Agriculture

The India Namibia Summit, which was organised by India Africa Trade Council and held in India, focused on bilateral trading opportunities in agriculture, minerals, skill development, affordable housing and gold

Future Crops, an advanced agriculture sciences company that developed advanced vertical farming from cutting-edge technology, has recently announced a new investment round led by Tencent, a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate

The technology uses a unique soil-like substrate to better reproduce the natural environment. The high-tech farm grows fresh, clean, ultra-sustainable, high-quality crops at competitive price points. Researchers from Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) were an integral part of the team that developed Future Crops’ cutting-edge technology. 

Future Crops has already raised over US$30mn in seed funding from a private equity arm run by the Lerman Family, leaders in the American steel industry to finance the construction of their state-of-the-art facility and to build their team of experts. This is the first time Future Crops has sought investment beyond its initial round of funding.

“We are tremendously excited about this investment,” said Gary Grinspan, CEO and co-founder of Future Crops. “Tencent’s investment reflects the company’s focus on sustainable innovations and support for technologies, like vertical farming, which can create clean, locally grown sustainable food while helping to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. We believe our soil-substrate-based platform is closer to nature and produces fresh, longer-lasting, higher-quality produce at improved yields, as plants grow best in soil".

“Tencent supports companies creating solutions to the world’s most critical challenges, including technologies that can feed more people using fewer resources,” said Ling Ge, chief European representative, Tencent. “Investments in sustainable agriculture technologies, such as vertical farm systems, aligns with our mission to apply technology for good.”

“The timing of this investment round is perfect for us as Future Crops has recently scaled up to mass production capacity,” added Grinspan. “We’re already supplying fresh high-quality herbs to leading European retailers, both under private label and our own brand. Currently, we market all our produce, so this investment will allow us to expand our capacities to meet demand and continue to increase our R&D capabilities and develop proprietary technology.”

A new report co-published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) highlights the benefits from the use of digital technologies in sub-Saharan Africa

Organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), representatives from food and agriculture systems across Africa virtually convened at the 2nd African Agribusiness Leadership Dialogue (AALD), discussing the challenges and opportunities around transforming agrifood systems in Africa.