Chasing the same shiny object while the world starves…

242 billion.

That’s how much venture capital flowed into AI companies in Q1 2026. In a single quarter!!

But I’d like to provide some context on that number for you to think about.

The ENTIRE global AgriFoodTech sector which includes farms, food production, supply chains and everything from soil to shelf raised $3.6 billion in that same quarter. And for the whole of 2025? $16.2 billion. Total. For the year.

So do the math and you can see that AI companies raised 67x more than agrifood in Q1 alone. And 15 times more in three months than agrifood raised in the whole of 2025. Wth.

Here’s what makes this so incredibly frustrating to me. I’m not anti-AI. AI genuinely can and should help solve our biggest problems. Food security. Clean energy. Healthcare. Housing.

But look where the $242 billion actually went. Not into AI solving cancer or feeding the world. The bulk of it piled into foundation models and infrastructure (which are like investing in the picks and shovels of a gold rush) that mostly benefits other tech companies.

That’s the lemming problem. Investors don’t independently assess where capital is most needed although they should. They watch each other. And right now, everyone is watching the same pitch deck.

The result is a staggering 67-to-1 funding ratio between AI and the critical sector, agriculture, that’s responsible for feeding you, your family and the planet.

By 2050 we’ll need 60% more food to feed 10 billion people. Not sure how we will do that at this rate of investment. The capital to solve that definitely exists but its not pointed there.

This isn’t an either/or. It’s about where venture capitalists put their bets and who gets left behind when they all move together.

I know this because I am one. My fund invests in agrifood. And I see every single day how hard it is to compete for attention, talent, and capital against a sector where a single company can raise $122 billion in one round.

The opportunity to feed the world doesn’t come with that kind of valuation.

But it comes with something much more important.

❤️🇨🇦