31 top agriculture and agtech startups in 2024

What are Agriculture startups?

Agriculture startups are companies that work in agriculture and related industries and are leveraging the benefits of technology to provide added value services and automation solutions to traditional agriculture. These benefits are already gaining a lot of ground, especially among tech-savvy farmers.

These startups work towards disruptive cultivation, distribution, and processing technology for the agricultural industry. Hence, investors also believe in the idea and invest in agriculture startups so that we may see brighter and better days ahead.

Most promising agriculture startups you need to check out

The world’s most promising agricultural startups are usually quite secretive about their business. Although many of them deploy a “stealth mode” strategy to keep their ideas and products under wraps while they refine their processes and build up hype, we’ve made a thorough research and we are listing the most promising agriculture startups you should keep on your radar in this year.

The Crop Project

The Crop Project is an AgTech startup focused on regenerative agriculture practices. Specifically, the startup buys kelp from farmers. They then dry and mill that helps so that it can be used to make food, fertilizers and biomaterials.

According to the company, they work with kelp because it is a regenerative crop that can produce biomass with zero inputs, captures carbon and reduces ocean acidification.

SOSBio

SOSBio is one of the first agriculture startups that came through our minds when we started thinking about the most promising startups in the agriculture industry. They provide sustainable agrochemicals that are more efficient than traditional chemicals.

SOSBio developed ecoNPK, a performance fertilizer, that consists of a unique blend of organic matter, essential nutrients, and microelements. Moreover, the fertilizer contains high levels of carbon and natural sugars, as well as humates, and releases its active components adaptively, leading to sustainable stimulation and high yield.

IRRIOT

IRRIOT is known because it develops IoT-based solutions for irrigation. Their revolutionary wireless irrigation platform connects to 32 remote units and 34 sensors, ensuring 24/7 control over the watering schedule. Also, the remote units of IRRIOT are solar-powered and relay sensor data while also providing a web app that lets users configure and monitor remote units and sensors.

Their solar-powered watering stations are environmentally friendly and maintenance-free, and additionally, in the backbone, they have a full-scale industrial irrigation controller. That includes access to the IoT cloud for the controller, intelligence, alarms, and weather forecast through mobile and web apps.

Foris.io

Next on the list of the most innovative agriculture startups is Foris.io. This startup provides farmers a single decision-making tool utilizing water and energy use, soil moisture and weather, chemistry, seed, and crop information. That way it enables the highest yields in a low cost and environmentally sustainable manner.

Foris.io also uses a proprietary system of sensor apparatus data, cognitive computing, machine learning, and data analytics to manage the data. Their goal is to allow just enough and just in time irrigation, fertilization, and pesticide so they can use saving water, energy, and other resources all while increasing crop yield.

Dahlia Robotics

Dahlia Robotics creates autonomous robots that drive through the field, and identify and mechanically remove weeds. To avoid damage to crops, the robots use artificial intelligence algorithms to precisely control the end-effector. According to their innovative team, sustainable food production is possible by autonomous farming robots, hence they are aiming to develop robots that will revolutionize the agriculture industry.

Their solution will eliminate the requirement to use herbicides, therefore it contributes to the transition to a circular economy and a more sustainable form of agriculture. Their future goals are to upgrade the robot so it can detect pests and diseases, lack of nutrients, growth stage, damage from weather events, and other information that can add value to the users.

Babilônia

Babilônia, a Brazilian agriculture startup, is known for providing sustainable solutions for urban farming. The startup farms vegetables on a commercial scale in unutilized outdoor spaces, at modular urban farming structures, including vertical farming solutions, and enabling rapid setup and easy management.

They deliver solutions that help cities become self-reliant while promoting sustainable technologies and they help companies to farm 100% pesticide-free, local, and 100% fresh vegetables within their idle spaces, reusing their organic waste and saving water.

Bowery

Bowery has a mission-driven team of creative builders, activators, and problem-solvers that are focused on reimagining farming from the ground up to eradicate trade-offs between quality and quantity, healthy and delicious, and sustainability and scale when it comes to the food we eat.

From building a better future to getting down in the dirt, this agriculture startup is bringing fresh, local food to cities. Dreaming of a world where agriculture gives back to the people and planet more than it takes inspired this team of modern farmers to make more than incremental change.

Cropx

Cropx works with the world’s best farmers, to develop a new generation of precision agricultural technologies that improve crop yields and reduce water consumption. This agriculture startup developed the world’s first and only automated adaptive differential irrigation solution, which successfully addresses this challenge.

Accurate, real-time soil data was a missing piece of the precision agriculture puzzle for a long time. But, fortunately, Cropx solved this problem by developing a platform comprised of a unique and proprietary soil sensor, integrated into a big data platform along with all of the additional relevant data layers.

Bushel

Bushel builds a digital infrastructure that enables businesses in the agriculture industry to respond faster to market changes, quickly get vital information to producers, and streamline how you buy and sell commodities throughout the agriculture industry’s supply chain.

