dyson Farming, the UK’s largest commercial farming operation
A breakthrough by scientists at the John Innes Centre and the Earlham Institute has revealed for the first time how “mother plants” pass environmental information directly to their developing seeds – a finding that could transform approaches to crop...
UK ag-biotech Wild Bioscience and US-based The Traits Company announce a strategic collaboration to fast-track differentiated soybean varieties – validating demand for Wild Bio’s AI-powered trait design platform
From drought tolerance to disease resistance, Biographica says its AI can slash crop development timelines by five years. Investors and seed giants are buying in
Investor profile
Investor Naeem Lakhani believes fixing human health starts with fixing soils. His agtech fund, The First Thirty, is raising €100m to back companies connecting soil biology, food quality, and human health – powered by AI and collapsing genomics costs
UV-based seed trait company BioLumic is taking advantage of Brazil’s growing seasons to speed up developing new crop traits and hybrids
Imperial College London spin-out Biocentis is betting on programmable biology and AI to tackle the global threats posed by insects. It believes its genome engineering platform promises a safer, more sustainable alternative to chemical pesticides and...
Ginkgo Bioworks and Bayer have extended their multi-year partnership to develop microbial nitrogen fixation technology that could reduce reliance on synthetic fertilisers
UK start-up says its breakthrough platform could unlock yield gains in major crops by mimicking evolution and enhancing photosynthesis – now the challenge is scaling it for global seed partners
French start-up Genomines has raised an oversubscribed $45 million Series A to scale its groundbreaking approach to metal extraction
NRGene Green is using AI-based crop genomics to discover traits to address a persistent problem for Canadian canola farmers – clubroot disease
Professor Mark Tester has spent the last decade on a quest to engineer crops to grow in the harshest of circumstances. A breakthrough has unlikely roots in decades-old science, he tells Harry Holmes
Cocoa market volatility is making major food producers like Mars rethink their supply chain with the help of agtech
Canadian canola farmers grapple with the threat of two serious diseases — blackleg and clubroot — but now have four more seed options to circumvent these challenges
Spearhead Bio is taking a glue-and-scissor approach to gene-editing with its proprietary TAHITI technology
What explains the troubles facing Dutch plant health start-up Plense Technologies, which is winding down, and French robotics firm Naïo Technologies, which has entered receivership?
A year on from the commercial release of its hybrid true potato seed varieties in Kenya, trials have delivered 3-4x the yield of local varieties. It is now eying other markets, it tells AgTechNavigator. But it’s a slow business to bake
Triple Helix’s latest report advocates for government action to spearhead agtech innovation and investment to tackle a host of agriculture challenges, including citrus greening
Flagship Pioneering – the US company behind RNA-based vaccine maker Moderna and ag trailblazers Indigo and Inari – has unveiled Terrana Biosciences after four years in stealth. Its RNA platform has a host of potential applications in agriculture, Terrana...
Agri-food accelerator Eatable Adventures selected Nunatak, Sciphage, The Food Chainers, Bee Technology and Koji to join its inaugural Raíces programme, which is supporting the growth of Latin American and Spanish start-ups
CropLife International President and CEO Emily Rees wants improved global value-chain cooperation to address geopolitical volatility and ensure future food productivity
Researchers have called for the EU to allow new genomic techniques (NGTs), such as gene editing, in organic farming. They argue this could help achieve the European Green Deal’s target of 25% organic agriculture by 2030, sparking renewed policy debate...
Company looks to neutralize key toxins produced by C. perfringens
‘Beyond disease resistance, the technology also reduces the susceptibility of pigs to secondary bacterial infections’
Cobb leveraging precision data collection, and improved prediction models to stay ahead in broiler performance
Disease continues to cause significant economic losses across global pork production systems
The agtech pioneer – now CEO of Ohalo Genetics – tells us why he’s relaxed about the tougher funding environment; why he fears ‘someone’s gonna get hurt’ by the Trump tariffs; and why he’s ‘all in’ on his seed breeding start-up.
With cumulative equity raised of more than $720 million, seed design start-up Inari is attracting significant support from investors. We caught up with Inari CFO Lara Smith Weber to learn more about the company’s innovative technology and asset-light...
Iyris, a Saudi-based start-up, discusses a polyploid grafting technique that it believes could open up new possibilities for farming in hot climates, making crops such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers more resilient to challenging environmental conditions.
Israel-based BetterSeeds, which uses CRISPR gene-editing technology to genetically improve crops and design better seeds, has appointed Professor Virginius Šikšnys to its Scientific Advisory Board to ‘unlock CRISPR’s full potential’.
Heritable Agriculture, an idea conceived inside Alphabet’s semi-secret research and development ‘moonshot’ facility (or Google X), has emerged from stealth to focus on advancing plant breeding and biotechnology.
Bayer’s impact investment unit has announced the results of one of the largest global surveys of society’s attitudes toward new technologies, including NGTs.
Study shows potential route to nutrient recovery from poultry processing waste
Genomic selection (GS) has shown promise in enhancing fruit and vegetable crops but significant challenges remain, limiting its full potential in the sector, says new research.
Gene editing technology could help the global wine industry combat the effects of climate change, says Lithuanian specialist Caszyme.
Farmers are not resistant change, says Phil Bicknell, CEO at the newly merged UK-Agri-Tech Centre. But the “three Cs” of communication, collaboration and cash are needed to help them adopt newer sustainable practices.
Progressive regulatory frameworks, together with more collaboration with data, are needed to scale effective innovation, says BASF’s Neil Key.
The innovation being eyed by Gates Foundation's agtech arm has potential to be deployed in richer nations, says Trey Key, its director of business development. But he warns that ag requires more time for technology integration compared to other sectors.
AgTechNavigator's FREE AgTech Innovation and Investment – APAC editorial webinar takes place on November 6. Register your attendance today so you don’t miss out. The event will start on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 at 5:00 PM SGT (Singapore).
A project by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, in partnership with US tech company Pairwise, will employ gene editing to support the yam in industry in Nigeria and wider region.
From regen ag to AI and biologicals… what’s hot and what’s not in agtech? This and much more was discussed at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London.