Updates from the WGCIT By Ellie Amesse
The Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology was created to link Western Growers members with innovators in the agtech space. Below are news updates from the Center’s startups, as well as updates on activities at the center and its popular podcast! Biotechnology start-up Aanika Biosciences has entered into a food insurance agreement with Satur Farms, a specialty crop producer with operations in New York and Arizona. Aanika will bundle its technology for tracing fresh produce with a novel parametric food recall and contamination insurance policy. Aanika is developing products to combat pathogen growth and reduce outbreaks, which could further support the ability to write risk coverage in crops that are historically plagued by food safety issues. Agrology Agrology, a seed-stage climate technology start-up, was one of six partners Aanika Biosciences
awarded approximately $5 million in funding from the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative. The partners will further develop the capacity for growers to quantify climate-smart practices. Agrology will focus on quantifying regenerative practices.
“Farmers, ranchers and growers need high-quality, ground-truth data to help them with the transition to climate-smart agricultural practices,” said Adam Koeppel, Co-Founder and CEO of Agrology.“This data will prove their success and help them capture value in carbon markets. We are honored to receive a USDA grant to work alongside academics and growers to uncover ways to make climate-smart farming financially accessible to growers of all sizes and all crops.” For more on Agrology, please see the story on page 28. AgTools AgTools was invited to submit a White Paper to the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) meeting in Paris, where 50 ministers of agriculture from throughout the world met. The theme of AgTools’ paper was the importance of data in supporting and improving supply chains. For the past 60 years, OECD has been an international forum that focuses on developing policies for improving economic systems worldwide. The AgTools OECD White Paper:
“The Critical Role of Data in the Food Supply Chain,” can be viewed here: www.oecd-forum.org/posts/the-critical-role-of-data-in-the-food-supply-chain FarmWise At the World Ag Expo, FarmWise launched its next-generation weeding
implement, Vulcan, which was named to the Top-10 New Products list of the World Ag Expo. Vulcan removes weeds inter-row and intra-row with sub-inch precision, eliminating the need for hand-weeding crews for over 20 vegetable crops including lettuce and broccoli. The result is a cost-efficient, precise, and reliable weed control solution for vegetable crops. Last month, FarmWise welcomed a new CEO, Tjarko Leifer, a recognized industry leader and former SVP of Strategy at Climate Corporation. Leifer had been serving the company for the past few years as an independent board member. Former CEO Sebastien Boyer stepped into the role of Chairman. He will continue to support the team with external communications and as a strategic advisor.
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MARCH | APRIL 2023
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