|
When Forbes
began convening founders for its AgTech Summits six years ago, there were
hundreds of eager entrepreneurs around the world trying to tackle some of agriculture’s
biggest problems: irrigation hardware engineered to beat
drought, biotechnology startups cultivating future cash crops, and apps
harnessing big data and AI to predict bad weather.
Not far behind, a small cohort of investors, acting like it was
the early days of the Internet, has been chasing it all and placing bets
before any clear winners have emerged. Coronavirus hasn’t stopped
them.
According to a new report from PitchBook Data, the industry
has attracted $7 billion in investment so far this year. With $2.2 billion of that going into emerging
on-farm technologies, it looks like 2020 will become the
new highest year recorded for total agtech startup funding as climate
change continues to exert overwhelming pressure on an already crumbling
system.
If anything, the pandemic has underscored the crucial work that needs to
be done.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment