Upstream Ag Professional - July 23rd 2023
Essential research and analysis for agribusiness leaders
Welcome to the 1st Edition of Upstream Ag Professional!
Index for the week:
Farmers Edge Reprioritizes Go-to-Market Strategy and Slashes Staff While Co-Founder Launches Competitive Agronomy Business
Corteva Announces Two New Biological Partnerships
Lavie Bio Announces Licensing Agreement for Bio-Fungicides with Corteva Agriscience
Corteva Agriscience and Bioceres Crop Solutions to Advance Availability of Biologicals in Europe
What Makes Up Agribusiness Innovation Strategies and How Do the likes of Syngenta, Bayer Crop Science, Corteva Agriscience, BASF, FMC Corporation and UPL Compare Across Them?
What CPG Companies Can Learn From Precision Ag Companies
Is Farmer's Business Network Just Like Every Other Ag Retailer? and What Has Been the Biggest Innovation in Ag Retail Over the Last Decade
Electrophysiology and Seed
Verde’s Products Remove Carbon Dioxide From the Air
Investing in Ag Biologicals: “We are looking for reasons to say no”
Syngenta Earmarks $166 million to Finance Brazil Farmers via Barter Deals
1. Farmers Edge Reprioritizes Go-to-Market Strategy and Slashes Staff While Co-Founder Launches Competitive Agronomy Business - Upstream Ag Professional
This article includes the following:
Highlights about recent changes to Farmers Edge global business along with their North American business
Changes in Farmers Edge customer support and go-to-market efforts
What the news means for Farmers Edge business priorities
The future of Farmers Edge carbon business
Will these business changes make Farmers Edge successful long term?
The news from Farmers Edge also coincides with a separate announcement from their co-founder and former CEO, Wade Barnes, and his new endeavor Ronin Agronomy, which is tied in at the end.
For those not wanting to read the entire article but are quickly curious about what the Farmers Edge co-founder is up to now:
Ronin Agronomy: A New Venture Founded by Industry Veterans - Business Wire
Ronin Agronomy Inc., is thrilled to announce its official launch in Western Canada. Founded by seasoned industry veterans and led by a renowned business leader, Wade Barnes, Ronin Agronomy brings together more than 20 years of precision agronomy expertise and a deep-rooted passion for farming. Western Canada now has access to a comprehensive suite of precision agronomy services and resources that integrate sustainability, productivity, and profitability, empowering farmers to produce high-yielding, premium-quality, and low-carbon grain.
2. Corteva Announces Two New Biological Partnerships
Corteva has continued to be one of the most active of the traditional crop protection and seed companies developing commercial relationships on the biological front.
Not only have they acquired companies like Stoller and Symborg, but they have established partnerships, licensing agreements or collaborations with Simbiose, Elemental Enzymes, Gingko Bioworks, Dadelos, M2i, and Marrone Bio (more on this below) over the past 3 years.
a. Lavie Bio Announces Licensing Agreement for Bio-Fungicides with Corteva Agriscience - Evogene
Lavie Bio Ltd., a ag-biologicals company that develops microbiome-based, computational driven bio-stimulant and bio-pesticide novel products, announced today a licensing agreement with Corteva. The agreement grants Corteva exclusive rights to further develop and commercialize the lead bio-fungicide product candidates targeting fruit rots and powdery mildew, which were discovered and developed by Lavie Bio. The agreement comes after two years of independent field validation conducted by both companies.
This announcement is focused on the horticulture market, but I think it is notable given it is with Lavie Bio. Lavie Bio is the agriculture biological subsidiary of Evogene which is a computational biology company that is publicly traded so we can see just how close some of their products that are associated with the licensing agreement are: