Look at The Ant
“An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.”
🚜 New in AgTech
How German Scientists Gave Harvesting Robots X-Ray Vision
Every apple grower knows the gamble: harvest too early and you lose flavor; wait too long and you lose shelf life. For decades, this judgment call has belonged exclusively to human expertise—until now.
When Robots Start to See Things That We Can't
At the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy in Potsdam, there's something pretty cool happening around 120 apple trees. A 3D laser scanner created by a team led by robotics professor Andreas Nüchter at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg is helping harvesting robots to see beyond just the surface of fruit, allowing them to look inside it as well. The scanner uses structured light technology to shine three different laser wavelengths—green, red, and near-infrared—on plants, each one uncovering unique details. This technology goes beyond just mapping shape and size like traditional vision systems do. It actually digs deeper by measuring water content to figure out exactly how ripe something is. It's like having X-ray vision for agriculture, and it might just be the key to making robotic harvesting a real thing in the market.
The Labour Crisis and Climate Chaos Collide
This is a really important moment. Europe is facing a serious shortage of agricultural workers, and with the climate becoming more unpredictable, the old ways of timing harvests just aren't cutting it anymore. Dr Manuela Zude-Sasse, who’s at the forefront of the ATB field tests, points out that with global warming, having accurate data on fruit development is “more important than ever” for figuring out the best times to harvest. The scanner works well in temperatures ranging from 0 to 40°C and is designed to handle tough field conditions that would typically be too much for regular consumer-grade sensors. This isn't just some lab tech—it's designed to handle the tough conditions of commercial orchards.
Photo by Aman Pal on Unsplash
From Moonshots to Orchards So, here's the crazy part: Professor Nüchter's team is working on similar laser systems for NASA's moon and Mars missions to help find water. It's interesting how the technology that's looking for life on other planets is now helping tackle Europe's harvest automation challenge.
European orchardists can’t afford to sit around and wait for the perfect technology. With labour costs going up and climate unpredictability eating into their margins, they need to act now. The real question isn't about if robotic harvesting will change speciality crop production—it's about whether you'll be at the forefront of that change or just going along for the ride. Get in touch with ATB and researchers from the University of Würzburg to explore how structured light sensing might fit into what you do. So, the robots are starting to learn how to see, huh? Make sure they check out your orchards.
Stop Reacting to Commodity Markets. Start Predicting Them
As European procurement teams sift through countless analyst reports to figure out the best time for their commodity purchases, a few savvy companies have quietly found a way to get ahead of the game. They've got a team of Bloomberg analysts, as Helios CEO Francisco Martin-Rayo puts it, "working for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the language you prefer."
The Smart Insights You’ve Been Looking For
Helios Horizon is not just another analytics dashboard. It's an AI system that gives you real-time insights on more than 75 agricultural commodities—like coffee, cocoa, soybeans, and others—helping you figure out the key question: When's the best time to buy? What's the price? Where are you from?
The platform goes beyond just showing data; it helps you make smarter procurement choices that can actually reduce your cost of goods sold. No more waiting around for analyst callbacks. No waiting in queue for reports. No more dealing with mixed messages from the market. We're all about providing quick, practical answers that shift procurement from a state of last-minute chaos to a position of strategic strength.
Why Now
Europe is dealing with some really unpredictable swings in commodity prices. The war between Russia and Ukraine has really thrown a wrench in the supply of sunflower oil and wheat. Did you know that climate change is responsible for 60% of food inflation in developed markets? It's a trend that's likely to pick up speed in the coming decade. Traditional procurement methods aren't just slow; they can really hurt your margins.
Helios has recently landed customers in Austria, Scotland, Germany, and the UAE, all without having offices or doing any marketing in those places. It's clear that European procurement professionals are starting to see the bigger picture with this organic growth. It's not a matter of if AI will change commodity procurement; it's really about whether you'll be leading the way or playing catch-up with that change.
Your Turn!
The companies that are likely to lead in European AgTech aren't necessarily the ones with the largest budgets. They’re the ones who take the lead when it comes to real competitive advantages. Helios just wrapped up a $4.7 million seed round, with Collide Capital leading the way. This funding is set to boost their global expansion right when predictive intelligence is more crucial than ever due to market volatility.
Why wait for your competitors to get ahead with their supply chains? Check out how Helios Horizon can transform market chaos into a competitive edge. The choices you make in procurement today will shape the margins you protect in the future.
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What has an eye but cannot see?
