Chipotle invests in sustainable farming robots, fertilizer products
Chipotle Mexican Grill is making two new investments from its Cultivate Next venture fund.
Announced in April 2022, Cultivate Next is intended to support seed-to-Series B stage companies that focus on increasing technology and innovation in restaurant operations and align with Chipotle’s mission to “Cultivate a Better World.” The fund launched with an initial size of $50 million and is financed solely by Chipotle.
Following are brief overviews of the two latest companies Cultivate Next is funding.
Greenfield Robotics
Greenfield Robotics provides lightweight autonomous robots that cut weeds between rows of broadacre crops, day or night, with the goal of reducing dependence on herbicides while supporting regenerative farming practices and reducing risk for farmers.
With its Cultivate Next investment, Greenfield Robotics will continue its efforts to build out its fleet of autonomous agricultural robots and develop additional capabilities for forthcoming iterations of its robots, including micro-spraying, cover crop planting, and soil testing.
In July 2022, Chipotle made a Cultivate Next investment in robotics provider Hyphen. Chipotle is piloting company’s first product, The Makeline, an automated system that utilizes advanced robotics and a customized operating system to give kitchens a reliable and precise way to make and fulfill orders.
Chipotle has also been piloting a customized autonomous kitchen assistant (nicknamed “Chippy") to cook and season tortilla chips since March 2022 and testing a robotic avocado processing prototype known as “Autocado” since July 2023.
"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 Curt Garner, chief customer and technology officer, Chipotle. "We will help Greenfield Robotics scale their robotic offerings and explore how their robots can be deployed on farms within our supply chain."
"Like Chipotle's commitment to Food with Integrity, we believe in the future of real, responsibly and sustainably raised food," said Clint Brauer, founder of Greenfield Robotics. "In partnership with Chipotle, we can continue to explore creative solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing farmers across the United States."
Nitricity
Nitricity has pioneered a practice of creating artificial lightning. The company leverages air, water, and renewable energy from the artificial lightning to produce a cleaner, more sustainable, and cost-efficient fertilizer.
Nitricity says its nitrogen fertilizer has five to 10 times less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to its electrified production and field application process, and the company is building its production model of fertilizer on or near its end customers to limit the emissions from fertilizer distribution and application.
Nitricity has started field trials for its fertilizer product with Salinas Valley farmers, including Chipotle suppliers in the region. The company is using funding from Cultivate Next to scale up production of nitrogen, build out the company's infrastructure, and support the launch of its first commercial product within the next 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 Jack Hartung, chief financial and administrative officer, Chipotle. "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."
"Nitricity is committed to producing fertilizer that is optimized for farmers, not factory production or freight distribution," said Nico Pinkowski, co-founder and CEO of Nitricity. "Partnering with Chipotle will unquestionably accelerate our path toward disrupting the industry with climate-smart technology."
Chipotle says it will continue to provide more updates on the Cultivate Next venture fund in 2024 and beyond.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. had over 3,300 restaurants as of Sept. 30, 2023, in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France and Germany and is the only restaurant company of its size that owns and operates all its restaurants in North America and Europe.