With a diverse team of developers, designers, product experts, and former farm kids, all united with a mission to transform how the agriculture industry connects with their producers in an increasingly digital world, Bushel is one of the most promising and innovative agriculture startups.

Farmwise

Farmwise is focused on building innovative systems and processes that allow farmers to streamline operations and increase food production efficiency, hence, this agriculture company deserves to be acknowledged as one of the best agriculture startups in 2022.

Their suite of data-driven services harnesses plant-level data to drive precise field actions is great for vegetable growers who face increased growing costs and new environmental and regulatory pressures. Their mission is to feed the world and our future, and for that purpose, they are already starting to develop applications of their technology for more crops and farming tasks.

Fieldin

Fieldin is one of those agriculture startups that is shaping the future of farming. They’ve developed one of the world’s largest smart farming operations platforms for growers of high-value crops, and with teams on 3 continents, they work day and night to help growers farm more efficiently and accurately.

Their products include smart spraying, smart harvesting, and smart cultural practices. Moreover, by using proprietary sensors and Fieldin’s innovative scouting app, their technology seamlessly connects every stage of the pest management lifecycle, from spray planning and field scouting to execution and analysis.

Artemis

Artemis is a blooming agriculture startup that developed a Cultivation Management Platform (CMP) that enables growers to manage plants, people, processes, and compliance in one place. That is possible thanks to creating a virtually risk-free operation.

Furthermore, Artemis is helping farms compete in a low-margin business by providing a bird’s eye view of productivity and compliance from seed to harvest. With these solutions, it became easier than ever to monitor and manage multiple facility operations across your network remotely from your desktop, mobile, or tablet.

Apeel Sciences

Apeel Sciences has a mission to work with nature to reduce food waste and create abundance for all. For that purpose, they use nature’s technology to make fruits and vegetables last longer to drastically reduce food waste from farmer to grocer to kitchen tables around the world.

Inspired by nature’s methods of preservation, Apeel Sciences is building a barrier that could be applied to fruits and vegetables using edible materials that could slow down the rate of spoilage. This way the team of this agriculture startup is creating value throughout the supply chain, and a more abundant future for us all.

Infarm

Infarm is growing a global network of urban farms that are closer to our communities and kinder to our environment. This agriculture startup grows a diverse range of top-quality produce all year round, with zero chemical pesticides and fewer miles. This is also one of the many agriculture startups that think that technology is the greatest gift of farming in 21 century, and they leverage it for good purposes.

Their farms are climate machines and they each have their unique climate perfected for whichever crop it’s hosting. Additionally, they’re able to watch over all their plant babies with their ‘farmer in the cloud’, which picks up-to-the-minute data about how they respond to the slightest changes in their environment.

Invaio Sciences

Invaio Sciences is a multi-platform technology company that solves pressing agriculture, nutrition, and environmental challenges by unlocking the potential of our planet’s interdependent natural systems. By leveraging the advanced sciences, Invaio Sciences understands the physiology of insects, as well as the diverse systems of nature.

That gives their team a unique angle at reducing the use of pesticides globally and also a chance to develop technology that’s mindful of beneficial, bad for pests, and safer for us all. Simply said, this is one of those dedicated agriculture startups that make discoveries by investigating nature so they can inspire solutions to pressing problems in food, its production, our health, and that of the planet.

TerraClear

TerraClear is an agriculture startup that is founded to completely solve the problem of rock picking. In 2017 their small team with expertise in mechanical design, AI, robotics, and farming, began with research and development of the solution that will replace the inadequate age-old solution of rock picking.

In 2020 their first skid steer-based Rock Picker was put in use, and later the same year they delivered their first paid end-to-end service delivery of rock mapping and rock picking. Today, this agricultural tech company’s product roadmap includes further integrating AI and computer vision with a fully autonomous rock picker platform.

MycoTechnology

Fascinated by our planet and the resources it gives us, the team of MycoTechnology was inspired to explore new ideas, and make discoveries that shape new realities. Plant-based foods that close the gap between what tastes good and what’s good for you and a food system that makes more sense for more people are the few of the things that are moving the needle towards better health around the globe.

Therefore, MycoTechnology is finding ways to use the power of mushrooms to make food healthier and more enjoyable so they can achieve the mission to fuse human ingenuity with the intelligence of nature to solve their partners’ most pervasive challenges.

Kula Bio

Kula Bio is a leading agriculture startup in sustainable nitrogen solutions. This ag-tech company is helping farmers improve crop yield and reduce environmental impact, by making a cost-competitive biofertilizer that boosts a naturally occurring process to deposit meaningful amounts of nitrogen in the soil.

Their product produces meaningful amounts of nitrogen in the soil, but only when the plant needs it and because of that there is less chance of run-off or waste. Furthermore, their biofertilizer is crop agnostic and provides the benefits of traditional nitrogen for both conventional and organic farming.

SwineTech

SwineTech will help you increase farm profitability by improving daily workflows, process compliance, and pig care. Their mission for the next couple of years is to protect millions of pigs in the United States and Canada with their patented piglet crushing prevention technology, SmartGuard.

