December 20, 2023

Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

With the amount of hard work that goes into agricultural production, I’m fairly certain that if farmers and managers were granted one wish it would be for the ability to clone themselves. 

Agtonomy is a software and services company working toward granting this wish by enabling agricultural and land maintenance operators the ability to address skilled labor shortages with advanced autonomous and AI solutions. 

Through partnerships with some of the most trusted names in agricultural OEM (original equipment manufacturer) equipment, Agtonomy delivers immediate value to local farmers by reinforcing skilled labor with technology that automates repetitive tasks with efficiency and precision. 

Supporting the company, Momenta, a leading industrial impact venture capital firm, has led a $22.5 million Series A round of fundraising that included Doosan Bobcat North America and Toyota Ventures. This investment marks the fifteenth company to join the portfolio of Momenta’s Digital Industry Fund III, powered by Advantech, a global leader in digital industrial solutions. 

“Agtonomy is at the intersection of AI, Autonomy and Agriculture, a perfect storm of opportunity in our Industrial Impact investment focus,” said Michael Dolbec, managing partner, Momenta. “With their leading autonomy stack, they provide an essential solution for top-tier OEMs, like Doosan Bobcat.”

We all know the facts by now – how we will need to produce 60 percent more food using less land to feed 9.3 billion people by 2050. But what isn’t as well known is that employment of agricultural workers between 2020-2030 is expected to increase by only 2 percent, slower than the average for all other occupations, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

At the same time, farmers – especially those growing labor-intensive specialty crops such as grapes, berries, and certain vegetable crops –  are facing ever greater challenges throughout their growing seasons. It is these farmers in particular – who widely depend on manual, repetitive labor – who employ the vast majority of farm workers in the U.S.

The global market for specialty crops, such as grapes and almonds, is expected to reach a value of $1.8 trillion by 2026 – up from a value of $1.5 trillion in 2020. Within the segment, the U.S. is the largest producer in the world with 184,000 farming operations producing these crops on 10.4 million acres, according to the USDA.   

And while these crops bring the potential for high margins, farmers growing them shoulder greater risk, due to their labor-intensive nature and the uncertainties surrounding available labor to do the critical work. 

In February 2023, Agtonomy released its newest solution – TeleFarmer™, a suite of products comprising three components: Software, Service, and Reference Tractor, that delivers a remotely operated fleet to accomplish many of the most labor-intensive agricultural tasks. 

“Agtonomy’s technology is built to be embedded in equipment and implements, upskilling available labor,” said Tim Bucher, co-founder and CEO, Agtonomy. “By collaborating with established OEMs, we fast-track our sustainable technology to market, delivering essential solutions to address the pressing challenges of labor shortages and climate change for farmers and land maintenance operators.”
“We are pleased to support this investment in Agtonomy,” noted Jerry O’Gorman, VP, IIOT division, Advantech. “Our leading role in edge and mobile computing gives us a deep appreciation for the engineering challenge of autonomous mobility solutions in environments such as agriculture.”

“We look forward to collaborating with Agtonomy and co-creating with them and selected partners to help them scale in this critical space.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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