Indigo Ag makes its largest carbon credit deal with Microsoft
Agtech startup Indigo Ag is selling 40,000 soil-based carbon credits to Microsoft, representing the largest amount of credits delivered by the company to an individual buyer.
Microsoft purchased the credits to advance its 2030 carbon negative goal as companies look for creative ways to reduce their climate impact and emissions.
Indigo Ag CEO Dean Banks called the deal a major milestone for the agtech company’s carbon program following years of investments to meet the standards of carbon registries like the Climate Action Reserve.
“Microsoft is a leader in corporate climate action, a highly influential player in carbon removals and shares our commitment to support the transition to a more resilient and sustainable agriculture system,” Banks said in a statement.
The agricultural soil-based carbon credits are from Indigo Ag’s third carbon crop issued in February, totaling 163,048 credits. Each credit represents about 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide sequestered by U.S. farmers, who get paid by Indigo Ag for their services.
Cargill plans Atlanta agtech hub
Cargill Inc. is opening an office hub in Atlanta this fall as it looks to leverage analytics and artificial intelligence to expand its digital offerings.
The global food giant said it plans to hire up to 400 workers with backgrounds in data engineering, generative artificial intelligence, SAP systems and other important fields.
Cargill said it is looking to expand its footprint to better serve customers and advance its growth through digital innovations that can drive food supply chain sustainability.
“Employees working at this facility will help create digital solutions that power our global food supply chain, harness analytics and artificial intelligence to open new markets, and drive technical innovation to make our food system more sustainable and accessible," Jennifer Hartsock, Cargill’s chief information and digital officer, said in a statement.
Initially, Cargill’s digital technology and data organization will be the main team occupying the Atlanta hub, according to a release. The offices are slated to open this fall.
Syngenta teams with AI firm to accelerate seed trait research
Syngenta Seeds, one of the world’s largest seed developers, is collaborating with InstaDeep to accelerate the development of crop traits with machine learning technology.
The partnership brings together Syngenta’s trait research and development capabilities with InstaDeep’s large language model, AgroNT, which can interpret the genetic code of crop species after being trained on trillions of organic molecules.
“The potential of LLMs to understand the language of DNA opens new opportunities to gain insight and to more quickly deliver traits farmers need to enhance and protect yields,” Gusui Wu, global head of Syngenta Seeds research, said in a statement.
The initial phase will focus on AI-backed trait designs for corn and soybeans.
