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Welcome back, listeners! In today's episode, we dive into the latest strides in AgTech — the H1 2026 state of play with $1.27 billion across 89 deals, Europe's first new herbicide active ingredient in over 15 years from Bayer, Pivot Bio's PROVEN 40 clearing EPA registration, John Deere's See & Spray surpassing 1 million acres, a WFFS strawberry virus spreading through 28 US states with no cure available, and Nutrien and Ceres putting AI agronomic support into 2,000-plus retail locations. Let's get started!

Here’s a Quick Snapshot of What’s Making Headlines:

1. Analysis: H1 2026 AgTech State of the Industry: $1.27B disclosed across 89 deals, robotics leads funding, partnerships dominate activity, Series A and B still squeezed, and a clear bifurcation between infrastructure plays and product companies
2. Partnerships: Nutrien and Ceres partner to deploy AI-powered agronomic decision support to Nutrien's 2,000-plus retail locations; AGCO expands its Trimble precision ag licensing deal to cover additional machine lines
3. Crop Protection: Bayer receives EU authorisation for LASO, its first new herbicide active ingredient in Europe in over 15 years; Pivot Bio's PROVEN 40 receives EPA registration — first biological nitrogen product cleared at 40 pounds per acre rate
4. Precision Ag: John Deere See & Spray surpasses 1 million commercial acres treated; Headwall Photonics and Agremo integrate hyperspectral imaging with AI crop analytics for canopy-level nutrient and stress detection
5. Grain & Supply: Scoular publishes its 2025 sustainability report covering 2.5 billion bushels handled; AGT Food and Ingredients expands pulse protein capacity in Saskatchewan; Viterra completes integration of Gavilon grain assets
6. Plant Health: WFFS strawberry virus spreads to 12 additional US states — now present in 28 states with no curative treatment available; EPPO adds Potato Virus A to its A2 quarantine list
7. Funding: Keenan Systems raises 12M euros to scale livestock feed management AI; BeeHero closes $10M Series B for precision pollination; Farmonaut raises $3M for satellite crop monitoring across emerging markets
8. Events: Commercial UAV Expo (Las Vegas), Taiwan Smart Agriweek, Women in Agribusiness Global Summit (New Orleans), Global Agrovet Research Conference (Dubai), EIMA International (Bologna)

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2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews

2025 Precision Ag Report

2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews

2025 Precision Ag Report

Quick recap from last week — Bayer carved its entire US glyphosate business into a new standalone entity called Ruveon LLC, a structural move designed to ring-fence litigation risk from its core Crop Science operations. Abu Dhabi's L'IMAD completed its 35% stake in Limagrain Vegetable Seeds, moving Gulf sovereign capital upstream into seed genetics for the first time at this scale. Yara agreed to acquire Gulf Coast Ammonia's Texas plant for $1.3 billion. Sabanto and Verdant Robotics became the first commercial deployment of fully autonomous 24/7 field operations without an on-site operator. Syngenta named Hengde Qin as CEO effective August 1st. And the US suspended phosphate import duties, projecting nearly $1.82 billion in annual savings for farmers. A packed week. Now let's get into this one.

Welcome to another episode of AgTech Digest, your go-to source for the latest in agricultural technology. We're at the halfway point of 2026, and this week's episode is a good moment to zoom out. We'll go through the H1 state of the industry — what the data actually says about where funding went, what's moving, and what's still stuck. Then we'll get into the week's news, which includes a first new herbicide active ingredient approved in Europe in over 15 years, a biological nitrogen product just cleared by the EPA, John Deere's See & Spray crossing a million acres, a worrying plant virus spreading across US strawberry fields with no cure available, and a partnership that puts AI agronomic support into over 2,000 retail locations. There's a lot to cover, so let's get started.

Let's take a look at what this week brings us. Halfway through 2026 and the picture is sharper than it was in January. Capital is concentrated, partnerships are doing more work than funding rounds, and the bifurcation between infrastructure plays and product companies is widening. This week also hands us a crop protection milestone that hasn't happened in Europe for 15 years, a biological nitrogen product clearing its first EPA registration at scale, and a plant disease alert that growers need to know about right now.

Looking at this week's analysis, it covers the H1 2026 State of the AgTech Industry. The first half of 2026 closed with $1.27 billion in disclosed funding across 89 deals — a number that looks reasonable on the surface but masks a significant concentration story. Robotics and autonomous systems attracted the single largest share of capital, accounting for roughly a third of total disclosed investment. Partnerships continued to dominate the deal-type breakdown — more than half of all activity in H1 was partnership-based, which tells you that companies are choosing distribution and integration over independent scaling. Series A and B rounds remain the most constrained part of the capital stack, with investors still favouring either very early pre-seed bets or late-stage companies with proven unit economics. The geographic picture shifted noticeably: the Middle East and South Asia each grew as a share of global deal count, while North American deal volume held flat and European deal count actually increased quarter-on-quarter. The clearest structural signal from H1 is the bifurcation between infrastructure plays — data layers, soil measurement, supply chain connectivity — which are attracting institutional money, and product companies, which are relying on partnerships and revenue to bridge to their next raise. That gap is not closing. If anything, it's getting wider.

