Tariffs Add Headache to Ag Tech Firms as Funding Dries Up
Carts of harvested soybeans are driven to a grain bin in Trenton, Missouri this month.
Photographer: Clayton Steward/BloombergTariffs are slowing down the adoption of new technologies at the farm, adding another headache for startups that have already seen funding dry up.
Growers are becoming more reluctant to spend money on and adopt new technologies as tariffs hit crop prices and bring uncertainty, said Chris Abbott, chief executive officer of Pivot Bio Inc. His company, founded in 2011, engineers nitrogen-producing microbes that can replace about a quarter of all the product corn crops need.