Good morning.
We're closing in on the beginning of fall, which of course means pumpkins. But however good of a fall decorator or jack o' lantern carver you are, you won't have anything on 60-year-old Duane Hansen.
Hansen grew an 846-pound pumpkin in Nebraska—pretty cool in itself. But THEN, he hollowed it out, made it into a carriage boat, and set a world record by paddling it 38 miles.
And yes, since Duane broke a record, this does mean someone else had previously pumpkin-paddled a long distance: in 2018, a man paddled 25.5 miles in his own pumpkin boat.
Duane had had the seed of this idea for 5 years before finally growing a pumpkin big enough for the quest.
Go big or gourd home.
Stories:
- Putin's Grain Gripe
- Taranis Tackles Crop Analysis with $40M
- The Battle of the Valleys: Silicon vs. Central
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Russia’s fighting words over the Black Sea grain export deal had wheat prices going wild last week.
ICYMI: A UN-brokered deal in July was intended to let Ukraine export tens of millions of tonnes of grain out of their Black Sea ports to side-step a global food crisis.
Putin’s prose: "We are honoring the agreements (but) it turns out… that they (the West) have just royally screwed us over and not just us but the poorest countries whose interests were the pretext of doing all this," said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He claims nearly all grain exported from Ukraine is going to EU countries.
Putin says he wants to renegotiate the pact to limit which countries can receive shipments, and hinted at changing routes for shipments. But Russia won’t renege (this ain’t Euchre); they’ll keep on keepin’ on in hopes of achieving the deal's aim.
Ukraine’s ag minister said they’ve seen the comments, but have heard nothing from Russia about changing the deal.
Fact check: UN data shows Ukrainian cargoes have headed to Turkey, China, India, Egypt, Yemen, Somalia, and Djibouti. Maybe Putin needs a map?
Underhanded agenda? Russia is reported to have a wheat bumper crop this year, so some think Putin might be stirring the pot to strengthen the wheat market and keep funding their war.
Market mayhem: Even before Putin’s comments, the wheat market had been keeping a close eye on Ukraine.
Particularly worrying is the risk of a nuclear power plant’s potential destruction, leading to crop and environmental contamination. The estimated 40-60% of Ukrainian winter grains that won’t get planted due to the war aren’t reassuring either.
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→ Pass the chips. After a national shortage of semiconductor chips that impacted several industries, including ag, more than $50B has been sent to CHIPS for America, which will fund semiconductor R&D and manufacturing.
→ Weed control, x2. BASF and Corteva have teamed up for a cross-licensing agreement, and the two will collab on creating herbicide-tolerant soybeans and optimizing herbicide options for farmers.
→ Ethanol export market is all ears. After a 6% increase since June of U.S. ethanol exports, some think the industry could be poised for a record year.
→ Slam dunk. Carbon-neutral food company Neutral Foods closed a $12M Series A funding round, which brought in capital from several celebrities, including singer John Legend and NBA star LeBron James.
→ Get off my lawn. Four sets of Iowa landowners have been sued by Navigator CO2 Ventures, which has been trying to access their land to survey for a potential pipeline project.
→ Sunny news for startup. Cropin, which says it’s digitized 26M acres of farmland and is backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has launched Cropin Cloud to provide integrated apps for its users.
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Taranis Tackles Crop Analysis with $40M |
Investors were throwing hundreds, hundreds at Taranis during the AI-powered crop intelligence provider’s Series D $40M funding round.
The cash will enable the company to create new technologies to verify and validate carbon markets.
Taranis tackles crop analysis by leveraging leaf-level imagery and a huge AI system, supported by the largest crop dataset in the industry with more than 200M AI-data points to identify weeds, diseases, insects, and nutrient deficiencies.
Agronomists receive the valuable insights from Taranis and deliver them to growers. Most recently, Taranis was able to deliver findings straight to growers and retail crop consultants, escalating decision-making.
"This doesn’t replace scouting, it just makes it better," said Taranis Chief Commercial Officer Mike DiPaola. "The technology is creating the ability for retailers to focus on relationships and provide a new solution at scale."
Funding efforts were led by European climate tech fund Inven Capital, followed by Seraphim Space Investment Trust and Farglory Group, who were new to the crew. The latest round brings total funding to $100M.
Soundbite: "Technologies that facilitate crop intelligence and agricultural carbon credits such as Taranis' solutions have large-scale potential to improve sustainability and enduring prosperity. We are excited about the impact they will have in the local communities they serve, and to support them in their mission," Petra Sokolová, Investment Manager at Inven Capital said.
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About a month ago, a farmer used his Agrotoken Visa card to make a purchase in Latin America—a 100% blockchain payment. Any idea what this farmer purchased in real time with digitized grains?
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A cup of coffee
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Fertilizer
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A new tractor
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A steak dinner
Answer at the bottom of the email.
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The Battle of the Valleys: Silicon vs. Central |
sompong_tom, Getty Images
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They’re coming. Agricultural robots (aka agribots) are no longer just a George Jetson future. They are on the move—to the tune of a $17.8B market by 2027 after reaching $6.3B in 2021.
What can they R2D2? Weed control, seeding and planting, aerial data collection, field mapping, fertilizing and irrigation, intercultural operations, harvesting, soil analysis, and environmental monitoring, just to name a few.
What’s the rub? Well, robots are taking over the world field. In California, there is a self-driving tractor, a strawberry harvester, and more. Some companies, like IronOx, are even bringing the field indoors AND using agribots.
So… what about the humans performing those jobs now? Some view the robots as relief from the hard labor people are currently doing.
But most workers fear the benefit lies with the farm owners, tech developers, and investors—and that they are being left in the dust without an opportunity to give input.
Soundbite: "Workers who can complement the new automation, and perform tasks beyond the abilities of machines, often enjoy rising compensation," said Georgetown University professor Harry Holzer. "However, workers performing similar tasks, for whom the machines can substitute, are left worse off."
California farm workers have been working on securing more rights and protections. The United Farm Workers union marched to Sacramento in August to demand the governor sign a bill to make unionizing easier.
All might be for naught if robots take their jobs.
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A. A cup of coffee at Starbucks! The farmer paid 0.021 CORA (1 CORA = 1 ton of corn).
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Written & Edited by Kelsey Faivre, Amelia VanLandegen, Rachel Robinson, Ashley Scoby, and Travis Martin
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