Welcome to the 81st Edition of Upstream Ag Professional!
This week’s audio edition covers:
Carbon Robotics G2 Product Line Announcement
InnerPlant CropVoice Announcement
and some brief John Deere and Solinftec commentary to start.
Index
Crop Protection Company Patent Analysis: Formulation Technology
Carbon Robotics Introduces G2 Product Line, First Systems Capable in Soybean and Corn: Will Laser Weeding Eliminate Herbicides in Row Crops?
InnerPlant and Cooperative Producers, Inc. Partner to Bring CropVoice™ to Nebraska Soybean Growers
Biochemical Crop Protection: IBI Ag Secures $6.1 Million in Funding Round Led by Corteva
Solinftec Grows 20% YoY
John Deere
John Deere Q1 2025 Results
Deere Dealer GroeNoord Files For Bankruptcy
John Deere Unveils Revamp of Planter Precision Upgrade lineup
Understanding John Deere's New License Model for Technology
Meeting Farmers Evolving Expectations with Doug Sauder
Is Agtech Broken for Venture Capital—or Are We Asking the Wrong Question?
Which Economic Tasks are Performed with AI? Evidence from Millions of Claude Conversations
Other Interesting Ag Articles (9 this week)
1. Crop Protection Company Patent Analysis: Formulation Technology and Fighting Generics - Upstream Ag Professional
Index
Corteva Polymer Patent
Competitive Dimensions Between Fertilizer and Crop Protection Companies
Syngenta Micro Encapsulation Technology Patent
AgroSpheres Mini-Cell Technology Patent
UPL Folcysteine Patent
Overview
This week, we look at interesting patents from Corteva, Syngenta, AgroSpheres, and UPL—each signalling a push towards more advanced formulation technologies and biological integration.
Corteva’s Polymer Patent – A controlled-release polymer that could expand market opportunities for Corteva and deliver a novel approach to crop protection + fertilizer delivery.
Syngenta’s Micro-Encapsulation Patent – A biodegradable encapsulation technology that aligns with regulatory trends and improves the stability, efficacy, and environmental impact of crop protection products.
AgroSpheres Mini-Cell Technology Patent – A look at technology for delivering protein based biochemicals, tackling stability, scalability, and targeted delivery challenges.
UPL’s Folcysteine Patent – A co-formulation of a biostimulant and crop protection molecules, enhancing nutrient uptake and stress tolerance while opening doors for novel product combinations.
Check out the article linked above for the full breakdown.
2. Carbon Robotics Introduces G2 Product Line, First Systems Capable in Soybean and Corn: Will Laser Weeding Eliminate Herbicides in Row Crops? - Upstream Ag Professional
Carbon Robotics, today debuted LaserWeeder G2, its new product line that combines the latest AI, computer vision, robotics and laser technology for precision weed control. LaserWeeder G2’s faster, lighter and modular design makes precision weeding available to more farm sizes, field configurations, crop types and farm budgets around the world. By eliminating the need for hand labor, herbicides and mechanical weed control, the LaserWeeder G2 reduces farmers’ weed control costs by up to 80%, increases crop yields and boosts farm profitability.
The LaserWeeder G2 product line delivers significant efficiency improvements, operating up to twice as fast as its predecessor to maximize laser-weeded acres per hour. New models are lighter, and the 20-foot model is 25% lighter than the original LaserWeeder. This enables LaserWeeder G2 models to be paired with lighter and less expensive tractors, reducing soil compaction and allowing for earlier field entry.
Index
Overview
Pricing
Speed
Weed Control
Laser Resistance?
Other Interventions: Light-based Crop Protection
Distribution, Service and Support
Competitor Overview
Final Thoughts
This week Carbon Robotics released its new G2 line-up of laser weeding systems. What stood out to me was that they announced their first foray into row crops, specifically soybean and corn— specifically emphasizing organic production with the G2 1200 (40 foot width) and G2 1800 (60 foot width).
I was surprised.
