A Tokyo group that controls access to roughly 26% of the Bering Sea Alaska pollock resource just bought itself a route onto North American supermarket shelves — for about C$804 million in cash.

Umios agreed on October 26 to acquire Nova Scotia’s High Liner Foods at C$27.00 per share, an equity value of roughly C$804 million. Closing is expected in January 2027, subject to 75% shareholder approval, Canadian Competition Act approval and U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance, with High Liner staying headquartered in Nova Scotia as the core of Umios’ North American base.

Also this week: BloomX closed a $13 million Series A led by Elah Fund, taking total funding to $20 million for its Robee blueberry and Yahav 2400 avocado Pollination-as-a-Service systems; Salesforce agreed to buy 500,000 rice methane credits from Mitti Labs through 2030, following an earlier Google offtake; USDA’s FIELDS programme proposed about $116.9 million for Sedron’s $360 million manure-to-nitrogen project at Fair Oaks, Indiana and Twin Circle Dairy in Kansas, and about $139 million for Intrepid Potash near Carlsbad, New Mexico; What Rebates closed a revolving credit facility to support more than $18 million of grower lighting and HVAC projects; Arevo published 340-plot trials showing 4.3% wheat yield gains from Arginex-coated seed; Yara launched YaraAmplix PROCOTE OPTIMIZE and OPTITRAC in the U.S.; New Holland showed 360–440 hp T7 XD tractors near Woodstock, Ontario; Oishii targets 500-plus U.S. stores in 25 states; Planted Detroit’s vertical farm is up for sealed bids due November 16; and AgriBank named Matthew Basler CEO from February 22, 2027.

The paid edition, Tank Mix, compares crop protection activity from January 1 to October 17 across 2026 and 2025: records up from 123 to 173, the base widening from 14 to 19 countries, and headline funding of $930.4 million shrinking to $124.8 million once Tessenderlo Group’s FMC investment and duplicates are stripped out — a 14.2% rise on 78% more transactions.

In this episode:
(00:00) Cold Open
(00:35) The Impact Scorecard
(02:27) Corporate and Financial Shifts
(05:02) Innovation and Public Strategy
(07:47) Market Signals and Operations
(08:34) Close

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Vertical Farming Podcast: https://vertical-farming-podcast.captivate.fm/listen
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Mentioned in this episode:

2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews

2025 Precision Ag Report

2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews

2025 Precision Ag Report

Four food-chain companies changed hands in seven days — and Washington put $8 billion on the table for farmers' fuel bills, with no crop insurance requirement attached.

The USDA's new Harvest Fuel Relief program will make one-time payments for the 2026 crop year covering part of growers' modeled fuel losses, with payment rates for Title I commodities due in November. Alongside it, the agency added crop insurance and tariff-rate quota measures to its Great American Cotton Plan.

Also this week: Lindsay Corporation agreed to buy Brazilian hose reel irrigation maker Setorial Irrigação on undisclosed terms; Mérieux NutriSciences closed its Certified Group purchase, adding 31 labs, about $300 million in revenue and 170-plus regulatory consultants to become North America's largest food testing provider, with Continental Grain Company and Peugeot Invest joining as minority shareholders; Betagro took majority control of Thai ingredient platform Freshket, which serves more than 20,000 foodservice operators; Swander Pace Capital sold SUMM! maker Fine Choice Foods of Richmond, British Columbia to Power Sustainable Lios; IMIO raised $12 million led by Sofinnova Partners with Chipotle's Cultivate Next participating; Ground Up Investing hit a $6 million first close on a $20 million second fund; Niqo Robotics launched the 46-foot, 14-camera RoboWeeder F50 with no software subscription; Kubota moved its Agtonomy pilot to autonomous operation on the M5L tractor; Cairnspring Mills opened its Blue Mountain Mill in Pendleton, Oregon with a $5 million equity stake from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; and Syngenta sued BASF in Delaware over the newly registered Ridivex corn herbicide.

The paid edition, Narrow Rows, compares September 2026 with September 2025: records up from 199 to 227, but recorded agriculture funding halved from $2,802.2 million across 30 actions to $1,403.8 million across 12, with two entries carrying 97% of the capital.

In this episode:
(00:00) Cold Open
(00:33) The Impact Scorecard
(02:27) Corporate and Financial Shifts
(04:56) Innovation and Public Strategy
(07:24) Market Signals and Operations
(08:30) Close

Connect with Us!

Be sure to subscribe to our other shows:
Vertical Farming Podcast: https://vertical-farming-podcast.captivate.fm/listen
Greenhouse Success Stories: https://greenhouse-success-stories.captivate.fm/listen

Subscribe to our Newsletters:
https://network.igrownews.com/

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Mentioned in this episode:

2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews

2025 Precision Ag Report

2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews

2025 Precision Ag Report

A decarbonization fund just bought the business of baling corn stover — and crop residue stopped being a by-product.

Boston-based Ara Partners acquired a majority interest in Pacific Ag, founded in 1998 in the Columbia River Basin and billed as North America's largest crop residue supply and logistics company, for an undisclosed price. Pacific Ag harvests, stores and delivers corn stover and wheat straw to dairies, animal protein producers and mushroom growers across more than 30 states — a thin, local market that now sits inside a waste-to-value investment thesis.

Also this week: CarbonFarm closed an oversubscribed $7.8 million Series A led by Colam Impact, with Proparco, Suma Capital, elea, Working Capital Fund, Albo and Bpifrance joining returning backers Serena and Techmind; Terminus Capital Partners took a majority growth stake in farm labor and compliance platform PickTrace; Switch Bioworks signed Bayer Crop Science on engineered nitrogen-fixing microbes already in USDA- and EPA-authorized U.S. field trials; Greeneye Technology opened North American headquarters in Salina, Kansas after spraying 500,000+ acres in 2026 with average non-residual herbicide savings of 81%; TTA-ISO bought the Demtec brand, IP and inventory out of bankruptcy; Koppert launched the Bacillus velezensis fungicide Macan in Brazil, registered for 13 disease targets; CLAAS opened a 44,800-square-foot R&D center in Omaha, Nebraska inside a $100 million North American plan; Signify reported Finnish cucumber growers saving roughly €5,000 per hectare by cutting far-red light; and the John Deere Foundation committed $18.5 million to link farmers with food banks.

The paid edition, Grain Elevator, tracks cereals and grains through 2 October 2026: records up from 53 to 127, the country base from 14 to 27, nine priced rounds averaging $9.2 million against three averaging $51.2 million a year earlier, and four dated signals to watch.

In this episode:
(00:00) Cold Open
(00:34) The Impact Scorecard
(02:46) Corporate and Financial Shifts
(05:10) Innovation and Public Strategy
(07:48) Market Signals and Operations
(08:42) Close

Connect with Us!

Be sure to subscribe to our other shows:
Vertical Farming Podcast: https://vertical-farming-podcast.captivate.fm/listen
Greenhouse Success Stories: https://greenhouse-success-stories.captivate.fm/listen

Subscribe to our Newsletters:
https://network.igrownews.com/

Connect with us:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/igrow-news/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/igrownews

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Podcast Production Support provided by https://fullcast.co
Discover the best podcast services in the world at The Podosphere: https://www.thepodosphere.com/