What's in the news for us? Well, Bayer received EU authorisation for LASO, its new herbicide active ingredient — the first new herbicide mode of action approved in Europe in over 15 years. LASO targets broadleaf weeds in cereals and oilseed rape, and its commercial launch is planned under the Adepidyn portfolio, with first sales expected in 2028. The significance here isn't just the chemistry — it's the 15-year gap. That gap reflects how high the regulatory bar is in Europe, and how consequential new chemistry approvals are for resistance management across the continent. On the biological side, Pivot Bio's PROVEN 40 received EPA registration — the first biological nitrogen product cleared for use at a 40 pounds per acre application rate. The product uses engineered microbes to fix atmospheric nitrogen directly at the root, reducing synthetic nitrogen requirements while maintaining or improving yield. The EPA registration opens the commercial door across the US at meaningful agronomic rates. In precision application, John Deere announced that See & Spray has surpassed 1 million commercial acres treated — a milestone for AI-powered targeted spraying that reduces herbicide use by applying only where weeds are detected. The system uses computer vision and machine learning to identify and spray individual weeds in real time, and passing 1 million acres is a meaningful validation of commercial adoption beyond early trials. In hyperspectral sensing, Headwall Photonics and Agremo announced an integration that combines Headwall's airborne hyperspectral imaging hardware with Agremo's AI crop analytics platform, enabling canopy-level nitrogen stress, water stress, and disease detection across field and protected crops. The combination is being positioned as a service offering for agronomic consultants and large-scale growers.

In the retail channel, Nutrien and Ceres partnered to deploy AI-powered agronomic decision support across Nutrien's network of more than 2,000 retail locations across North America, giving farm advisors at those locations access to Ceres AI recommendations layered on top of Nutrien's existing agronomic data. That's a meaningful distribution move for Ceres — 2,000-plus locations in a single partnership

AGCO expanded its licensing arrangement with Trimble, extending precision agriculture technology access to additional machine lines beyond the scope of the original 2023 deal. The expansion covers additional tractor and harvesting platforms and is effective from the 2027 model year. In grain and supply chain, Scoular published its 2025 Sustainability Report, covering 2.5 billion bushels handled across its operations — the document lays out its Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions baseline and sets reduction targets through 2030. AGT Food and Ingredients announced a capacity expansion at its pulse protein processing facility in Saskatchewan, targeting growing demand for pea and lentil protein from food manufacturers. And Viterra confirmed the completion of its integration of Gavilon's grain origination and merchandising assets, closing a chapter on one of the larger US grain network acquisitions of recent years.

In funding, Keenan Systems raised 12 million euros in a growth round to scale its livestock feed management AI internationally — targeting dairy and beef operations across Europe and North America. BeeHero closed a $10 million Series B to expand precision pollination services across more crops and geographies, backed by investors including Firstime VC and XL Innovate. And Farmonaut raised $3 million to expand satellite-based crop monitoring services across emerging markets in South Asia, Africa, and Latin America. On plant health — and this one is worth paying attention to — the Weed in Fruit and Flower Strawberry virus, known as WFFS, has now spread to 28 US states, having reached 12 additional states in the past growing season. There is currently no curative treatment for WFFS, only management practices to limit spread. California, Florida, and the Pacific Northwest are among the affected regions, and the virus is transmitted by infected transplants, making nursery hygiene the primary control mechanism. EPPO also added Potato Virus A to its A2 quarantine list, meaning it is now subject to import and spread restrictions across European member states. Finally to close our news, on appointments: Enko Chem named Victoria Lee as CEO, as the company prepares for commercial product launches in crop protection. Cropin named Srinivasan Rajagopalan as Global VP of Sales, targeting expansion across Asia and Africa. And Robovision appointed Pieter Segaert as its new CEO to lead its AI vision platform for agriculture and food processing into its next commercial phase.

Looking ahead to upcoming industry events, mark your calendars for Commercial UAV Expo from September 1st to 3rd, 2026 in Las Vegas. Following that, Taiwan Smart Agriweek runs from September 8th to 10th in Taiwan, and the Women in Agribusiness Global Summit takes place from September 22nd to 24th in New Orleans. Then we have the Global Agrovet Research Conference from October 7th to 8th in Dubai. Finally, don't miss EIMA International in November in Bologna.

That wraps up today's episode of AgTech Digest. We explored the latest developments in agricultural technology. From the H1 picture showing capital concentrating in robotics and infrastructure while Series A and B remain stuck, to Europe's first new herbicide active ingredient in 15 years, a biological nitrogen product finally cleared by the EPA at commercial rates, John Deere's See & Spray hitting a million acres, a strawberry virus spreading through 28 US states with no cure in sight, and AI agronomic support landing inside 2,000 retail locations through a single deal — it's clear that the agtech sector is making strides in sustainability and innovation. Halfway through the year, the mid-season check shows a sector that's tighter, smarter, and more selective than it was 12 months ago. Thanks for joining me, I'm Anna, signing off. Stay inspired and keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible!