2022 SPECIALTY CROP AUTOMATION REPORT
For most agtech start-ups, raising $50 million to $100 million is a typical threshold to develop product and execute a go-to-market plan currently. Examples include Abundant Robotics, Farmwise and Carbon Robotics. However, most CEA start-ups that have raised this amount or more than that are still developing their product offerings and working out the value proposition. To further expand their market reach, greenhouse and vertical farm start-ups are developing partnerships with large grocers like Walmart and Kroger (See Figure 12). 27 28
There is also a desire from these large retailers to work with emerging greenhouses and vertical farms in order to develop a sector that they can aggressively market to consumers to attain a competitive advantage. Along the same lines, large traditional open-field producers, like Tanimura & Antle, Taylor Farms and Vegpro, are either developing their own CEA operations or collaborating with CEA start-ups to complement their own operations and product offerings (See Figure 12). 29 30 31
MANY PLAYERS IN THE FRESH PRODUCE VALUE CHAIN ARE DEVELOPING AN EXPOSURE TO CEA EITHER THROUGH INVESTMENT, COLLABORATION OR DEVELOPING OWN CAPABILITIES
Retailers are developing partnerships with CEA start-ups primarily as a hedge against product supply risk
Strategic partnership to utilize the vertical farming platform to deliver fresh produce in Walmart’s stores
Investment
Invest in CEA Player
Kroger to provide access to 316 outlets and lower farm-to-table footprint and food waste through this partnership
Retail outlet partnership
Partner with CEA Player
Retailer
Traditional growers are developing exposure to CEA by investing in external and internal capabilities
Taylor Farms intends to complement 122,000 crop acres of field grown produce with CEA produce
Investment
Invest in external capabilities Invest in internal capabilities
Largest grower of leafy greens in NA
Vegapro is constructing 1st greenhouse to enable all year lettuce production
Traditional open-field grower
$55 M investment
Largest grower of fresh vege- table produce in Canada
Source: Walmart, Kroger, Taylor Farms, Vegpro, Roland Berger Figure 12: Examples of retailers and traditional open-field growers developing their exposure to CEA
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