Our founder, Nicola Kerslake, recently joined Nick Greens and Joe Swartz of Contain vendor AmHydro to talk all things vertical farm funding.
Eyeing food trends for 2021
If there was an on-trend word for 2020, it would have been “unprecedented.” The word was often used by on-air talking heads and writers to describe the events we witnessed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Trending produce items Produce-based snacks. Snacking in place of meals is a rising trend among …
Bringing food production closer to home
Dave Dinesen, CEO of CubicFarms, believes that we are experiencing a global crisis in food security and that technology is necessary to feed the growing global population. CubicFarm Systems Corp. is a local chain agtech company headquartered in British Columbia, Canada. The company specializes in the development of fully automated …
Welcome our newest Rooted team member!
Meet Nadia, our production ninja and newest Rooted team member. She is based in Singapore and is hard at work on our next Rooted stories. Rooted is a microlearning platform dedicated to urban farming. We help corporate employees everywhere bring a little joy to their lives by becoming cultivators. More …
Who is an Indoor Farmer?
Any business conversation with pro vertical farmers inevitably turns to labor; how to build and train the best team is a universal challenge. It’s especially pressing in an industry where 80% of indoor farmers are new to the practice. “Academics and corporates alike, such as our Contain vendors at CropKing …
Greenhouse company AppHarvest soars 44% in SPAC debut
Shares of AppHarvest Inc., the first greenhouse company to go public via reverse IPO, soared 44% in trading Monday. The company APPH, -4.28%, whose goal is to operate a dozen greenhouses by 2025, is focused on producing tomatoes, berries, leafy greens, and cucumbers. “We want to build a better food company, one that is …
Indoor farming services provider Agrify increases deal size by 80% ahead of $45 million IPO
Agrify, which provides turnkey indoor farming solutions, raised the proposed deal size for its upcoming IPO on Tuesday. The Burlington, MA-based company now plans to raise $45 million by offering 5 million shares at a price range of $8 to $10. The company had previously filed to offer 2.8 million …
Organic produce sales, led by bagged salads, up 14.2% in 2020
Organic produce sales finished with a 14.2% increase in 2020 over the previous year, outpacing conventionally grown produce in both sales and volume gains, according to the 2020 Organic Produce Performance Report released Jan. 20 exclusively by the Organic Produce Network and Category Partners. Organic fresh produce sales in 2020 were $8,542,355,756, …
Ag Lending Update: Fewer New Loans to Farmers
Fewer new loans to farmers continued to drive a pullback in agricultural lending activity. A historically low number of new loans contributed to an increase in average loan size and drove a slight decrease in the overall volume of non-real estate loans at commercial banks in the fourth quarter. Stronger …
Gro Intelligence Raises $85 Million in Series B Funding
Gro Intelligence announced today that it has raised $85 million in Series B funding. The round was co-led by Intel Capital, Africa Internet Ventures (a strategic partnership between TPG Growth and EchoVC), and the family offices of Ronald Lauder and Eric Zinterhofer. They were joined by previous investors DCVC and …