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Farm Tech – Sustainable fertilizer firm Anuvia targets international expansion, job growth in 2022 (by Alex Soderstrom)

Despite global economic turmoil, 2020 was a big year for farm tech investment, according to a 2021 report by AgFunder. The report estimated $7.9 billion invested in farm tech companies last year, up 41% from the year before.

The year started off with a bang for Anuvia, as the company in February unveiled a $103 million Series C venture capital round. The money, raised from a stable of California venture capital firms, was used to scale Anuvia’s Plant City manufacturing facility into full production.

Anuvia’s product combines organic waste products and nutrients into a fertilizer equipped with a slow-releasing mechanism. This means Anuvia’s fertilizer not only is sustainably sourced, but it also produces healthier soil because fewer nutrients are lost to leaching. This innovation gained recognition from Fast Company magazine, which named Anuvia “One of the Next Big Things in Tech” in November.

In addition, Anuvia in September signed an agreement with Danish company Novozymes to develop biotechnologies that will reduce the need for synthetic fertilizer in commercial agriculture.