Much like Tesla started in high value cars and moved to lower value cars as Wrights Law and production scaled, Carbon Robotics started in high value crops, but they are entering row crops faster than I anticipated.
In a conversation I had with Paul Mikesell he stated that they had a customer operating in the organic corn and soybean segment encourage them in this direction.
Pricing
Paul also said they are not publicly commenting on the price of the G2 1200 or 1800 at this time, but he did confirm that the 20 foot system G2 600 sells for $1.4 million + an annual fee (support and software). He also confirmed that the price does not scale linearly, meaning the 40 foot width system is not double the price of the 20 foot.
A20% addition to move from the 20 foot to the 60 foot would put the price tag around $1.7 million before annual fees, for a singular invention (weed management) system (more on pricing in the below section).
For full article, check out the link above.
3. InnerPlant and Cooperative Producers, Inc. Partner to Bring CropVoice™ to Nebraska Soybean Growers - Upstream Ag Professional
Key Takeaways
InnerPlant’s CropVoice platform enhances traditional disease scouting by leveraging plant traits that emit optical signals under stress. This approach offers earlierdisease detection, helping farmers make better-informed fungicide decisions.
Unlike traditional crop protection products with tight margins, CropVoice allows retailers to monetize information and build stronger relationships with farmers. The revenue-sharing model aligns incentives while offering a scalable business opportunity, particularly as InnerPlant expands into additional crops and stress indicators.
Disclosure: Upstream Ag Ventures Inc. is an investor in InnerPlant.
InnerPlant today announced a partnership with Cooperative Producers, Inc. (CPI) to establish a demonstration field showcasing the CropVoice™ disease alert network.
InnerPlant inserts a plant trait to emit distinct optical signals when soybean plants are under stress, such as when they are under fungal pressure or attack from insects. The signals are detectable via sensors, such as satellites or on tractors, and visualize stress weeks before the human eye can see (in case of disease), giving farmers an early warning system to proactively protect their crops.
What is CropVoice?
CropVoice is InnerPlant’s insights platform that integrates data from a network of sentinel plots featuring the InnerSoy trait.
Data is collected from the plots and analyzed using models to provide definitive detection of fungal infection. The data determines if there is infection and sends an alert to the farmer and retailer, enabling more informed fungicide recommendations and applications:
Source: InnerPlant
The CropVoice approach is grounded in sentinel efforts previously used by the USDA. The Value of Plant Disease Early-Warning Systems, where “sentinel” plots were planted across the United States and inspected regularly to provide early detection of soybean rust infection and then uploaded to a website to disperse the information, done in 2005:
We estimate that the information provided by the framework increased U.S. soybean producers’ profits by a total of $11-$299 million in 2005, or between 16 cents and $4.12 per acre.
InnerPlant aims to amplify the sentinel concept by removing human error, increasing the speed of insight delivered and offering a way to know of an infection before visual symptoms arise via the CropVoice platform to inform decisions on fungal pathogens and fungicide application.
Any retail or input manufacturer leveraging CropVoice enables its agronomists and sales team to have informed conversations with farmers and become more efficient with scouting, crop protection logistics, and marketing tactics. Today, the diseases include frog eye leaf spot and white mould.
CPI is not the first player to begin to leverage CropVoice— SunAg in Illinois along with CHS in Nebraska have actively begun to the sell the service to farmers for the 2025 season.
For a full breakdown on business models for the retailers and InnerPlant, check out the link above.
4. Biochemical Crop Protection: IBI Ag Secures $6.1 Million in Funding Round Led by Corteva - Upstream Ag Professional
Key Takeaways
IBI Ag closed the first part of its Series A funding round with a $6.1 million investment. The round was led by Corteva through its Corteva Catalyst platform with the participation from various other VCs funds.
IBI Ag’s nanobody-based insecticides represent a novel biochemical crop protection by offering high selectivity and strong binding affinity to disrupt key insect biological processes.
