Catch up on how tech is reshaping food and ag for better human and planetary health, with commentary and curated updates in Issue #133 of the Better Bioeconomy newsletter:

Products and partnerships:

🇮🇳 Starbucks India launches a new line of cold foams made with SuperYou’s yeast protein

🇬🇧🇳🇱 Moa Technology and Certis Belchim partner to accelerate next-generation herbicide Moa Amplifier solutions for global agriculture

🇧🇷 Vitalforce and Bsafe Biotech Inc to co-develop an RNAi-based bioinsecticide for fall armyworm

🇬🇧 🇺🇸 Wild Bioscience and The Traits Company team up to speed development of new soybean varieties

🇦🇺🇬🇧 CSIRO and the University of Leeds are developing an open-access AI tool to convert food waste into fermentation-based proteins

Funding and M&As:

🇩🇰 Bactolife raised €30M to launch its gut-health-boosting binding proteins and start human study programme

🇬🇧 Biographica raised a £7M seed round to scale its AI-driven crop trait discovery platform

🇩🇪 SenseUP Biosciences raised €3M seed funding to expand its dsRNA-based biopesticide portfolio that addresses cost, stability, and use case challenges

🇦🇺 GrazeMate (YC W26) raised $1.2M in pre-seed funding to launch fully autonomous cattle-mustering drones run from a mobile app

🇩🇪🇺🇸 BASF Agricultural Solutions acquires AgBiTech from Paine Schwartz Partners to strengthen its biocontrol capabilities

🇰🇷 South Korea’s agriculture ministry plans to invest KRW 234.8B in agricultural R&D in 2026, up 17% from last year

Food for thought:

⚖️ Agriculture’s great repricing goes beyond the downcycle

🤖 The end of impulse: Why AI agents are Big Food’s existential threat

🚜 China is coming for agricultural machinery: Are Western OEMs ready?

Podcast episode of the week:

🎙 David Friedberg on The Modern Acre: ‘Transformative ag companies can be built in any macro environment to drive outlier VC returns’

Check out the full Issue and let me know what you think: