Agriculture at a Crossroads
The global agricultural system faces a complex matrix of challenges, many of which stem from the growing pressures of climate change. With the world’s population expected to surpass 10 billion people during this century, all stakeholders in the agricultural supply chain must identify and implement new AgTech solutions that can deliver lasting food security.
Rising temperatures, droughts, and extreme weather events are no longer abstract risks, they are redefining the future of farming. To adapt, farmers need to restore and improve soil health, embrace regenerative agriculture, strengthen agricultural resilience and biodiversity, and sustainability at the field level.
At the same time, agriculture is undergoing a profound transformation. Data has emerged as one of the most powerful tools farmers can use to build resilience, improve yields, and reduce environmental impact.
This transition to data-enabled agriculture is part of ICL’s strategic shift from a resource-based to a purpose-driven company, one that integrates technology, intelligence, and sustainability to create smarter, more adaptive food systems.
A Transition to Data – Enabled Agriculture
ICL is making a strategic transition from a resource-based to a purpose-driven company. This is a fundamental change in corporate culture and vision that includes a focused commitment to promote climate-smart and data-enabled agriculture.
- Data is emerging as one of the most powerful tools that farmers can utilize to build resilience, improve yields, and reduce environmental impact.
- The challenge is to create scalable and user-friendly agronomical data technologies and platforms, and to disseminate them to growers, particularly in emerging markets.
Agmatix: A Digital Engine for Smarter Farming
Agmatix (an agro informatics company that is part of ICL’s AgTech digital solutions) converts raw agronomic data into actionable insights that help optimize field trials, crop nutrition, and sustainability planning. Agmatix technologies are helping agronomists to rapidly adapt to changing growing conditions and to devise climate resilient agriculture solutions that make a difference at ground level.
- Agmatix’s AI-powered platform standardizes thousands of datasets and supports nutrient optimization based on 4R principles.
- Platforms include decision-support tools for field agronomists, research institutions, and agribusinesses.
“Growers, agronomists, researchers and ag industry experts are tackling today’s biggest challenge – providing food security for the world’s growing population. …
Our technology provides a solution that unites, standardizes and leverages agricultural data, allowing it to effectively manage agronomic research trials and translate them into real life practices in a one‑stop‑shop.”
– Ron Baruchi, CEO Agmatix
Data Meets Satellite: A New View of the Field
One of the most innovative data collection methods in farming is the use of satellite imagery. Agronomists have been able to access images from commercial satellites for decades, but new technologies are improving the quality and scope of imagery, and the ability of users to extrapolate, interpret and utilize satellite data.
- Agmatix’s collaboration with NASA Harvest merges remote sensing and ground-truth data to monitor regenerative agriculture practices.
- Agmatix technologies enable field-level analysis of drought resilience, soil moisture, and carbon impact—crucial for scaling climate resilient agriculture methods.
- The company provides a model of science-backed, scalable sustainability measurement.
AI-Powered Biostimulants for Climate Resilience
Biostimulants are an agriculture technology that play an important (although not always well-understood) role in the development of resilient agriculture and sustainability. Rather than providing crop nutrition like fertilizers, biostimulants help plants to reach their natural potential.
- Through the Lavie Bio startup, ICL has fast-tracked the discovery of microbial biostimulants that boost crop resilience to abiotic stresses like drought and extreme temperatures.
- AI-enabled discovery reduced the time-to-market for candidate strains from years to under 12 months.
- ICL acquired Lavie Bio’s core assets in 2025 to scale its biological hub globally.
A Connected Innovation Ecosystem: From Startup to Scale
The scale and breadth of the challenges facing global agriculture, and the rapid emergence of a multitude of specialty AgTech innovations, requires major companies to invest in strategic partnerships with startup founders. Partnerships bring funding, support and market penetration to founders, and give major companies ongoing relevance and access to disruptive technology.
- ICL Planet Startup Hub fosters strategic partnerships across the vital digital agriculture and climate tech sectors.
- Key partners include:
- CropX (soil intelligence & irrigation decisions)
- Agrematch (AI for molecule discovery)
- Plantible (alternative protein and functional ingredients).
- These partnerships help ICL to translate lab-based innovation into viable global agronomic solutions and to complete the journey to market in a timely fashion.
Democratizing Digital Agriculture: Smallholder Access and Open Platforms
Digital agriculture technologies offer users unprecedented opportunities to optimize their agricultural enterprises and to develop agricultural resilience and regenerative agriculture on a profitable basis.
ICL is committed to democratizing digital agriculture and to enabling millions of smallholders and family farming units to access emerging technologies and transform their productivity and livelihoods, in turn creating genuine food security for all.
- Agmatix’s open data platform supports over 2,000 integrated datasets and is used by 300+ organizations worldwide.
- It enables access to sustainability assessments, nutrient plans, and certification tools, especially in regions lacking robust advisory infrastructure.
- The platform functions as a practical tool for bridging digital equity gaps, while helping companies meet ambitious ESG targets.
Conclusion: From Intelligence to Impact
A data-driven approach to agriculture is one of the most important ag trends shaping the future of global food production. It stands alongside the great AgTech innovations that have transformed farming throughout history.
ICL’s agricultural innovation strategy connects data, digital tools, and biological solutions into a powerful, scalable ecosystem designed for climate resilience and sustainability.
Through platforms like Agmatix, biological discoveries from Lavie Bio, and strategic partnerships through the ICL Planet Startup Hub, the company is driving the global adoption of technologies that strengthen agricultural resilience and improve productivity.
Climate resilience today is not only about survival, it’s about opportunity, efficiency, profitability, and inclusion. By turning data into actionable intelligence, ICL is helping farmers transform the way they grow, adapt, and thrive, building a smarter, more sustainable agricultural future for all.
