Chipotle’s Cultivate Next venture fund has made two more technology investments, this time with a focus on helping suppliers operate in a more planet-friendly way.
On Wednesday, the company said the $50 million venture fund has invested in Greenfield Robotics, a company that uses AI and sensing technologies to make little weed-cutting robots.
The idea is that the bots, which resemble cube-shaped minions, can operate day and night through rows of broadacre crops and help farmers reduce the use of herbicides. They are also designed to support regenerative farming practices by preventing the need to for tillage that can degrade soil, the company said.
The investment will help Greenfield build out its fleet of robot farmers, which could potentially develop skills like micro-spraying, cover crop planting or soil testing, the company said.
“The work of Greenfield Robotics to build out a tech forward alternative to herbicides plays an important role in ensuring a more sustainable future for the agriculture industry,” said Curt Garner, Chipotle’s chief customer and technology officer, in a statement. “We will help Greenfield Robotics scale their robotic offerings and explore how their robots can be deployed on farms within our supply chain.”
In addition, the venture fund is investing in Nitricity, a “New Age fertilizer” company that generates less in the way of greenhouse gas emissions.
Nitricity has pioneered the practice of creating “artificial lightning” to create what it calls “natural fertilizer.”
In the natural world, lightning breaks down nitrogen in the air and rainwater, bringing it to the soil as nitrate, a fertilizer. Artificial lightning can be harnessed to do the same to produce a cleaner, more sustainable and cost-efficient fertilizer, Chipotle said.
Traditional fertilizers can be a problem in that they require a large amount of fossil fuels to produce, and those fertilizers emit significant amounts of carbon dioxide, contributing to 5% to 7% of total greenhouse gasses, Chipotle said. An estimated 20% of fertilizer used domestically is imported through an expensive and complex supply chain.
Nitricity’s fertilizer, on the other hand, produces 5- to 10-times less greenhouse gas emissions due to the electrified production and field application process, which taps both solar and wind power. The company is also building its production facilities on or near farms to limit the emissions associated with distribution and application.
Nitricity uses solar and wind power to support production of its "climate-smart" fertilizer.
Field trials for the more-sustainable product are being conducted in California’s Salinas Valley, and some of Chipotle’s farm suppliers are participating. Nitricity hopes to launch a commercial product within two years.
“We’re proud to support Nitricity’s pursuit of a product innovation whose environmental benefits are complimentary to Chipotle’s approach to Food With Integrity,” said Chipotle CFO and Adminstrative Officer Jack Hartung, in a statement. “Fertilizers have experienced steep price increases in recent years due to supply chain issues, fossil fuel price volatility and rising distribution costs. Nitricity’s fertilizer offering not only has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of the fertilizer industry, but it can be a cost-effective solution for growers in our supply chain.”
The investments are the latest in a series by Chipotle’s venture fund, which was launched last year, designed to support early-stage technology companies that will potentially help support the chain’s growth plans. The 3,300-unit chain plans to reach 7,000 units in North America.
Investments made since then have included Local Line, an e-commerce platform for farmers to find buyers; Zero Acre Farms, a startup that make “cultured oil” considered more healthful and sustainable than seed oils; and Meati Foods, which has developed faux meat made with mycelium, the root system for fungi.
Last year, the fund also invested in Hyphen, a tech company that has developed an automated makeline that Chipotle is now testing. And the fund also invested in Vebu, the maker of the Autocado, an automated system for peeling and coring avocados, which is also in test.
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