Artificial intelligence is transforming agriculture across the globe with agentic AI systems taking on more responsibilities on farms and in food supply chains. This weekly update highlights major developments in how AI agents are helping grow food, manage crops, and get fresh produce to grocery stores.

Source.ag, a company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, announced it raised $17.5 million in funding to expand its AI co-pilot platform for greenhouses. The company created software that combines artificial intelligence with knowledge about plants and farming to help growers make better decisions every single day. Instead of one farmer having to watch thousands of plants, their AI system watches everything, learns what works best, and tells farmers when to water, when to check for diseases, and when crops are ready to harvest. The platform has already been placed in more than 300 greenhouses across 2,500 acres of land in 18 countries. These greenhouses grow tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers that feed about 40 million people. The new funding will help Source.ag expand to more countries and create even smarter AI tools.

On November 7th, 2025, a company called Afresh introduced Fresh Buying, a brand new system that uses AI agents to make decisions in grocery distribution centers. Distribution centers are huge warehouses where food is organized before going to grocery stores. People who buy food for these centers have a very difficult job because they must decide every single day which vegetables, meat, and bakery items to order, from which farmers and sellers to buy, and when to ship everything to stores. They have to think about weather, traffic delays, how fresh the food is, and many other things. Afresh's AI agents now handle many of these decisions automatically. The system looks at all the information, figures out what matters most, and suggests the best choices to reduce waste and keep everything fresh. A big grocery company called Wakefern, which owns many supermarkets in the United States, became one of the first to use this new agentic AI system.

At Georgia Tech University in the United States, scientists created FarmBot, a robotic farming system that students can program and control with artificial intelligence. FarmBot is like a robot arm on a track that can plant seeds, water plants, check soil health, and pull out weeds without harming the crops. Students learn to write computer code that tells the robot what to do. They also use AI to figure out the best places to plant seeds, how much water each area needs, and even which weeds are actually dangerous to the crops. By using robots and AI, students learn real computer skills while growing actual food. This project shows how farming jobs are changing and creating new opportunities for young people who love technology.

In Hanover, Germany, the huge farming technology exhibition Agritechnica 2025 opened from November 9-15, showcasing how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing agriculture. The show features AI-powered pest traps that automatically catch insects without chemicals, systems that predict when plants will get diseases, and smart systems that manage grain storage. According to organizers, 90 percent of German farms already use digital tools today, and the amount of AI use is expected to triple in the next few years. The German Agricultural Society explained that AI technology helps farmers predict yields, protect plants, manage costs, and reduce mistakes caused by humans getting tired or making errors. Farmers are even using popular AI chat tools like ChatGPT to write farm reports and get advice, though experts warn that people should check the information because AI sometimes makes mistakes.

While AI farming is growing fast, challenges remain. Between April and November 2025, 15 AgTech companies closed down or went bankrupt, mainly in the United States and Europe. Many vertical farming companies struggled because growing food indoors costs a lot of money and takes a long time to make profits. Rising energy bills and the difficulty of expanding made it hard for these companies to survive. However, despite these closures, investors continue putting money into AI agriculture, plant science, and precision agriculture. Companies like Kula Bio, Ceres AI, and others raised millions of dollars because investors believe AI can solve real farming problems.

Floridian researchers from the University of Florida are working hard to make their state a leader in AI agriculture. The state is investing $30 million to build a Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture, plus $5 million for equipment. Florida's main farming challenge is not having enough workers to pick crops by hand, since almost every vegetable and fruit is harvested manually. University of Florida experts believe automation and AI-powered robotics can help solve this problem. They are also interested in targeted spray technology that can identify individual weeds and apply chemicals only where needed, reducing waste and helping the environment.

The bigger picture shows that AI agents are becoming normal tools in modern agriculture worldwide. From greenhouses in Europe to grocery distribution centers in America to classrooms in Georgia, AI systems are learning from data, making smart decisions without waiting for humans to tell them what to do, and helping create more food with less waste. As these technologies improve and become cheaper, more farms and food companies will use them, changing how we grow and distribute food for the future.