May 16, 2025

AgTech firm innov8.ag buys ag labor tracking firm

An AgTech company’s purchase of an agricultural labor tracking provider could help improve labor efficiencies for growers of berries, tree fruit including cherries, nuts, vegetables and nursery crops.

Innov8.ag has acquired Spokane, Washington-based 2nd Sight Bioscience, an ag labor tracking and inventory systems supplier.

The cash and stock acquisition allows the Walla Walla, Washington, innov8.ag to integrate 2nd Sight’s all-in-one labor, yield tracking and produce traceability capabilities with innov8.ag’s established ecosystem of agronomic and yield management technologies, helping growers better manage their labor efficiencies. The purchase will help specialty crop growers and food companies plan smarter, act faster and optimize their decision-making process with end-to-end data integration, according to a news release.  

In the release, Steve Mantle, Innov8.ag’s founder and CEO, cited increasing U.S. farm bankruptcies, which began ticking upward in 2024 and surged 70% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.  

Labor shortages and costs are a pain point facing growers, especially for specialty crop producers growing highly labor-intensive crops including berries, fruits, tree nuts and vegetables. California specialty crop growers have seen their labor costs grow by a factor of eight over the last dozen years, according to statistics from Walt Duflock, a grower and Western Growers’ vice president of Innovation that innov8.ag cited in the release.

With growers and food companies facing rapidly mounting pressure from labor shortages, climate change impacts, food safety and traceability demands, and trade and tariff disruptions, integrating and unlocking data capabilities is essential to maintaining operational profitability, Mantle said in the release. 

“Bringing 2nd Sight under the innov8.ag umbrella gives growers and agribusiness CFOs a powerful response to what’s keeping them up at night when it comes to staying profitable,” Mantle said in the release. “It’s about bringing together the right people, equipment and processes that turn data into clarity — in the field, in the packhouse and on the grocery shelf — at a time when agriculture simply can’t wait any longer for big ideas to turn into actionable solutions.” 

With labor a common grower concern, harnessing AI to unlock new data insights from 2nd Sight’s labor-focused software and hardware solutions are critical to growers’ profitability, Mantle said in the release.

2nd Sight’s technology platform also includes automated inventory management systems for counting and tracking nursery stock, tissue cultures and produce, using RFIDs, barcodes and a handheld scanning device to count and track inventory, from the lab, the nursery floor, harvest and to the grocer. 

TOP PHOTO: Innov8.ag’s purchase of an agricultural labor tracking provider could help improve labor efficiencies for growers of berries, tree fruit, nuts, vegetables and nursery crops. Photo courtesy of innov8.ag.