This week, we are bringing you an audio special alongside our friends at First Farmers Bank and Trust who hosted their Annual Ag Summit at Purdue University. Keynoting the event was Rob Sharkey, The Shark Farmer; he is an Illinois grain farmer, a whitetail deer hunting outfitter, XM radio host, television personality and a podcaster. Some of the AgriNovus team had the joy of hearing Rob’s speech and first took away the resilience of the original and ultimate entrepreneur: the farmer. 

Highlights include: 

• Rob solving the definition of innovation through the launch of The Shark Farmer, the hilarious story of how it came to be and who it aims to serve
• Establishing a core audience and message to prepare for growth and the criticality of surrounding yourself with the right people to prepare for that journey
• Planning to pivot or make adjustments when the opportunities arise for your venture to put you on an upward trajectory
• The Shark Farmer's platform putting them in position to participate in several discussions on farm succession, how those uncomfortable conversations can translate across business growth and who should have a seat at the table

Thank you to First Farmers Bank and Trust for having us! We are back next week with a regular episode of the podcast.

Learn more about Rob Sharkey, The Shark Farmer, here.

The USDA estimates that 30-40% of the U.S. food supply is lost each year, a massive addition to landfills and negative contributor to environmental health. What if that waste stream was handled differently and innovated into dependable feed ingredients for farmers? This week, CEO of Nutrition 101 Rick Shipley, joins the podcast to talk upcycling feed, servicing the entire value chain and flying under the agbioscience radar.  

Highlights include:  

• How Nutrition 101 leverages food waste management to serve the entire food value chain 
• What conversations look like with producers in this era and how their team is positioned to help drive on-farm impact in a time of unique challenges for their operations 
• Nutrition 101’s relationship with processors on the other end and how they create opportunities for growth, sustainability and more 
• Rick’s tenure as CEO (8 months) and how he sees the company as a differentiator in the agbioscience industry 
• The company’s roots originating on the farm and how that translates to solving problems and generating better feedback to shape priorities for the future 
• What success looks like for the Nutrition 101 team when it comes to working with producers and processors alike 
• How Nutrition 101 focuses on solutions that are practical, effective and easy to implement – and why that’s so critical 
• The company’s acquisition of Value Feeds in 2025 and what it will enable them to do on their growth trajectory 
• Rick’s belief in the company’s greatest untapped potential to date 
• How Rick sees the industry leveraging tech, automation and other innovations to grow a young base of talent interested in focusing on animal nutrition and agriculture 
• Nutrition 101’s impact growing over the next decade as the role of the farmer evolves 
• What’s ahead for the company in 2026 

January's recap episode with Christy Wright, CEO of AgriNovus, and Libby Fritz, VP of AgriNovus, includes: 

1. Corteva and bp's 50:50 joint venture, Etlas, and its plans to advance production of biofuels made from crops.
2. Elanco's $400 million investment in U.S. manufacturing, R&D and workforce. Listen to Jeff Simmons on Fox Business here.
3. Primient's 100% acquisition of Primient Covation to advance their competitiveness in the bioeconomy.
4. POET's $203 million investment in their Indiana location with plans to double production and nearly double workforce.
5. Gripp winning honors from the ASABE for advancing agtech innovation.

The bioeconomy is on the move this month! Get our Bioinnovation Playlist on YouTube. Click  .

Gripp was a former winner of AgriNovus' Velocity accelerator, which is set to kick off soon. Learn more about the program here.

AgriNovus' Quadrant is back on March 11! Get details and register here.

From partnerships and acquisitions to considerable growth in 2025, Traction Ag has had an incredible story to tell as innovators and entrepreneurs. Woven in the fabric of that story, though, is how that growth came to be: direct farmer relationships, focused on creating solutions that will ultimately drive their yield. This week, we are joined by Traction Ag’s COO, Hannah Parsons, to talk fintech for the farmer, making the barrier to entry accessible and what’s ahead for the company.  

Highlights include:  

• Traction Ag’s tech stack and how the platform functions to specifically serve farming operators 
• What their team is hearing from customers right now as they navigate challenges in financial management and decision making 
• Gaps in a farming operation’s data that can create inefficiencies and how Traction Ag is designed to integrate for more streamlined impact 
• How farmers respond to a platform like this, barriers to tech adoption and their biggest questions about how it can help their operations 
• Strategic partnerships and integrations with FS and Keystone Cooperative and how they better serve the farmer 
• The acquisition of PcMars and what it added to the company’s tech stack 
• Hannah’s perspective on Traction Ag’s biggest untapped opportunities for growth 
• What’s ahead for the company in 2026 

For more than 100 years, Ingredion has been providing the world ingredient solutions. From sweeteners to starches, that type of innovation has to be grounded in a consumer-forward attitude and understand what comes next in the food industry – all around the world. Today we are joined by Eric Seip, SVP of Global Operations and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Ingredion, to explore global ingredients in more than 120 countries across 60 diverse sectors and how they stay on the cutting edge of providing innovative solutions. 

Highlights include:  

• What Ingredion does and who they aim to serve through innovation 
• Common gaps and challenges emerging for customers across their food and beverage portfolio 
• How Eric sees Ingredion helping to advance Food is Health 
• Consumer preferences shifting and how those translate into operational and R&D priorities 
• Ingredion’s recent $100 million investment in its Indianapolis facility, what it entails, the capabilities it adds and why now 
• What this upgrade to the Indianapolis locate will differentiate from their competitors or others in the space 
• What technologies Eric believes have the biggest potential to transform how Ingredion innovates in the future 
• The food value chain, texture and challenges that have risen in recent years – and how Ingredion has found themselves adapting through headwinds to build resilience 
• Ingredion’s perspective on partnerships and how they’re used to drive outcomes forward 
• The relationship with the farmer and what that means to the Ingredion innovation portfolio 
• Biggest challenges and opportunities facing the food ingredients industry 
• What has Eric most excited for Ingredion in the future 

So much can happen in a year – transformative change can happen in 70. From applied research to precision fermentation, United Animal Health has continued to accelerate innovation and growth of its portfolio on behalf of producers over their seven decades of business. This week, we are joined by COO Trent Torrance to cover it all – joint ventures, animal nutrition, food is health, artificial intelligence and beyond. Highlights include:  

• United Animal Health’s pursuit to grow and serve a broader range of agriculture and food production 
• Some unique challenges and emerging issues that they’re trying to get ahead of on behalf of producers 
• The state of discussion with producers United Animal Health works with and how they feel about the year ahead 
• How their investment in applied research has defined and differentiated them as a company 
• Trent’s thoughts on the biggest opportunities for transformational change in food production 
• The critical intersection of animal and human health – and United Animal Health’s role in that space 
• What seventy years of business and longevity can bring to a company, Trent’s thoughts on the future of United Animal Health and their biggest untapped potential to date 
• How artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an additive role to the work they’re doing 
• United Animal Health’s focus on joint ventures and striking balance between internal validation and seeking collaboration without outside partners 
• What’s ahead for United Animal Health in 2026 

From gene editing to food is health and consumer education to bioinnovation, we’ve had no shortage of amazing conversations on the podcast this year. This episode is a celebration of some of your favorite guests combined into one ultimate audio experience. And let’s face it, you have the holiday windshield time for this podcast. Don’t you? 

Featuring the following guests:  

• Wendy Srnic, Corteva Agriscience 
• Jay Hulbert, Ag Alumni Seed (Retired) 
• Ronda Hamm, Conner Prairie’s Food, Farm and Energy Experience 
• Mike Jacob, TerraForce 
• Mark Warner, