Leading Russian agricultural enterprises have created a new platform for sharing experiences and promoting initiatives relating to the digitalization of the country’s agricultural sector. The Smart Farming Club (SFC) initiative launches with over fifty owners and senior managers at large Russian agricultural holdings among its ranks. These executive members are already responsible for the digitalization of their respective agricultural businesses. “The main objectives of the club are to eliminate problem points in the digitalization of the agro-industrial complex and exchange best practices to form global trends in technological development processes” says Bjoerne Drechsler, Chairman of Smart Farming Club and member…
Author: Matt Peskett
Matt Peskett
Matt has worked in digital publishing and media for over two decades across the science, technology, food and agricultural sectors. With a lifelong passion for growing his own food, Matt also produces 300kg giant pumpkins for exhibition and volunteers with the Royal Horticultural Society. He has a sizeable horticultural social media presence and has been a finalist in the Garden Media Guild's blog of the year and social media awards. Matt also dabbles in start-up investment with companies like Small Robot Company, Drone Ag and RootWave.
Investors have been busy. This week money is flowing into Brightseed’s AI based phytonutrient discovery tool Forager®, Phytolon’s plant-based food colouring technology and Infarm’s International network of retail and restaurant-based vertical farming units: $27M for Brightseed’s AI-powered phytonutrient discovery With less than 0.1% of all plant species explored for natural compounds useful to human health, Brightseed developed ‘Forager®’ – their AI technology which identifies ‘phytonutrients’. Plants produce phytonutrients to support their growth and protect against pathogens or predators. In humans, phytonutrients support health with anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective and neuroprotective activities. Examples of phytonutrients you may have heard of include lycopene, found in…
What if plants could speak to growers to tell them when they’re stressed? Plants already communicate with each other by secreting chemicals when under attack, triggering the defence mechanisms of their neighbours. The folks at InnerPlant, Inc have developed genetically adapted ‘plant sensors’ which amplify the natural warning chemicals to alert farmers visually when they’re sick. This week InnerPlant has launched its first biosensor – InnerTomato™ a living tomato plant sensor. Piggy-backing on plant-based signaling When InnerTomato plants are thirsty, lacking nutrients or under attack by pests or pathogens, their leaves show different colours that can be viewed by optical…
These are unprecedented times for global commerce, logistics are challenged and business as usual impacted if not suspended entirely for some sectors. In these circumstances the opportunities for attending vital business learning events are understandably reduced. However, the folks at Great Minds Event Management have embraced modern technology to allow you to keep learning and networking from the comfort of your house or office. Taking place online from Monday 29th to Tuesday 30th June is their Digi-Conference on MENA Food Security: Agriculture This digital conference will be conducted for three hours each day using bespoke online video conferencing technology. Industry experts and stakeholders…
Vertical farming technologies are featuring more regularly in the mainstream media now with consumers starting to discover produce grown on stacked fluorescent shelves in their local supermarkets. In a very recent episode of BBC’s ‘The One Show’ guest Monty Don (the UK’s most well-known garden writer, horticulturist and broadcaster) was asked his opinion about vertical farming. He has some concerns: “To dislocate food from the seasons, from the soil, from the rhythm of nature to me is to take away one of the really important essences of food, the other thing is I’m not convinced you get all the trace…
Founded in 2009, Nebraska based CropMetrics provides real time soil irrigation information to farmers using soil moisture probe technology and associated cloud based forecasting software. Four years after raising $1.3 million, the company has been aqcuired by CropX, a leading global soil sensing and agricultural analytics company. The merger will enable current CropMetrics and CropX customers and partners to access a combination of in-soil data, advanced farm management analytics and decision-support tools. “We intend to lead the market for on-farm irrigation and nutrient management tools in the years ahead and the acquisition of CropMetrics completes a critical step towards that goal.…
Start-up indoor farming technologies are in ascendance at present, very recently we have written about the growth of US based Aerofarms and the expansion of German company ‘inFarm’. Both of these companies are addressing the needs of every day consumers with salad crops grown in warehouses and abandoned industrial buildings, or even in-store alongside checkout. But what about hungry farm animals? Can animal feed be grown using these same vertical farming techniques? From their announcement at CES 2020 this week it seems that Grōv Technologies think the answer is yes. With their own system called the ‘Grōv Pod’, Grōv Technologies…
