Shake Up

Strategic shifts from Taylor Farms, CNH Industrial, BeeHero, Jones Food Company, ReFarm Global, Heritable Agriculture & More In This Week's Digest

Author

Sepehr Achard
April 11, 2025

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👋 Welcome to this week’s AgTech Digest!

This week, developments in precision agriculture and automation continue to shape the future of farming. Companies are investing in robotics for weeding, harvesting, and pollination, aiming to improve efficiency, reduce labor dependency, and support sustainable practices.

Scroll down for concise updates, expert insights, and upcoming industry events—all in one place.

This Week’s Highlights Include:

Estimated Reading Time: 6 - 7 minutes

🎧 Prefer listening over reading?

Catch the full recap on this week’s AgTech Digest Podcast—available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite platform. here.

AGTECH & PRECISION AG
Precision Ag & Robotics: Strategic Moves from Taylor Farms, CNH, and BeeHero

Taylor Farms acquires FarmWise

  • Focus: Robotic weeding and thinning solutions for open-field vegetables.

  • Technology: Vulcan platform – precision weeding and thinning using computer vision and AI.

  • Strategic Fit: Supports Taylor Farms' push for automation to increase labor efficiency and sustainability.

  • Customer Continuity: Existing FarmWise customers will remain supported post-acquisition.

CNH Industrial $CNH ( ▲ 1.52% ) acquires Advanced Farm Technologies

  • Focus: Robotic harvesting for apples and strawberries.

  • Team Integration: Key technical staff to join CNH’s innovation and engineering departments.

  • Field Results: Successful 2024 pilot in Washington under real-world orchard conditions.

  • Objective: Address labor shortages and expand automation in fruit harvesting operations.

BeeHero launches Global Million Hives Network

  • Goal: Scale from 300K to 1M smart hives globally by 2030.

  • Technology: In-hive and in-field IoT sensors powered by AI for pollination and colony health monitoring.

  • Target Areas: Regions with high pollinator stress and intensive agricultural dependency.

  • Long-Term Vision: Stabilize pollinator populations and support sustainable ag practices through real-time data infrastructure.

THIS WEEK’S EDITORIAL
The Role of Field-Scale High Tunnels in Modern Agriculture

Trend: Growing adoption of high tunnels in open-field farming for climate resilience and cost-effective protection.
Solution Spotlight: TunnelPro Plus™️ by Harnois Greenhouses – features include passive ventilation and polyethylene winter covers.
Benefits:

  • Extended growing seasons (early spring to late fall)

  • Protection from wind, pests, and diseases

  • Improved fruit quality and yields

  • Compatibility with existing farm systems

Target Users:

  • Soft fruit growers (e.g., strawberries, raspberries, blueberries)

  • Vegetable and horticulture farmers

  • Fruit tree cultivators exploring season extension

Strategic Fit:

  • Offers a middle ground between open-field and high-tech greenhouse farming

  • Affordable solution amid economic pressures

  • Lower acquisition cost, reduced operating expenses, and quick ROI

CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURE
Administration, Expansion & Breeding Innovations in Indoor Ag

Jones Food Company (JFC) enters administration

  • Context: Closure of Lydney facility in April 2025 with 61 redundancies; 11 staff retained for site support.

  • Administrator: RSM UK appointed to manage operations and explore asset sales.

  • Ongoing Projects: JFC2 – 3.6-acre next-gen vertical farm producing 8 herb and 11 salad varieties.

  • Objective: Deliver premium, sustainable food affordably while addressing climate and food security challenges.

  • Ownership: Ocado Group confirmed the board's decision and administrator appointment.

ReFarm Global builds world’s first GigaFarm in Dubai

  • Partnership: Collaboration with Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS).

  • Scale: 900,000 sq. ft. facility at Dubai Food Tech Valley.

  • Integrated Tech: Co-location of six agricultural technologies in a closed-loop, zero-waste system.

  • Impact:

    • Over 3M kg of crops/year

    • 50,000+ tonnes of food waste diverted from landfill

    • Estimated 1% replacement of UAE’s fresh produce imports

  • Support: Backed by UK and UAE governments as a model for climate-resilient agriculture.

Heritable Agriculture, CIV & Paul J. Mastronardi partner on indoor strawberry breeding

  • Goal: Develop high-performance varieties for indoor and tabletop systems.

  • Approach: Combines AI-based predictive modeling, elite germplasm, and commercial-scale expertise.

  • Focus Traits: Uniformity, taste, visual appeal, disease resistance, and yield.

  • Strategic Fit: Tailored genetics for indoor production environments, supporting precision horticulture.

THIS WEEK’S INTERVIEW
AI Computational Biology Platforms Transform Life Science Product Development

  • Evogene $EVGN ( ▲ 2.97% ) operates three proprietary tech engines—MicroBoost AI, ChemPass AI, and GeneRator AI—supporting product development in microbial, small molecule, and genomic-based solutions.

  • The company applies AI not just as a tool but as a core innovation platform, developing its own custom algorithms in-house.

  • Subsidiaries such as Lavie Bio and Casterra exemplify the practical application of Evogene’s technologies across geographies and sectors.

  • Ofer Haviv, CEO of Evogene, supports a shift in public and regulatory perception toward GMOs and genome editing, viewing them as sustainable technologies.

  • Future focus is on pharma, with the ChemPass engine leading Evogene’s ambition to develop its own drug pipeline by 2030.

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OTHER NEWS
New Seed Treatment, Data Analytics For Cattle Producers & Methane Research

  • Zayndu announced the release of S-Prime, its first crop-specific protocol package. Developed for spinach, S-Prime is part of a broader plan to roll out pre-optimized treatments tailored to individual crops and growing environments.

  • AgBoost, a provider of data analytics solutions for cattle producers, has announced two key developments: the successful closing of a $500,000 investment round and the signing of a licensing agreement with MedIrAlis, an animal health company based in Australia.

  • FMC Corporation $FMC ( ▲ 0.87% ) announced the registration of Sofero™ Fall in Brazil, marking the first product launch under its Sofero™ pheromone solutions platform. The product is designed to help manage fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) through an approach based on mating disruption.

  • A new livestock breeding initiative backed by the Bezos Earth Fund and the Global Methane Hub will fund research to reduce methane emissions in cattle and sheep herds globally. Announced this week, the program is supported by $19.3 million from the Bezos Earth Fund and $8.1 million from the Global Methane Hub.

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