Leaps by Bayer Unveils Ag Playbook for AgTech Sector

Leaps by Bayer has unveiled a new resource aimed at addressing the challenges faced by AgTech startups, investors, and industry players: the Ag Playbook. This comprehensive guide is designed to provide a standardized framework for developing and evaluating agricultural technologies, offering much-needed clarity in an industry where there has been a lack of common benchmarks.

The Ag Playbook, edited by Leaps by Bayer and contributed to by experts from Bayer, Oerth Bio, Enko Chem, Citi, and Cleveland Avenue Ventures, among others, seeks to bridge the knowledge gap in AgTech product development. It introduces a standardized nomenclature and a structured approach to navigating the complex journey from research and development to market launch. This framework aims to address the challenges that have plagued AgTech innovations, including the absence of a unified process for proving product efficacy and achieving market readiness.

Paimun Amini, senior director of venture investments at Leaps by Bayer, emphasizes that the Playbook is intended to serve as an industry-wide resource, offering a baseline for startups to work from and helping investors understand the extended timelines and significant capital requirements associated with bringing AgTech products to market. The Playbook’s focus is initially on crop protection small molecule products, highlighting the rising costs and prolonged development times in this sector. For instance, the cost of developing these products has increased by 99% over the past 15 years, with the time to market extending from 8.3 to 12 years.

This guide aims to address two main issues: the high costs and extended development timelines in AgTech, and the difficulties startups face in scaling their solutions without established industry partnerships. The Playbook draws parallels with the pharmaceutical industry, noting that while both sectors face rigorous regulatory hurdles, the AgTech sector lacks the same level of established frameworks and shared understanding.

The Ag Playbook is not a prescriptive tool but rather a framework designed to bring transparency and a common language to AgTech development. It provides insights into the typical stages of product development, the associated costs, and the importance of industry partnerships and regulatory compliance. Future updates to the Playbook may include additional chapters focusing on various product categories within AgTech, further enhancing its utility for the industry.