After developing its model on 3 sites (including 1 in Yvelines and 1 in Oise), NeoFarm is moving up a gear. Founded in 2018, the French company, which designs automated vegetable farms based on the principles of agroecology, has just completed a €30 million [34.9 million USD] fundraising round. The aim is to roll out its model on a larger scale, with the opening of a site at Lisses (Essonne), in the second half of 2025. This new 25-hectare site - including 10 hectares of greenhouses - will be able to produce up to 1,300 tons of organic vegetables a year. The company also wants to open more than 25 farms of this type by the end of 2030.
© NeoFarm The new funds are made up of €23 million [26.75 million USD] in equity and almost €5 million [5.81 million USD] in public funding, as part of the France 2030 plan, via a Bpifrance program. Eurazeo, ADEME Investissement, Cléry, and the Schmidt family office join existing shareholders.
Automation to reconcile organic farming, yields, and reduced drudgery
From the outset, NeoFarm has sought to reconcile ecology, agricultural performance, and the attractiveness of the vegetable growing profession by reducing the arduousness of labor. This can be achieved by automating the process so that the crops can be grown on a larger scale. "As a farmer, I am convinced of the need to produce tasty, organic vegetables locally, accessible to all, but it also has to be profitable and less arduous for the growers," explains Thibaut Millet-Taunay, CEO of NeoFarm. The model therefore relies on a robotic tool created by the company (protected by 3 patents) and its accompanying farm management software, as well as a team of agricultural engineers specialized in software development and robotics who adapt the technology to the needs of each farm. "The aim is to produce organic vegetables at competitive prices, while guaranteeing rewarding and sustainable working conditions, ensuring soil regeneration and guaranteeing strong resilience in the face of climatic hazards." The company grows more than twenty varieties of certified organic vegetables, without chemical inputs, and is almost completely self-sufficient in water. 120 tons of vegetables are produced each year. All the produce is sold to major central purchasing agencies, supermarket and catering networks, public-sector food services, or directly to local consumers.
A new 25-hectare site with an annual capacity of 1,300 tons
Thibaut Millet-Taunay's ambition is "to bring about the large-scale emergence of an ecological, nutritious and attractive production model that will have a strong and immediate impact on our regions and their inhabitants." The new NeoFarm site at Lisses, in Essonne, will house 8 robotized tools. It will be spread over a 25-hectare site, including 10 hectares of greenhouses, themselves divided into 4 blocks of 2.5 hectares, each equipped with two robots. Annual production capacity is expected to reach 1,300 tons of vegetables, "the equivalent of feeding 17,000 schoolchildren each year." It will also include 7 ha of biodiversity zones (3 km of hedges ~13 km of permanent flower strips, +10 living ponds and wetlands, rainwater recovery infrastructure for irrigation to ensure self-sufficiency in water during periods of extreme drought, a nursery and an area for packaging and preparing vegetables, as well as a cold room, a storage area for dry goods, loading bays, technical premises, offices and a living area. More than 20 species of plants will be grown here, including carrots, tomatoes, lettuces, eggplants, cucumbers, and turnips.)
For more information:
NeoFarm
Chemin des Ferme Horticole Théart,
Les Quarante Arpents,
78860 Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche
[email protected]
