Produced by Warren E. Clark · [email protected] · +1.847.836.5100 mobile: voice, text & WhatsApp
The Signal
Fertilizer is having an AI moment from both ends. Faraday Earth wants to make ammonia cheaper to manufacture. Picketa wants farmers to use less of it. Both bets replace guesswork with real-time data in the nitrogen chain. Anterra’s new $100 million fund suggests investors agree the economics have tipped. — Warren
The 2026 Salinas Biological Summit returns to Salinas June 23-24. Bringing global stakeholders together to support growers’ transition to a biological future.
Faraday Earth says it can make green ammonia for about $500 per ton. That matches the cost of fossil-based gray ammonia before recent supply shocks. The firm uses non-thermal plasma to excite nitrogen gas, then pairs it with green hydrogen. The big leap came from an AI digital twin of the reactor. The founders, Shashi Ranjan and Debayan Saha, met at Stanford. They were inspired by Google DeepMind’s fusion plasma work. The AI tunes voltage, current, flow rate, and electrode settings in near real time. Faraday Earth plans to use 40-foot container units that make a few tons per day. Clients with larger needs could stack modules. The firm has signed letters of intent, pilot deals, and at least one paid client. It also has an MOU with a top global firm in the space.
Why it matters: Ammonia is a $100 billion market and the base for most nitrogen fertilizer. Centralized Haber-Bosch plants need huge heat and pressure, plus long supply chains. On-site production could cut transport costs and shield farms from price spikes like those caused by the Iran crisis.
AI Angle: Faraday Earth built an AI digital twin of its plasma reactor, using machine learning inspired by Google DeepMind’s fusion control work. The system tunes voltage, current, flow rate, and electrode parameters in near real time, replacing months of lab trial-and-error with continuous optimization.
Anterra Capital announced a $100 million first close for its third fund. The firm, founded in 2013, has offices in Amsterdam and Boston. It now manages over $500 million across three funds. The firm backs companies that apply life-science and software tools to food and agriculture. Global food and ag tech investment hit $52 billion in 2021, then fell to about $16 billion. Much of that cash went to vertical farms, plant-based meat, and rapid grocery delivery that failed to scale. Anterra stuck with science-backed firms that had real unit economics. Partner Maarten Goossens said the fields they target are large and complex, but are now ready to be rewired. Partner Brett Wong said AI is changing the math of building in both software and biology. He added that the founders here are the best they have ever seen.
Why it matters: Agrifood VC is shifting from hype to basics, and Anterra’s track record through two full cycles gives it trust with major backers. The new fund shows that big money is returning to ag AI, but only for teams that can show real returns for both customers and investors.
AI Angle: Anterra explicitly identifies AI as the force resetting unit economics in both ag software and biological innovation. Fund III will target AI-powered precision agriculture, food safety sensing, biological crop protection, and farm data platforms.
Canada-based Picketa Systems raised CAD $2.1 million ($1.5 million) to expand its portable crop nutrient sensor. The LENS device uses AI-powered spectroscopy to gauge 13 key nutrients from a leaf scan in minutes. The round was led by Tall Grass Ventures. New investors include BDC Seed Fund, Verdex Capital, and Skull Diamond and Heart Capital. Returning backers NBIF, Koan Capital, and East Valley Ventures also added cash. Farmers typically send leaf samples to a lab and wait days for results. Picketa’s optical sensor measures how a leaf reflects light across a spectrum. AI turns that data into nutrient levels. The firm says growers can cut fertilizer costs by up to 20 percent and apply the right nutrition at the right place and time through its Fieldbook platform. The firm charges $10,000 per year for the hardware, unlimited sampling, support, and software. It now works with 45 ag retailers in North America, supporting more than 1,000 farms across Canada and 16 US states.
Why it matters: Fertilizer is one of the biggest input costs on a farm. Real-time nutrient data lets growers apply only what the crop needs, cutting waste and protecting waterways. If Picketa can scale across soybeans and wheat as planned, it could change how crop advisers write plans.
AI Angle: Picketa’s LENS uses machine learning to translate spectral light signatures from leaf tissue into nutrient concentrations, delivering 13-nutrient profiles in minutes instead of days. The CEO’s roadmap links this sensing layer to autonomous vehicles for a closed-loop fertilizer management stack.
AgPR — the news release distribution service for agriculture shares your news with top ag journalists, editors, broadcasters, bloggers, podcasters and content producers.
Faraday Earth’s target levelized cost for green ammonia, competitive with fossil-based gray ammonia that ranged from $300 to $700 per ton before recent supply shocks.
