Agtech Seedlings: Amazon has backed methane capture startup | Agco unveils precision ag brand PTx
California-based startup Windfall Bio has raised $28 million to develop a methane-eating microbe that can be used by farmers to lower emissions and create organic fertilizer. The investment brings the company's total fundraising to $37 million. Windfall plans to use the capital to build manufacturing capacity and deploy pilots across industries such as agriculture, waste management, and oil and gas. Windfall's microbial solution captures methane from any source while also trapping nitrogen from the air, allowing users to produce organic fertilizer. Investors in the fundraising round included Prelude Ventures and Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund. Amazon plans to test the technology with its Whole Foods suppliers. Farm equipment manufacturer Agco launched a new brand, PTx, to represent its precision agriculture assets, including those acquired from a $2 billion joint venture with Trimble. The new brand, called PTx, combines the Trimble assets with Agco's Precision Planting portfolio. Specialized dealers can help farmers add PTx products through retrofits, and the brand is expanding its relationship with more than 100 equipment manufacturing partners to integrate the precision technology directly at the factory. Machines from Agco brands Fendt, Massey Ferguson, and Valtra will also offer factory-fit technology from the PTx portfolio. Biochemical startup Solugen has begun construction of a 500,000-square-foot facility that will turn corn dextrose into low-carbon organic acids for use in water treatment, agriculture, energy, and home and personal care. The plant is slated to come online in fall 2025. Ginkgo Bioworks acquired gene sequences and other data from AgBiome, which discovers and develops microbial-based crop protection products. The assets include 115,000 fully sequenced and isolated strains and over 500 million unique gene sequences, in addition to AgBiome's development pipeline. Ginkgo Bioworks has worked to expand its agricultural biologicals platform since acquiring a Bayer research and development facility in 2022. The AgBiome assets will help create "one of the deepest and most advanced ag biological discovery and development platforms."