IBI Ag, a pioneering crop protection company developing a wide array of bio-insecticides with a lower ecological footprint, today announced it has successfully closed the first part of its Series A funding round with a $6.1 million investment. This round—led by Corteva through its Corteva Catalyst platform with the participation of The Trendlines Group, Iron Nation, Consensus Business Group and a grant from the Israel Innovation Authority.
IBI Ag is an Israel-based agricultural biotechnology company focused on biopesticide innovation, specifically insects. Leveraging a proprietary platform, IBI Ag develops nanobody-based insecticides, a unique concept for agriculture that has the potential to be useful in crop protection markets.
IBI Ag has a discovery platform which integrates a nanobody database with AI/ML-driven optimization, focused on identifying high-efficacy, insecticides.
Nanobodies belong in the novel biochemical space that includes other molecules like RNAi, peptides, enzymes and proteins:
For the full overview of nanobodies, IBI Ag opportunities and challenges, check out the link above.
Related: Ag biologicals growth could match chemicals within 20 years. Here’s what growers should be asking - AgFunder News
5. Solinftec Grows 20% YoY - AgFeed
Key Takeaways
Solinftec had R$370 million in 2024 between Solix hardware, SaaS revenue and recurring revenue to power the Solix (Brazil only), with the target for 2025 at R$450 million.
Solinftec's goal is to reach 300 Solix units in 2025 and 700 in 2026. They have 80 Solix in the United States for 2025, with them being used by “individual producers, agricultural cooperatives, and the chemical industry.”
Solinftec is a company I have talked about mutiple times in Upstream. Last year, an Agribiz article stated that they were raising capital at a ~$270 million USD pre-money.
The company continues to grow, too.
Solinftec has a strong foothold in crops like sugar cane in Brazil, where significant portions of their revenue come from by being the essential operating system for 90+% of the large operators in the region. They are present in 11 countries and have solutions for 13 million hectares, and 60,000 pieces of equipment online.
Solinftec had R$370 million in 2024 between Solix hardware, SaaS revenue and recurring revenue to power the Solix (Brazil only), a growth of 20% with a target for 2025 at R$450 million.
According to the AgFeed article above:
Solinftec’s main source of revenue is monitoring solutions, but Solix is a new product and is starting to become the company's flagship product
The bigger picture for Solinftec is the Solix Autonomous Platform.
The Solinftec Solix Platform is an autonomous, solar-powered platform designed for precise crop scouting, spraying, and insect control.
Solix Scouting — A lightweight (1,200lbs), solar powered, four-wheeled robot equipped with 16 RGB cameras and RTK for sub-inch accuracy. It moves at ~1 mph, covering ~100 acres/day. Data is processed on the edge before cloud transmission.
Solix Sprayer — Adds a 40-foot boom with custom nozzles, two 15-gallon tanks, and ALICE-powered weed detection, reducing herbicide use by up to 90%. Future updates include autonomous refilling.
Solix Hunter — Uses targeted UV light frequencies to detect and eliminate pests like armyworms, corn earworms, and cotton bollworms autonomously.
The AI-powered ALICE system orchestrates data acquisition, analysis, and user interaction, making the Solix an integrated solution.
According to the article, they now have 150 of these units in-field globally.
Solinftec's goal is to reach 300 units in 2025 and 700 in 2026.
At $50,000 USD per unit, at this week’s Brazilian Real conversion, that would put their total 2025 Solix revenue at R$85.5 million, or approximately 20% of their total 2025 forecasted revenue.
According to CEO Britaldo Hernandez’s Linkedin post, they have 80 Solix in the United States already this year, with them being used by “individual producers, agricultural cooperatives, and the chemical industry.”
“The chemical industry” suggests that certain crop protection manufacturers are testing the systems.
For a full deep dive on the Solix Platform, including how it could impact crop protection and ag retailer business models, check out:
Solinftec and the Solix Autonomous Platform: Reimagining Farming from First Principles - Upstream Ag Professional
6. John Deere News
John Deere Q1 2025 Results - John Deere
Deere & Company reported first-quarter fiscal 2025 net income of $869 million, a 50% decrease from $1.751 billion in the same period last year. Net sales and revenues declined by 30% to $8.508 billion, with net sales falling to $6.8 billion from $10.49 billion in the previous year.
