Agurotech, Cordulus, and other AI startups are doubling down on farming tech as climate chaos scrambles traditional crop predictions. AI in agriculture is set to jump from $1.7 billion in 2023 to $4.7 billion by 2028, growing at 23% annually.
The surge hits Europe hard, where agritech startups pulled over €1.5 billion in 2024 from VCs, governments, and the EU Commission. Agurotech wires farms with soil and weather sensors to fine-tune farming decisions. Danish company Cordulus runs rain forecasts updated every 10 minutes from 4,000+ weather stations.
Warsaw-based Cropler uses AI cameras for crop monitoring. Oxford’s Deep Planet and Bordeaux vineyard Bernard Magrez teamed up on VineSignal, an AI-satellite service that cuts vineyard variability. Iotic Solutions is testing IoT tools to track environmental impacts on fruit orchards in Spain. 
But not every agritech startup is thriving. Some indoor vertical farm AI firms went bust, sparking worries about abandoned tech, lost data, and sunk farmer investments. Farmers also fret over losing hands-on knowledge to opaque “black box” AI, which fails to explain its logic.
EU farmers trail behind US and Brazilian peers on tech use—only 46% adopt agritech vs. 74% in the US. High costs and uncertain returns scare off smaller European farms. Nearly half see implementation costs as a major barrier.
Researchers warn ignoring farmer input risks sidelining disadvantaged communities. The European Commission’s 2024 Strategic Dialogue and National CAP plans aimed to help but missed the mark for many.
Tim Bucher, CEO of Agtonomy and lifelong farmer, told AgTechNavigator this startup mistake is all too common:
“One of the first things I advise my colleagues at agtech startups is if they don’t have a farmer in their company leadership, go get one.”
“Startups need growers’ input from day one.”
Bucher adds that agritech wins when it’s shaped with farmers and clearly benefits them. More inclusive design could keep the agritech boom from leaving many fields behind.
