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9 Agtech Startups That Will Change the World
07/26/2021
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, farmers will need to increase food production by 70% by 2050 to feed nearly 10 billion people. The problem is exacerbated by factors such as steadily degrading soils and the increase in extreme weather events (the constant worsening of conditions) due to climate change.



Fortunately, scientists are working tirelessly to find solutions to these problems. Here's a list of agricultural startups that are using everything from artificial intelligence to precision farming and other technologies to pave the way for a more sustainable future.

Ecosia
Perhaps one of the most unusual models of an agri-startup. This is a search engine that plants trees with advertising revenue. Since the company was founded in 2009, the startup has planted more than 100 million trees in 25 countries, from Brazil to Australia and from Senegal to Indonesia.

The company's purpose is to create a more ecological and better world.

Infarm
Infarm, a home vertical farming startup, has grown tremendously over the past year, raising $170 million.

The farms consist of vertical modular units that are placed in restaurants and supermarkets, where shoppers can pick fresh herbs, lettuce and vegetables from the shelves. The devices connect to a central cloud farm that collects data on the optimal amount of light, water and nutrients.

Infarm claims that its approach to precision farming uses 99.5% less land than traditional farming, 95% less water, 90% less transportation and no chemical pesticides. Additionally, 90% of the electricity used in the process comes from renewable sources, and the company has set a goal of achieving net-zero emissions in food production next year.

Insect
Ÿnsect, a tech startup that makes insects for fertilizer and animal feed, recently raised $372 million to open the world’s largest insect farm. That’s the largest amount of money ever raised by an agtech startup outside the United States.

With the funding, the French startup plans to complete the construction of a robotic insect farm in Amiens, France, by 2022 and increase mealworm production from 22,000 tons per year to 100,000 tons.

Plantix
This is an AI-powered app that diagnoses plant diseases. Launched in 2015, the app has helped over 10 million farmers, most of whom live in India, grow their crops.

After uploading photos of a diseased plant to the app, the algorithm checks for diseases, nutrient deficiencies, and pests, and then sends the user treatment advice. Farmers and experts can then compare experiences and share useful information via an internal social network.

In April, the company acquired Zurich-based startup Salesbee, which created a platform for digitizing agricultural markets and hopes to use this tool to further expand in India and Southeast Asia.

Wefarm
Wefarm is a network and marketplace for smallholder farmers. Although the company is headquartered in London, the platform is primarily used in developing countries, where there are millions of smallholder farms that are not controlled by large agricultural corporations. Since its launch in 2015, the startup has grown to more than 2 million users, and more than 40,000 questions and answers are transmitted through the network every day.

The network can be used offline via SMS, enabling farmers living in more remote areas to share information and connect with local suppliers and services.

Fishcoin
As governments and consumers begin to ask where their fish comes from, the seafood industry is struggling to provide answers. This is because more than 90% of the world's seafood comes from small-scale producers in developing countries, and we don't have an adequate system in place to ensure traceability.

Fishcoin is working to solve this problem by collecting catch data from fishermen to retailers and offering microtransaction payments via blockchain in return. The company claims that this process will make data more transparent and secure, while also reducing waste and creating a more sustainable industry.

ApisProtect
ApisProtect builds machines that alert beekeepers to unusual activity in their hives, such as disease or invasive pests. The sensor monitors temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, sound, and movement and transmits the data to a control center. The data is then processed and a message is sent to the beekeepers telling them which hives need help.

The company currently tracks 20 million honeybees around the greece number data world, training its algorithm with data from beekeepers in the UK, Ireland, the US and South Africa. ApisProtect transforms the data into actionable insights and shares them via a Slack channel.

LettusGrow
Bristol-based startup LettusGrow creates aeroponic container farms. They look like large fuchsia-colored shipping containers that hold rows of leafy greens, lettuce, or herbs.

are suspended in a dense, nutrient-rich mist, which the company claims results in a 95% reduction in water use compared to open-field farming.

Olombria
Unfortunately, bees, which do much of the work of pollination, are under threat from habitat loss, pollution, pesticides and disease. London-based agtech startup Olombria is studying this problem and has found a solution: flies.

According to Olombria, flies carry out 30% of all pollination, and in cities even more. Why isn’t this number higher? Flies often get distracted and wander between plants without completing the pollination process. Olombria found a way around this by installing various signaling devices in a field or garden, and then activating them one by one via a cloud-based system.

The project now has around 50 devices installed in the UK and the US.

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