December 14, 2023

Photo credit: Chipotle Mexican Grill

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Cultivate Next, the $50 million venture capital fund of Chipotle Mexican Grill, makes early-stage investments in strategically aligned startups with the potential to advance the company’s aggressive growth plans and further its mission to cultivate a better world. 

The two latest companies to join the portfolio are Greenfield Robotics, a company aiming to make regenerative farming more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable via AI, robotics, and sensing technologies, and Nitricity, a venture looking to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by creating fertilizer using artificial lightning. 

Tim McAfee, Cultivate Next venture collaborator and a Chipotle supplier, said, “I have visited the facilities of both Nitricity and Greenfield Robotics and am optimistic and enthusiastic about the impact these innovations could have on the growing community.” 

Greenfield Robotics

Based in Cheney, Kansas, and led by third-generation farmer Clint Brauer, Greenfield Robotics is providing regenerative agriculture solutions without chemicals. As regenerative farming and sustainable means of food production continue to gain traction with growers, consumers, and investors alike, non-invasive and non-chemical means of weed control are becoming ever-more in demand. 

Currently there are 263 herbicide-resistant species across 71 countries, making weed control and eradication harder than ever. However, traditional agricultural herbicide usage is tied to multiple issues and challenges – soil degradation, herbicide resistance, the inability for application in the rain or in windy conditions, health implications for both humans and animals, the tendency to run-off into waterways, and stricter regulations and cases of litigation, to name but a few. 

Greenfield Robotics’ fleet of autonomous robots are lightweight and work by cutting weeds between rows of broadacre crops on a 24-hour basis, reducing dependency on herbicides while supporting regenerative farming and reducing risks for farmers. 

“Like Chipotle’s commitment to Food with Integrity, we believe in the future of real, responsibly and sustainably raised food,” said Clint Brauer, founder, Greenfield Robotics. “In partnership with Chipotle, we can continue to explore creative solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing farmers across the United States.”

With the funds gained through Cultivate Next’s investment, Greenfield Robotics stated that it intends to continue to build out its fleet of agricultural robots and develop additional capabilities for future iterations of its platform, including micro-spraying, cover crop planting, and soil testing. 

“The work of Greenfield Robotics to build out a tech forward alternative to herbicides plays an important role in ensuring a more sustainable future for the agricultural industry,” said Curt Garner, chief customer and technology officer, Chipotle. “We will help Greenfield Robotics scale their robotic offerings and explore how their robots can be deployed on farms within our supply chain.”

Nitricity

Just like the evidence of rising atmospheric CO2 levels first reported in the 1950s, there is now increasing evidence that synthetic nitrogen is correlated to the degradation of farm soils. And as food demand increases, so does the use of synthetic nitrogen, degrading more soils and intensifying the threat to our global food system – creating a negative feedback loop. 

Crops utilize only about half of the synthetic nitrogen applied to fields, and a portion is emitted as nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide and other nitrogen gasses. This has resulted in nitrogen becoming the top source of crop-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Nitricity explained that inspired by the natural occurrence of lightning breaking down nitrogen in the air and rainwater bringing it to the soil as nitrate in the form of a natural fertilizer, the company has pioneered a method of creating artificial lightning.

The current process for producing, distributing, and using nitrogen fertilizer, referred to as the Haber-Bosch method, requires large amounts of fossil fuels and emits significant amounts of carbon dioxide, accounting for 5-7 percent of total global greenhouse gasses (GHG). 

Leveraging air, water, and renewable energy from the artificial lightning, the Nitricity produces a cleaner, more sustainable, and cost-efficient fertilizer that emits five-10 times less GHGs due to its electrified production and field application process.

The company stated that it is currently building its production model of fertilizer either on or near its end customers to limit the emissions from distribution and application – in complete contrast to our current system, which imports up to 20 percent of our fertilizer through an expensive and complex supply chain. 

“We’re proud to support Nitricity’s pursuit of a product innovation whose environmental benefits are complimentary to Chipotle’s approach to Food With Integrity,” said Jack Hartung, chief financial and administrative officer, Chipotle. “Fertilizers have experienced steep price increases in recent years due to supply chain issues, fossil fuel price volatility, and rising distribution costs. Nitricity’s fertilizer offering not only has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of the fertilizer industry, but it can be a cost-effective solution for growers in our supply chain.”

Nitricity has begun field trials for their fertilizer product with Salinas Valley farmers, including Chipotle suppliers in the region. The funding from Cultivate Next will be used by the company to scale up its production of nitrogen, build out its infrastructure, and to support the launch of its first commercial product within the next two years. 

“Nitricity is committed to producing fertilizer that is optimized for farmers, not factory production or freight distribution,” said Nico Pinkowski, co-founder and CEO, Nitricity. “Partnering with Chipotle will unquestionably accelerate our path toward disrupting the industry with climate-smart technology.”

~ 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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