Moreover, this innovative agricultural startup developed a workforce and swine management platform that will help pork producers maximize their potential by bringing greater workplace efficiencies, process compliance, and animal care to the swine industry.

Red Sea Farms

Red Sea Farms offer unique and patented technologies for agriculture in harsh environments as well as sustainably-grown produce from their greenhouses. To do so, they’ve developed a world-leading approach that blends precision climate control, plant science, and AI-enabled systems to support sustainable agriculture in water-scarce regions with harsh climates.

Additionally, with their sustainable technology, they produce organically grown tomatoes and other products of premium quality that are non-GMO and pesticide-free. The team members of this agriculture startup envision a world where saltwater and sunlight are used to grow healthy food sustainably and reduce food insecurity around the world in harsh environments.

ProducePay

Founded in 2014, ProducePay provides financial and tech solutions for fruit and vegetable farmers. They offer advances on crops to improve cash flow as well as growth capital for expansion.

ProducePay’s platform also includes a B2B marketplace connecting farmers to buyers. They use data analytics on harvests, markets, and climate to help farmers make informed selling decisions.

Sentera

Founded in 2014, Sentera develops sensors, software, and AI to help growers make data-driven decisions. Their technology captures aerial imagery from drones and fields to reveal crop insights.

Sentera analyzes the data to monitor stand count, chlorophyll levels, plant stress, yield prediction and more. Growers access insights through user-friendly dashboards and analytics reports.

iFarm

Founded in 2018, iFarm develops modular hardware and software solutions for indoor farming facilities. Their systems control lighting, nutrients, climate, and cultivation processes autonomously.

iFarm’s technology leverages data analytics and machine learning to optimize growing recipes and conditions. This maximizes yields and quality for each crop variety grown in facilities using their systems.

Crofarm

Founded in 2019, Crofarm operates an online marketplace connecting farmers to food buyers like restaurants, retailers, and manufacturers. Their platform optimizes the supply chain to enable fresher, localized sourcing.

Crofarm’s model cuts out distributors to make sourcing and selling direct more efficient. Farmers gain better margins while businesses access affordable, farm-fresh goods.

Augmenta

Founded in 2016, Augmenta has developed technology to automate and optimize fertilizer applications in the field. Their system uses computer vision and AI to assess plant health across crops in real time.

Based on the variable needs detected, the Field Analyzer adjusts fertilizer dosing accordingly to maximize uptake. This enables precise application with up to 50% fertilizer savings.

Oishii

Founded in 2017, Oishii has developed specialized vertical farming facilities to cultivate flavorful Omakase Berries. Their patented technology and processes allow precise control over nutrients and growth conditions.

This enables Oishii to achieve superior taste and consistent yields from indoor facilities. By optimizing light, temperature, humidity and other factors, they unlock the full flavor potential of strawberries. With over $50 million in funding, Oishii is proving the commercial viability of indoor vertical farming.

Inari

Founded in 2016, Inari works with farmers cooperatives to build modern e-commerce platforms and branding. This allows the co-ops to sell directly to consumers and capture more value.

Inari provides technology, marketing, and operations expertise tailored to each co-op’s needs. The platforms showcase member growers and help co-ops tell their unique stories.

Notpla

Founded in 2014, Notpla introduced seaweed-lined takeout food containers and bubble wrap substitute made from seaweed and plants. The packaging serves the same use cases as plastic while decomposing harmlessly.

Notpla aims to reduce single-use plastics pollution through smarter design and natural materials. Their products look and function like traditional packaging during use before breaking down. Notpla believes small tweaks can drive huge change – seaweed as a base creates wrappers that disappear, not linger.

FarMart

Founded in 2020, FarMart provides food suppliers with a digital marketplace to sell surplus inventory or imperfect produce to food buyers.

Suppliers can easily post the availability of any unpurchased premium ingredients, overstock items, or ugly fruits/vegetables. Restaurants, cafes, and manufacturers then browse and purchase this discounted inventory. FarMart’s online exchange reduces waste in the system by connecting buyers to products that would otherwise be discarded by suppliers

Greenlight Biosciences

Founded in 2008, GreenLight develops RNA products for agricultural and pharmaceutical applications using cell-free synthesis. Their proprietary technology allows high-yield RNA design and manufacturing.

In agriculture, GreenLight engineers RNA to protect honeybees from viruses and parasitic mites. In healthcare, they design RNA medicines for optimal targeting of disease pathways.

XAG

Founded in 2007, XAG develops drone technology for various farming applications like crop spraying, mapping, and monitoring. Their unmanned aerial systems are designed specifically for agricultural use cases.

XAG’s drones can rapidly spray fields with liquid nutrients and pesticides, reaching places difficult for traditional equipment. They also conduct aerial imaging for crop analytics and perform targeted seed dispersal.

What all these agriculture startups have in common

All agriculture startups listed above share the desire to make farming and food production easier, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly. Thus, no matter where each company falls on the spectrum of ‘food tech’ versus ‘ag-tech,’ it seems increasingly clear that there’s plenty of room for both approaches when it comes to innovation in this complex field.