Meet 15 of the Hottest Innovators Accelerating Animal Health and Nutrition

The livestock, dairy and aquaculture industries are ripe for disruption, with game-changing technologies entering the market to support producers in improving sustainability, traceability and animal welfare from farm to fork.

The virtual Animal AgTech Innovation Summit (March 8) will showcase 15 international start-ups with pioneering technologies that are shaking up animal health and nutrition, from non-antibiotic solutions to machine vision and artificial monitoring.

Hosted by an investor panel with Cavallo Ventures, Cultivian Sandbox Ventures and Zoetis, six start-ups taking the digital stage to present at Animal AgTech include:

Aquafort (Canada) has a predictive data analytics platform that helps finfish producers to lower mortality rates and improve yield quality and quantity through automation and predicting ecosystem health. The technology diagnoses fish health and welfare problems, replacing manual and reactive processes which contribute 30% of production cost. It can help turn around the projected 50 million metric ton finfish supply gap that threatens global food security.

Armenta (Israel) has developed the first non-antibiotic treatment for bovine mastitis using acoustic pulse technology (APT). Mastitis causes annual losses of over $6bn in the US and Europe. Infected cows treated with APT have shown 70% cure rates and consequently a 10% increase in milk yield. Implementing APT increases farmer profitability, improving herd health and cow welfare.

Bezoar Laboratories (USA) is a research and development company dedicated to bringing powerful innovations to market that will benefit farm animals, the planet and the producers. Its first product is Fortis, a probiotic that reduces enteric methane formation in ruminant by 50%.

EmGenisys (USA) has created the world’s most comprehensive embryo evaluation system to improve pregnancy outcomes of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) in livestock. EmGenisys’ technology utilizes computer vision to evaluate real-time cellular activity in bovine embryos. This solution offers a practical and objective approach to evaluate bovine embryo health in the lab or chute side.

iYOTAH Solutions (USA) is a service technology company that empowers the animal protein value chain to build smart, agile, and efficient businesses that produce more with less. The state-of-the-art platform connects the various stakeholders and datasets within the value chain to provide high-value, prescriptive, and actionable solutions that enhance operational efficiency, increase profitability and deliver on the promise of sustainability, traceability and compliance objectives.

Precision Livestock Technologies (USA) delivers actionable intelligence to the livestock industry. Its machine vision and artificial intelligence platform helps producers increase profits while improving quality and animal well-being. Its initial target market is the $40bn beef cattle feedlot industry, where its Bunk Management System delivers metrics that optimize feeding, save on labor, and provide accurate data to consulting nutritionists and veterinarians.

They’re joined by nine additional early-stage animal agtech companies within the summit’s virtual exhibition:

Cynomys (Italy) is the first company to patent an IoT solution for monitoring environmental parameters in animal housings. By providing continuous monitoring and access to real-time data from any connected device, Cynomys Livestock System turns the spotlight onto the farming environment, optimizing animal productivity as well as quality of life.

Farmsee (Israel) utilizes computer vision and AI to provide the pig production industry with critical information. FarmSee’s solution provides actionable insights driving significant revenue growth and cost optimization, while ensuring animal welfare.

FarmTrace (USA) has a cloud-based software that connects isolated farm systems to create a single access point or ‘plugin’ for farm suppliers and vets to run tailored tools and services on farms. It also offers its own veterinary software and work with its customers to tailor or develop new digital services.

FarrPro (USA) was founded to change the way the world rears pork. Its Haven platform reduces piglet mortality, saves energy and improves sow welfare by creating a microclimate environment for piglets to stay safe, warm and healthy. The Haven is the first milestone on FarrPro’s roadmap to bring traceability and automation to the pork industry; providing the insight and control required to prevent disease outbreaks, rapidly develop vaccines and safeguard the pork supply chain.

General Probiotics (USA) develops innovative cellbots and antimicrobial probiotics that eliminate harmful pathogens in livestock, enable the production of safe food, and reduce the current dependency on antibiotics. Its core competency is the precise engineering of advanced probiotics using synthetic biology and artificial intelligence.

Nutrivert (USA) has discovered that antibiotics reduce producers’ costs in a way that doesn’t actually require antibacterial efficacy. Now it is developing patented non-antibacterial growth promoters for livestock producers worldwide. The company’s postbiotics is a formulation of a feed additive that increases livestock feed conversion efficiency, enabling customers to get better output from their livestock and to control diseases in them.

OneCup AI (Canada) has an animal facial recognition technology that tracks livestock individually and at scale using only computer vision. Its AI, BETSY, or Bovine Expert Tracking and Surveillance monitors and analyzes health, growth, activity and nutrition. Its first product is an AI-powered Calving Cam, proactively notifying ranchers when a heifer needs help.

Rakr (Canada) is saving farms over $30,000 annually by improving margins through smart and effective cost-cutting measures. Rakr’s first device, the NeatMeter, is a sensor solution that collects and processes barn data to make farms more energy efficient and reduce machine breakdowns through predictive maintenance thereby helping farmers save thousands.

SomaDetect (Canada) provides farmers with the information they need to make the best possible milk. The company’s core technology is an in-line sensor capable of monitoring critical indicators of reproductive status, health, and milk components from individual cows. SomaDetect bridges the information gap by providing data from every cow at every milking.

The Summit:
The Animal AgTech Innovation Summit is an international networking and deal-making event for livestock, dairy and poultry producers, animal health providers, feed companies, ingredients manufacturers, technology companies, entrepreneurs and investors. More than 350+ animal agtech leaders will gather virtually on March 8 to accelerate innovation in animal health and welfare, sustainability, and farm to fork solutions.

The full program, speaker faculty and registration are available at animalagtech.com.

Animal AgTech takes place alongside the acclaimed World Agri-Tech and Future Food-Tech summits, which together offer a full week of comprehensive networking and innovation discovery across the entire global agri-food industry.