Tevel robot at work.
Today is AG national day in the United States, celebrating the abundance of agriculture and its contribution to our lives. However, this abundance does not benefit millions in the world suffering from hunger, malnutrition and an inadequate food supply. In response, many startups strive to improve global food security, in particular AGTECH and FOODTECH startups based in Israel, where there has been a long tradition of innovation to overcome a severe climate, aridity, a lack of resources and other challenges.
The 2024 state security and nutrition report estimated that at the end of this decade, 582 million people will be chronically undernourished, with more than half of them in Africa. In 2023, around 2.33 billion people were moderately or severely insecure, which means that they did not have regular access to adequate foods. Africa is the region with the largest prevalence of undernourishment (20.4%), but Asia is home to the largest number, 384.5 million. At the same time, 13.1% of adults (18+) worldwide are obese and the health problems linked to obesity are increasing everywhere.
About a third of all foods produced worldwide are lost or wasted each year. In developed countries, 40% of losses occur at retail and consumers’ levels; In developing countries, food waste mainly occurs after harvesting and during storage. According to the American Farm Bureau, a work shortage is the most urgent problem for American farmers today. In the poorest countries in the world, especially in Africa, labor productivity in agriculture remains at historically low levels, explains the World Bank.
This ineffectiveness of food production adds to the global challenges of food supply resulting from the combined effects of environmental degradation – such as sterile agricultural land, exhausted water tables and grain yields that fall – and climate change. The drought induced by the climate reduces the production of crops and reduces yields, while warmer temperatures cause a higher incidence of vegetable, cattle and fish diseases. Unbearable Agricultural practices contribute to the climate Change and exhaustion of resources, creating a vicious circle threatening food security.
Israeli startups applying technology to the entire food supply chain, from agricultural production to the development of nutritious and sustainable food, make substantial contributions to global food security. Their expertise in data collection and analysis, AI and automatic learning, IT vision, logistics and biological and agricultural sciences are the basis of innovations that improve agricultural productivity, transform agricultural practices, improve food preservation and nutritional value, reduce environmental impact and promote sustainability and resilience in the whole world.
“The Agrifood technological sector is at the heart of the heritage of Israel’s innovation, built on a solid scientific basis and a history of agricultural breakthroughs,” explains a recent report Of Startup Central Nation. More than 750 companies “stimulate innovation and redefine agricultural and food ecosystems”, with 150 startups focused on various fields such as the optimization of the supply chain, robotics and agricultural equipment, new agricultural systems and alternative proteins.
The field of Israeli robotics made significant progress in 2024, with new funding and partnerships aimed at resolving critical agricultural challenges. SuchFor example, addresses the shortage of agricultural labor with its flying robots which delicately pick the fruits with precision and maneuverability. Robots can detect the level of maturity of each fruit and perform a selective picking while identifying diseases on the fruit in real time. Tevel’s autonomous harvesting technology can choose various fruits, including apples, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums and pears, and is currently working in Italy, Chile, Israel, California and Washington.
Around the world, there are more than 600 million acres of irrigation against floods, which represents 85% of all irrigated fields. This waste water, removes yields, adds to contamination of water and increases the amount of greenhouse gases released in the environment. Another Israeli startup, Noubtransforms the fields of derivation of water and of flooding origin into agricultural farms behind water and severity in ten countries and five American states.
Serving more than 3,000 customers in 70 countries, Cropx is an agricultural management platform that incorporates data sets above the ground with real-time soil data measured by proprietary sensors. Cropx has constantly demonstrated up to 50% water savings, 20% agrochemical savings and more than 20% increase yield on 80 different types of crops, which leads to 9% to 13% of greenhouse gas emissions.
More than 70% of vegetable, fruit, seeds and nut crops are pollinated by bees, which has an impact on a third of all foods produced in the world. However, 48% of bee colonies collapsed in 2023, pursuing a long -term devastating trend. Bewisal Provides pollination as a producer service with its modern hive, which includes cameras, a robotic arm and sensors, performing the tasks of a beekeeper. Beewise has reduced the death mortality by 80%, which saves more than 217 million bees in the past four years.
Use of technology fueled by AI, Seetree Manages more than 400 million trees, providing information on each tree. Coming from data from many sources, including drones, satellites, IoT sensors and weather reports, Seetree follows the health of trees, increased efficiency and profitability 2x-5x by offering producers to solve problems in the field without relying on traditional and long manual inspections. Seetree operates in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Israel and South Africa.
Cowpea, a high protein legume known for its dryness and heat tolerance, has traditionally faced limits for large -scale production. Peamax, a cowpea published by genes developed by Betterwas recently approved by USDA for marketing in the United States. Betterseeds develops a delivery technology that allows CrisPR’s cross -application to improve crops with improved nutritional value and higher yields. Since there are no foreign genetic material introduced, the new seeds are considered non -GMO.
According to intelligent agriculture, Israeli startups have evolved towards the development of better foods. BluetreeFor example, allows the production of natural drinks with a reduced sugar content. The process does not include the addition of chemicals or other substances, leaving the original source a 100% natural product with all the other ingredients left intact. Bluetree is expanding its global presence thanks to partnerships across Latin America, the United States, Europe and Asia, markets a growing demand for healthier and reduced drinks.
Another Israeli Foodtech startup, OshiDevelops the first full salmon net based on plants in the world. OSHI uses an inverse engineering approach based on an in -depth analysis of real salmon at the molecular level, then searches for these specific molecules in plant -based materials. Like 90% of the world’s marine fish stocks are designated as fish based on fully exploited, overexploited or exhausted plants could help meet the growing demand for healthy and unused seafood.
“In Israel,” explains Alon Turkaspa, director of global partnerships of Startup Central Nation, “we redefine resilience, sustainability and the way in which humanity feeds on itself.”