Our Challenges
We´re looking for startups that have solutions to these challenges.
Sustainable Agriculture
Help farmers produce sustainable and regenerative high yielding, high quality crops by leveraging science, technology and financing. We are looking for the following solutions:
Farmer Training, Engagement & Support
- Easily accessible, scalable and convenient training for farmers across multiple topics – business management, sustainable farming and financial literacy. Focus on an e-learning company that can apply to ag.
- Remote training for ag extension teams focused on providing locally relevant and up-to-date advisory services to farmers to produce quality crops sustainably
- Systems and tools that strengthen the farmers' commercial decision-making and enables alliances and information sharing among farmers
- Affordable, accessible financial products (e.g., low-interest loan products, crop insurance, credit rating system) designed for smallholder farmers
- Technology that enables a system of payment for ecological services (i.e., carbon credits) to increase farmer adoption of sustainable practices
- Renewable energy solutions for standalone farming and manufacturing equipment (harvesters, C-forklifts, water pumps, tractors, etc.)
- Solutions to facilitate farmer associations and/or creation of farmer collectives to reduce transaction costs
- Low-carbon footprint farm input application (fertilizer, chemicals, etc.)
- Digital tools to predict farming decision outcomes in design of farm and daily management
- Easy benchmark analysis of how a farm performs related to peers
Crop Quality & Productivity & Carbon Capture
- Tools and technologies for the identification, prediction, and/or prevention of plant disease and pests, as well as alerts on the changing level of disease pressure and recommended mitigation actions
- Tools and technologies to improve harvest and post-harvest processes to improve crop quality, yield, and farmer productivity, as well as quality parameters (DON, protein) and yield prediction
- Crop damage prevention or mitigation during bad or erratic weather patterns
- Rapid low-cost soil testing. Tool that supports our agronomy teams to give advice on soil.
- Simulation technology to speed plant breeding
- Cost-effective precision irrigation technology for crop sprinkler or drip irrigation systems
- Environmentally friendly fertilizers (land or ocean) or fertilizer use optimization with high adoption/low churn
- Low cost and rapid pest identification and mitigation tools
- Technology for the selection and sorting of individual crops based on quality parameters to ensure zero waste and improved crop acceptance rates
- New solutions or structures for carbon market incentives for farmers contributing to net zero ambitions
- Drought-resistant agriculture production system (including varieties with deep root system, reduced evapotranspiration)
- Tools for Soil Usage Improvement and Soil Quality Conservation and improvement, with guaranteed revenue for farmers
- Water status monitoring in soil and trees (for orchards related production) through decision Support System equipped by an Early Warning System to give guidance to farmer on irrigation practices in real-time
New Innovations Testing & Analysis
- Solution in the regenerative agriculture space (no platforms). Modeling capability is a preference.
- New technology applications for predicting & identifying areas of risk before contamination in food or beverage production
- Supply chain transparency for agriculture; e.g., organic certification, provenance and supply chain assurance
- Third party evaluation/monitoring process (GHGs, water usage)
- Use of novel raw materials for beer production that are proven to be more sustainable than traditional brewing ingredients; e.g., barley, corn and rice
- Internet access solutions for farmers in rural areas/regions without mobile devices
- Crop by-product reuse and valorization to help create a (new) revenue stream for farmers
- Enhanced R&D on crop pests (fungi, molds, parasites), developing in advance ways for treatment and containment in case of outbreak
- Precision agriculture: teledetection and stress prediction to support plant management (targeted irrigation, fertilization, manual intervention)
- Mosaic farming: diversify varieties on fields to increase pest resistance
- Controlled environment: develop indoor farming to reduce farming area and reforestation
- Optimization of Nutrient Use Efficiency, crop protection and resilience by genetics/breeding/crop selection
- Robotics to solve specific challenges when converting to regenerative farming
- Agroforestry prediction, financing, implementation solutions
- Rapid low-cost farm baselining and soil testing. Solutions to measure, report, and verify (MRV) baseline regenerative agriculture performance
- Tools or technologies for methane reduction from enteric fermentation in pasture-based dairy farming systems used for specialized nutrition
- Tools or technologies for GHG reduction in pasture-based dairy farming systems from feed/forage by targeting grassland management efficiency plus fertilizer/concentrate reduction
- Solutions for small to medium-sized dairy farms (<500 cows) in GHG reduction from storage of manure and the application of manure
- Tools or technologies to increase efficiency and lowering methane emissions of the herd through selective breeding and genomic testing
- Decision making tool to increase dairy cow longevity, reduce costs and CO2 footprint