How 10 Billion Maggots Are Eating Their Way to Food Security
As Europe battles its most severe climate crisis in decades, with the EU agricultural sector losing over €28 billion annually to extreme weather and record July 2025 heat hitting 46°C, disrupting agriculture in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, an unlikely hero has emerged from a former sugar factory in Northern France.
The Climate Reality Check
Europe's agricultural foundation is crumbling. Droughts, together with heatwaves and warm spells, affected crops productivity in several regions of Europe, while heatwaves, droughts and floods affected a quarter of all EU regions in the summer of 2025. Traditional farming systems, dependent on predictable weather patterns and stable water supplies, are buckling under climate pressure.
Enter the Insect Revolution
At InnovaFeed's Nesle facility, ten billion black soldier fly larvae are quietly revolutionizing protein production while traditional farms struggle. Innovafeed aims to produce over 10,000 tons of insect protein per year, with larvae that grow 10,000 times their size in just 14 days, fueled by waste from adjacent industrial plants. This isn't just innovation—it's climate adaptation at industrial scale.
What makes this particularly brilliant for Europe's climate future is the resilience factor. While climate change leads to higher food prices and lower quality in traditional agriculture, insect farming operates independently of weather patterns. The larvae need to thrive is heat and humidity, which the bug farm gets in the form of excess heat from a neighboring power plant—turning industrial waste into competitive advantage.
Photo by Bhautik Patel on Unsplash
The Circular Climate Solution
InnovaFeed's model represents exactly the kind of systemic thinking Europe needs for climate resilience. InnovaFeed has developed a unique industrial symbiosis model to produce insect protein while minimizing its environmental impact by following a zero-waste and circular logic. Instead of competing with climate-stressed agricultural land, they're creating protein from food waste and industrial heat that would otherwise be lost.
The Strategic Imperative
As Europe grapples with ongoing droughts lead to critical water shortages and threaten crops in Europe and Northern Africa, the question isn't whether insect farming will expand—it's whether Europe will lead this climate-resilient protein revolution or watch other regions capture the benefits.
With five floors of insect incubators, Innovafeed's newly expanded plant in France can produce 15,000 tons of insect protein per year—protein that's completely insulated from the climate chaos devastating traditional agriculture. While competitors struggle with drought and heat, InnovaFeed thrives on both.
📢 Digital Tasture
🌍 Fields & Frontiers
Top AI Upgrades to Watch: With its new Alexa+ assistant, which powers better Echo speakers, Fire TVs, and Kindles, Amazon's most recent hardware showcase highlights artificial intelligence. The enhanced Alexa+ can effortlessly do complicated activities like scheduling and reservation booking, remember previous talks, and follow conversations intuitively. Kindles can now read and analyse handwriting, while Fire TVs now have a convenient scene search feature. Advanced pet-finding features and an AI greeter are included with Ring doorbells. By integrating Alexa+ into its ecosystem, Amazon hopes to raise the bar for AI-powered smart products and make daily tech interactions more proactive and intuitive. Find out more on Techradar.
When Your €600M Bet Gets Squashed: Imagine you've managed to pull in more cash than the GDP of many small European countries—€600 million, to be precise—constructed a cutting-edge factory that's as big as a football pitch, and even got Robert Downey Jr. on board with the idea that mealworms are the way forward. And then reality hits you. Hard. French insect agriculture pioneer Ÿnsect just got another boost from the Évry commercial court, extending its observation period until January 12, 2026. It seems that getting mealworms to turn a profit is a bit more complicated than just getting them to, you know, worm around. So, here's the fun part. The company says that "operational tests of a new breeding method have shown a reduction of more than 70% in the production cost of insect larvae, exceeding expectations." Could you help me with a translation? They've finally found a way to farm bugs without losing all their money. Could be! So, after letting go of 111 out of 194 employees and selling their pilot site, Ÿnsect is now in what Emmanuel Pinto describes as "the final sprint." But honestly, it feels more like a marathon where the finish line just keeps getting pushed further away. The idea of using insect protein was supposed to be a game changer for the planet. Instead, it's showing Europe's agtech stars a tough reality: disruption costs a lot, and sometimes the bugs come out on top. Read the story on LinkedIn.
€20,000 Parlour Game-Changer: What if €20,000 could transform the daily grind in your milking parlour? The Irish Farmers Journal shares twenty clever investment ideas that can help you speed up milking, improve cow flow, and cut down on those long hours in the parlour pit. We look at all sorts of upgrades, from handy tools like automatic cluster removers and milk meters to those optional extras that could really pay off. Each idea gets a good evaluation based on its value, cost, and potential return. Check out how one farm made a daring switch from an 8-unit to an 18-unit parlour, and the labour savings they discovered are pretty surprising! Wondering which upgrades really offer the best value and which ones are more about luxury than need? Check out the full article to see the complete list and figure out what suits your herd best.
