Chipotle invested a portion of its $50 million innovation fund into a Wichita-area agricultural startup that makes robots to cut down weeds. The company did not disclose the exact amount.
Cultivate Next, the investment arm of the global food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG), last week announced its investment in Greenfield Robotics, a company headquartered on a farm in Cheney.
"It's exciting to get the investment from them," said Clint Brauer, founder of Greenfield Robotics. "They're extremely advanced in the way they think about their supply chains and the way they do things."
The agricultural tech company manufactures small machines that go between the rows of crops on broadacre farms — considered wheat, soy and barley crops — and cuts into the soil, tearing up weeds. By eliminating weeds by machine, farmers aim to limit the use of pesticides and its number of employees. The robots are powered from outside the crop's perimeter and work either during daylight or nighttime, making them versatile to a farmer's schedule.
Five years ago, Brauer, a former computer company executive in California, returned to central Kansas, where he grew up, to farm. Soon, he realized that weeds kept getting in his way. That's when he came up with his plan, inventing a machine that beheads weeds.
After working with numerous farmers, including MKC — a full-service farm cooperative that is based in Moundridge — and a pet food manufacturer, Greenfield Robotics is now charging forward, moving into the large-scale consumer food market.
Because Chipotle has its eye on sustainable agriculture, it sees Greenfield as the next step in the process.
The autonomous robots serve as a way to grow products at a lower cost without chemicals.
"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 agricultural industry," said Erin Wolfold, vice president of external communications for Chipotle, in an email. "We will help Greenfield Robotics scale their robotic offerings and explore how their robots can be deployed on farms within our supply chain."
With about 110,000 employees and more than 3,300 restaurants, Chipotle has eateries in Canada, France, Germany the United Kingdom and the U.S.
Chipotle, through its Cultivate Next venture fund, plans to use artificial intelligence, robotics and sensing technologies to make regenerative farming more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable. The intention is to increase soil health and help with water retention.
Chipotle said the $50-million startup fund is part of a pot of funds that helps businesses like Greenfield continue its efforts to build out its fleet of agricultural robots and develop additional capabilities such as micro-spraying, cover crop planting and soil testing.
Greenfield is still working through the details of the mission with Chipotle, but Brauer said he is excited for the opportunity.
"We will hopefully see if we can do some trials in California and other places and see how we can integrate into their supply chain," Brauer said. "This is an excellent partner for us, and there's a lot of alignment of how we think about things. Like Chipotle, we believe in the future of real, responsibly- and sustainably-raised food."
Chiptole's Cultivate Next venture fund has also invested in Nitricity. The California-based company has pioneered a practice that uses air, water and renewable energy from artificial lighting to produce more sustainable and cost-efficient nitrogen fertilizer.
"Cultivate Next makes early-stage investments into strategically aligned companies that further Chipotle's mission to cultivate a better world and help accelerate the company's aggressive growth plans," Wolford said. "As a people-first company, we are seeking opportunities that will elevate the human experience for our restaurant teams and suppliers as well as increase access and convenience for our guests."
