Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Ag Growth International (AGI) has announced it intends to acquire a minority stake in a startup company in Arizona that’s working on technology for reproducing native soil microbes from farmers’ own soil on-site.
MyLand describes itself as offering a unique “Soil-as-a-Service” model that extracts live, native microorganisms directly from a grower’s soil and rapidly reproduces those organisms in mass quantities on-site. MyLand’s equipment then ties directly into a farm’s irrigation system to deliver live organisms back to soil on a continuous basis.
In exchange for the equity stake and a board seat with MyLand, AGI will collaborate to install at least five new MyLand systems on North American grain operations. Following technical and commercial validation of the initial installations, AGI intends to enter definitive manufacturing, distribution, engineering, and software service support agreements.
Peter Williams, CEO of MyLand, says that AGI is an ideal partner, during the company’s current stage of growth.
“Our cutting-edge regenerative agriculture solution has been highly successful in rapidly improving soil health and providing significant economic benefits to growers. The potential to provide solutions for large-scale row crops, with significant dedicated acreage, is a core opportunity for MyLand. AGI’s deep roots and expertise in this area, in addition to the resources and capabilities of a multi-national firm, make them a perfect partner for us to rapidly expand our platform and reach new customers globally. We are excited to take the next step of our journey with AGI as a partner and look forward to accelerating our impact on the sustainability of the overall agricultural system.”
AGI President and CEO Tim Close says his company sees the implementation of regenerative agriculture technology as “critical from a sustainability perspective.”
He says they believe MyLand’s system for delivering microbes could potentially fit into AGI’s Suretrack farm data platform.
“Over time, we believe AGI SureTrack will be able to capture the advanced information on soil health and irrigation system activity to create a new layer of standardized data that can be used to support a variety of sustainability-related objectives. We look forward to working with the MyLand team and helping advance the commercialization and deployment of their innovative technology,” says Close.
AGI owns and manufactures agriculture and food-related products under more than 35 brands, including Westeel, Twister, Westfield, and Batco.
