The oversubscribed round was led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood, a St. Louis-based food and agriculture focused investment firm, and Continental Grain Company, a global holding company focused on agriculture, food and protein production. Participation from new and existing investors include Cargill, Scoular, Germin8 Ventures and others. In addition, Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. is expected to close their investment in the round in the coming weeks.

The infusion of growth capital and continued partnership of the syndicate will introduce payments, credit, trading offerings and increased data services, including capabilities to help consumer brands sustainably source commodities in the global grain supply chain. The funding will also accelerate Bushel’s current product offerings that currently deliver value to growers, commodity buyers, ag retailers and consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs).

“We are excited to invest further into Bushel alongside some of our high-value partners like Cargill and Scoular,”

said Chris Abbott, Co-Head of Continental Grain Ventures.

“Bushel is one of the leading independent software companies in agriculture, and serves as the critical link connecting growers to grain buyers, processors, brands and consumers. This funding accelerates deployment of new offerings and embedded capabilities throughout the food and ag value chain. We believe it results in better outcomes for growers and the supply chain.”

Bushel’s platform now reaches 40% of grain origination in the United States, resulting in inarguably the largest technology network effect among growers and grain buyers in the U.S. today. $22 billion of grain is contracted annually within Bushel’s ecosystem. Bushel’s collaborative ethos will continue to accelerate adding new participants throughout the value chain, particularly CPGs and consumer brands, that will benefit from upstream and midstream data insights and help deliver on sustainability promises.

“Bushel is here to win for our customers and their growers,”

said Jake Joraanstad, CEO and Co-founder of Bushel.

“We are here to build on the agriculture industry’s century of infrastructure investment. We’re here not to disrupt but instead, to collaborate and help lead the industry into the digital age with strategies that make sense and provide value for all stakeholders in the ag and food value chain. We serve as the independent integration hub that saves businesses significant manual effort, time and expense, while also strengthening the relationships between growers and agribusinesses through secure, proven and easy to use software products and services.”

“As Food and Agriculture specialist investors, we see Bushel as the leader in connecting disparate data systems in the ‘messy middle’ of the food and agriculture supply chain,”

said Larry Page, Managing Director of Lewis & Clark Agrifood.

“Digital innovation has landed on the farm, but few companies are focused on the digital side of agriculture (or lack thereof) from the farm gate and beyond. We hear so much noise in the space with very little real traction. As Bushel has consistently gained market share, it has become clear that the ability to connect data with physical grain has significant value for many stakeholders in our food system.”

Monthly, 60,000 growers use Bushel’s products and services and nearly 2,000 grain buying locations across the U.S. and Canada trust Bushel to power their grower-facing and internal software products. Bushel’s platform integrates into multiple grain accounting systems, trading desks, farm management systems, insurance companies and market feeds to allow different software systems to work with each other. Current grain data-sharing processes are manual and fragmented, resulting in lost productivity and revenue potential.

“As a grower myself, and a daily user of Bushel’s products and services, it’s been rewarding to have a front row seat to the work our team is doing to create a great platform for the existing food industry,”

said Ryan Raguse, President and Co-founder of Bushel.

“This also comes with a deep responsibility to be stewards of the data that flows through the digital infrastructure we’re building. In addition to the responsibility of carrying the data of our customers and their growers, Bushel’s platform also carries the data of many of our employees’ farming operations, including my own. We will continue to set high standards for data security, ownership and transparency in order to protect and empower our customers, our families and the broader agriculture industry.”

In addition to their investment, Cargill has committed to using the Bushel platform to power select internal and external digital tools. Scoular has been using the Bushel platform since 2018. Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. is currently exploring opportunities for utilization of Bushel’s suite of services.

Bushel’s product suite includes its flagship mobile app, websites, trading tools, market feeds, API services and a custom software division focused on agriculture. Bushel has been focused on building software since the company was founded in 2011.

Source: World Agri-Tech

The post Bushel Declares $47 Million Investment Led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Continental Grain Company Closed appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

“Agri-food businesses and their hardworking employees play a critical role in keeping our
food supply chain strong, providing us with fresh, high-quality and nutritious food all year
round. Today’s investment will allow farmers to adapt to this new environment and implement additional health and safety measures during the COVID-19 outbreak.”

The Enhanced Agri-food Workplace Protection Program provides cost-share funding for farmers to purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and implement workplace modifications and other measures. By significantly expanding the program, farmers can take additional steps to improve health and safety for their workers and ensure the continued supply of locally grown food during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Today’s announcement more than triples the previous investment through this program by the governments of Canada and Ontario. Both levels of government had committed a total of up to $4.5 million for farmers and provincially licensed meat processors to enhance worker safety under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership program.

Some of the measures already approved through this program include purchases of PPE, temporary housing for ill workers, building physical barriers for worker separation, enhanced hand washing facilities and a tent rental to expand lunch room space.

The Ontario government is also supporting producers and other operations that experience unexpected costs for short-term accommodation and transportation as a result of the impacts of COVID-19.

Quick facts

• The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) will deliver cost-share funding for the Enhanced Agri-food Workplace Protection Program.
• OMAFRA has also partnered with the Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) to provide agri-food businesses, organizations, and associations with educational resources, tools, and consulting services to help them implement COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Additional details about businesses that may qualify can be found on the WSPS website.
• The Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development recently released safety guidelines for employers to help protect workers, customers, and the general public from COVID-19.
• Health and safety inspectors are now working with employers in the agri-food sector to help ensure the safety of employees, including temporary foreign workers.
• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency provides information on COVID-19 for industry.
• Today’s announcement is part of Ontario’s Action Plan: Responding to COVID-19. This $17 billion immediate response to the global pandemic provides urgent and direct support to help businesses, workers, seniors, families, students, Indigenous peoples and communities, and vulnerable populations during COVID-19.
• The action plan includes $3.3 billion of additional resources for health care, $3.7 billion to support people and jobs, and it makes available $10 billion in support for people and businesses through tax and other deferrals to improve their cash flow, protecting jobs and household budgets.

Source: Ontario ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

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