Production & Precision Agriculture — Sales decreased by 37% to $3.067 billion, and operating profit dropped by 68% to $338 million, primarily due to lower shipment volumes. In the segment for 2025, Deere also decreased it’s sales and operating margin expectations.
From their earnings call:
As we look at the second quarter, we’d anticipate being the highest quarter for us in terms of sales. Full year guide for large Ag being down 15% to 20%. Quarter-over-quarter, we’d expect that second quarter year-over-year compared to last year’s quarter to be down more than the guide, so probably down more than the 15% to 20% that you’re seeing in the full year. That gets sequentially better as you go to Q3 and Q4 in terms of the year-over-year comps.
Small Agriculture & Turf — Sales fell by 28% to $1.79 billion, with operating profit declining by 62% to $124 million, also attributed to reduced shipment volumes.
Analyst Call Commentary
Uptake of precision tools in Brazil:
During the quarter, over 1,500 Precision Ag Essentials kits were ordered in Brazil, along with over 1,200 orders for JDLink Boost.
Deere estimates that about 70% of ag land in Brazil doesn’t have sufficient connectivity, leading to strong take rates for systems like JDLink Boost, it’s Starlink connected offering.
Emphasis on engaged acres:
On engaged acres, we’re over 455 million globally YoY. That’s up about 15%. South American growth is greater. It’s up about 20% year-over-year. Really where we’re encouraged is on the highly engaged side, where we saw growth over 30% year-over-year. And highly engaged acres now are making up nearly 30% of our engaged acres are highly engaged.
On technology as a differentiator and how it acts as lead generation for their iron:
We are continuing to see technology as a driver of competitive advantage and what we’re able to do from a conversion perspective. We had an example from our field team, where we put Precision Ag Essentials on 20 competitive machines, brought them in to connectivity, brought them into the digital side from an operation centre perspective and this year we’re converting them. We’re converting them from competitive machines with Deere tech to Deere machines.
GroeNoord Files For Bankruptcy Amid Financial Struggles - Evrimagci
One of the largest Deere dealerships (19 locations) in the Netherlands filed for bankruptcy this week.
Current estimates indicated GroeNoord was experiencing losses nearing €3 million, as it struggled to manage the rising operational costs associated with its extensive service network. Significant cost increases, primarily due to technology and labor, were cited as the primary challenges impacting the company's performance.
Given the challenging economic environment it brings up the question: One-off or start of a trend?
John Deere Unveils Revamp of Planter Precision Upgrade lineup - Deere
John Deere announced the release of new planter upgrade options, expanding ways farmers can upgrade their John Deere planters and increase productivity. MaxEmerge 5e and ExactEmerge meter upgrades are now available for John Deere planters, providing farmers the opportunity to update the meters on planters without replacing the entire row unit.
Understanding John Deere's New License Model for Technology - RDO Equipment
If you are looking to understand the specifics of how customers will be charged per acre fees on precision systems like See & Spray and ExactShot, this podcast gets into the details, including:
Timelines for billing
How bills are delivered to the farmer
What gets billed and what doesn’t
Plus more.
Meeting Farmers Evolving Expectations with Doug Sauder - SFTW Convos
This is a great conversation with Doug Sauder who has extensive agtech experience and is very well respected within the industry.
There is a constant emphasis on the customer in this interview.
We focus on creating the best customer experience and delivering value across the entire farm. The approach depends on the specific solution. In some cases, deep vertical integration of our technology allows us to provide the most customer value and the best experience.
ICYMI: FY 2024 Ag Equipment Manufacturer Earnings Highlights and Analysis - Upstream Ag Professional
7. Is Agtech Broken for Venture Capital—or Are We Asking the Wrong Question? - Sarah Nolet
My friend Sarah Nolet of Tenacious Ventures wrote a fantastic article on venture capital in agtech this week. I encourage you to read the whole thing, but the paragraphs that stood out to me were:
Agtech has characteristics that challenge the traditional VC model. Biological timelines don’t care about your funding runway. Farmers are discerning customers—neither fully B2B nor B2C—and aren’t easily dazzled by tech for tech’s sake. Scaling isn’t about adding servers or increasing ad spend; it’s about logistics, distribution, business model design, and navigating government policies.
