Bonsai Robotics, a company that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to address labor shortages in agriculture, has successfully raised $15 million in funding to further develop its automated fruit harvester, Visionsteer. This significant investment will be used to enhance the software, expand its AI platform, and grow the company’s data set. Bonsai also plans to strengthen partnerships with manufacturers and farmers, helping speed up the process of bringing its products to market.
The company’s flagship product, Visionsteer, is a hardware kit that can be retrofitted to existing farm equipment to make it autonomous. It uses computer vision and AI to enable machines to pick fruits and nuts in orchards. Bonsai has already conducted successful field trials with over 40 farm vehicles across the U.S. and Australia, integrating the Visionsteer technology into their operations. The funding round was led by Bison Ventures, with participation from Cibus Capital, Acre Venture Partners, and other investors. This funding follows a previous round in 2023 in which the company secured $13.5 million for hiring, sales, and marketing efforts.
In another significant development in the agtech sector, CH4 Global has begun large-scale production of methane-reducing feed additives for livestock. The company, which specializes in developing climate-friendly products, has set up a production facility in Louth Bay, Australia, to cultivate red seaweed specifically Asparagopsis. This seaweed has been shown to significantly reduce methane emissions from cattle when added to their feed. CH4 Global’s innovative approach to growing the seaweed in ponds offers numerous advantages over traditional ocean harvesting or indoor tank production systems. The pond-based system is more cost-effective, offering savings of up to 90%, while also reducing contamination and weather-related risks.
The company’s new EcoPark facility boasts a production capacity of over 80 metric tons of Asparagopsis annually, allowing it to produce its flagship product, Methane Tamer, at a fraction of the cost of its competitors. CH4 Global has emphasized that this cost-efficiency ensures the commercial viability of the product without the need for government subsidies, a crucial step in scaling its impact. The EcoPark facility currently features 10 cultivation ponds with a combined capacity of 2 million liters, with plans to expand to 100 ponds in the next year and eventually scale to 500 ponds with further investment. CH4 Global is also partnering with Mitsubishi Corporation to expand the reach of its methane-reducing feed supplements across the Asia-Pacific market.
Meanwhile, an indoor farming company in Buffalo, New York, has rebranded itself as Nimble Farms as part of its expansion into the Northeast. Originally called Ellicottville Greens, the company uses climate-controlled shipping containers to grow leafy greens, herbs, microgreens, and mushrooms indoors using renewable energy sources. Nimble Farms has already built strong relationships with local grocery stores, schools, and hospitals, helping to meet the growing demand for fresh, local, perishable produce.
As part of its rebranding, Nimble Farms has partnered with Tops Friendly Markets to bring its Butterhead lettuce to 152 supermarket locations across New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. The company plans to expand its operations by doubling its footprint by the end of the year, with a longer-term goal of establishing 100 locations nationwide within the next decade. Despite challenges in the indoor vertical farming industry such as rising overhead costs and difficulty securing investments, which have led to closures and setbacks for companies like Bowery Farming Nimble Farms remains focused on its expansion plans and the future of sustainable indoor agriculture.