Rising Steaks: In 2025, beef prices reached historic highs, hurting consumers. U.S. and European cattle herds are plummeting due to droughts and ranchers eliminating breeding stock, tightening supply as demand stays high. Beef prices are up 14% year-over-year in some markets due to this imbalance. Many consumers have cut back on beef or switched to cheaper chicken and pork. With prices expected to rise for years, budget-conscious shoppers may need to rethink meal planning and investigate alternatives. Beef is a staple, but rising prices show how climate and market factors affect dietary choices. Understanding these trends can help consumers adapt to a changing meat industry without losing quality or flavour. This blog I once read from Foods Connected comes to mind as it highlights the why behind the rising steaks on your plate.
Oktoberfest Halt: A bomb threat connected to an explosion and fire in a residential building in the north of Munich forced the famous Oktoberfest to close for a short time on October 1. One person died in the incident, which is thought to have been caused by a family fight. Police found several bombs in the house and sent in special troops to protect the area. As a precaution, Oktoberfest's fairgrounds at Theresienwiese remained closed until at least 5 p.m. local time while authorities conducted thorough searches. This security fear adds to the mounting anxiety in Europe as people talk about problems like deregulation at informal EU conferences, possible UEFA bids incorporating Netflix, rising protests in France, and changes in politics in the UK. Before the closure, Oktoberfest, the world's biggest beer festival, had already gathered millions of people, but it put a damper on the festivities for part of the day. Here’s more on NBC News.
Orth: AI Agronomist Goes Global with $7.5M Boost: Aydi, an agritech firm located in the UAE, has raised $7.5 million in initial funding to launch Orth, an AI-powered agronomy assistant that will supply producers around the world with real-time, personalised information. By merging satellite imagery, weather data, predictive analytics, and conversational AI, Orth enables farmers to monitor crop health, discover possible issues early, and receive tailored advice to increase yields by more than 20%. With rising input costs, climatic volatility, and a global agronomist shortage—only one expert per 10,000 acres—Orth's goal is to democratise access to expert agronomic advice. The funding, led by COTU Ventures, Daltex, and Nuwa Capital, will help Orth scale globally, empowering growers of all sizes to make smarter, data-driven farming decisions. Orth fully launched at Fruit Attraction in Madrid, marking a significant step forward in making modern agronomy accessible and automated to the global farming community. The Entrepreneur has the full story.
🎞 Roots & Records
The Accidental Farmers
Sixty-six million years ago, the sky fell. A massive asteroid slammed into Earth with the force of billions of nuclear bombs, ending the age of dinosaurs and plunging the world into darkness. As dust and debris choked the atmosphere, plants withered, ecosystems collapsed, and death blanketed the planet.
But from this apocalypse emerged something extraordinary—the world's first farmers. Not humans, who wouldn't appear for another 65 million years, but tiny ants who accidentally discovered agriculture in the ruins of their old world.
Before the impact, these industrious insects had lived simple lives as hunters and scavengers. But when the asteroid struck, everything changed. Sunlight vanished behind a veil of dust and ash. The familiar world of green leaves and abundant prey disappeared, replaced by a planet-wide graveyard where fungi thrived on decaying matter.
Photo by Mikhail Vasilyev on Unsplash
Desperate and hungry, the ants did what survivors do—they adapted. Some began tending to the mushrooms and fungi sprouting from the organic debris. What started as opportunistic foraging gradually evolved into something remarkable: cultivation. These tiny pioneers learned to nurture their fungal gardens, protecting them from competitors, providing ideal growing conditions, and even selectively breeding varieties that produced the most nutritious food.
The partnership proved so successful that it outlasted the extinction event, the ice ages, and every catastrophe Earth could throw at them. Today, leafcutter ants still practice sophisticated agriculture, maintaining fungal gardens with techniques that would impress any modern farmer—crop rotation, pest control, and selective harvesting.
It's a humbling reminder that agriculture wasn't born from human ingenuity alone, but from life's remarkable ability to find opportunity in crisis. Sometimes our greatest innovations emerge not from careful planning, but from simply refusing to give up when the world around us falls apart.
The ants had no choice but to farm-survival demanded it. Perhaps that's the most honest origin story agriculture has ever had.
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A Needle