But that doesn’t mean venture capital can’t work for agtech. It just doesn’t work when we apply a one-size-fits-all playbook, failing to design for the sector’s unique dynamics.
Venture capital was designed to fund specific kinds of risk: fast-scaling, disruptive technologies with the potential for massive returns. In agtech, we often see investors applying this playbook to companies that don’t fit that mold—and then blaming the sector when it doesn’t pan out.
AgTech gets talked about as a homogenous segment, yet there are businesses and technologies that fall into everything from software to biotech to robotics and more. To Sarah’s point, scaling looks very different across these various segments, which can make investing across these segments challenging.
There are plenty of comments on Sarah’s post. One that stood out was from Erik Benson:
Agtech is not broken for VCs, but it may be broken for agtech VCs.
Startups, finding product market fit, scaling for growth are not concepts learned at 100+ year old ag companies like Deere and Monsanto who are order taker, monopoly businesses, not order maker disruptors. Yet those are the companies from which many agtech VCs originate.
The top agtech companies are funded by non agtech VCs. The Climate Corporation was funded with $113 million by Founders Fund, Google Ventures, Index Ventures, First Round Capital, Khosla Ventures and NEA. The “Tesla of Ag” Carbon Robotics is funded with $157 million by Anthos, BOND, Sozo, Revolution, NVIDIA, Voyager, Ignition, Liquid2, Fuse and Bolt.
Both companies have been and will be massive outcomes, but neither are funded by “agtech VCs.”
I have heard similar sentiment from agtech founders surrounding agtech VCs that actively avoid taking capital from agtech specific VCs— just this week one with this view was emphasizing that because of their capital management, it allowed them to better manage what VCs were on their cap table, which enabled them to better manage their board and therefore governance in a way that enabled them to focus on their customers in a way that they were knew needed to happen, suggesting that wouldn’t have happened under certain agtech VC influence.
Related: BREAKING: AgTech VC and Ag Lender to merge - Prime Future
Non Ag Articles
Which Economic Tasks are Performed with AI? Evidence from Millions of Claude Conversations - Anthropic
I was sent this article by Matt Foley this week.
An image stood out.
One of the most popularly cited images circa ~2020 was a McKinsey report illustrating agriculture as one of the least digitized industries.
Anthropic recently released data illustrating usage patterns by industry across their model infrastructure:
While ag shows up on the bottom primarily due to the size of the public working in the segment, what is notable is the ratio— 0.1% of Claude conversations and 0.3% of US workers. Not the largest gap, but illustrates a data point that today it is still not mainstream to use AI infrastructure for ag related knowledge work.
Other Interesting Ag Articles
Where are we with AI in Ag? - Linkedin (Informative images in here of how Bayer thinks about AI progression)
Farmers Should Anticipate Tariff Price Increases on Ag Chemicals, Says FBN Report - Agriculture.com
The FBN survey notes that in 2024, 100% of atrazine, 99% of glyphosate, 85% of glufosinate, 75% of clethodim, and 49% of 2,4-D were sourced from China.
Global Food & Agribusiness Annual M&A Review ands Outlook - Verdant
Edacious Bags $8.1M in Seed Funding to Advance Nutritional Transparency - iGrow News
Pivot Bio Retail Network Continues to Grow Through ALCIVIA Partnership - PR Newswire
Farmwave Introduces GenAI Recommendations in Farmwave One for 2025 - Linkedin
Bushel® integrates digital grain offers into MyCHS - Bushel
J.R. Simplot: A billion the hard way - The Future of Agriculture
AgPlenus Announces Discovery of a New Mode of Action for Fungicides Against Wheat Disease - PR Newswire
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