Agtech innovation, coupled with government support, can play a crucial role in future-proofing the ag sector, at a time when many US growers face existential threats to their businesses, according to a report from the non-profit Triple Helix Institute for Agriculture, Climate, and Society.
Triple Helix released its Catalyzing U.S. AgTech Innovation: Opportunities for the Federal Government report last month, which compiled insights from roundtable discussions from various stakeholders (founders, researchers, investors, etc.) across the US, including in New York, Illinois, California and North Carolina.
The report outlined three common gaps between private and public partnerships from those roundtables, including:
- Emphasizing research and data access at the discovery stage,
- Supporting the scale-up process and
- Creating an agtech implementation ecosystem.
The US has “always been a leader in this space,” but re-establishing that leadership is crucial, Sarah Garland, founder and executive director of Triple Helix, told AgTechNavigator. The US government can support the agtech industry through a variety of different means from providing direct funding and regulatory consistency to setting data formatting standards, Garland explained.
The EU and China are bolstering agtech investments, “significantly” outspending the US on research and development, Triple Helix shared in a press release.
“Historically, in the United States, the federal government played a really key role in driving agricultural innovation, and so with this initiative, we wanted to explore how targeted federal government support could catalyse growth in the agtech space,” Garland elaborated.
Triple Helix presented the report to Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (D, IL-13) during a briefing last month, which was attended by Republicans Jim Baird (IN-04) and Frank Lucas (OK-3).
“I represent some of the best agricultural research institutions in Central and Southern Illinois, and I have consistently fought for increased federal investment in the groundbreaking work our scientists do every day. Their research is essential to strengthening American agriculture, lowering food costs, improving nutrition and supporting the farmers who power our economy,” Budzinski said in remarks shared in the press release.
Agtech use case: Solving citrus greening
The Triple Helix report also outlined three pressing use cases for agtech, including ways to address citrus greening, fluctuating fertilizer costs and drought risks.
Detected in Florida in 2005, citrus greening disease — i.e., Huanglongbing disease — is a bacterial infection that reduces citrus yield and quality and slowly kills the tree, according to the USDA. For decades, citrus greening treatment remained elusive, but recent agtech advancements are finally starting to break through, Garland said.
Genetic engineers are creating citrus greening-resilient trees “that are in the development and commercialization pipeline,” while ag biologicals are being developed that can be applied to trees to prevent the disease, Garland explained. The University of Florida used gene editing to create citrus trees that produced a protein to kill the insect responsible for transmitting the disease, the Asian citrus psyllid.
Triple Helix supports agtech innovation across disciplines that are finding solutions for a host of problems beyond the report’s three case studies, Garland said. “I’m technology agnostic — I just want something to work,” she emphasized.
“Orange juice is something that is part of the American breakfast, and I think that we need to be supportive of farmers adopting new techniques in order to combat the disease,” Garland elaborated.
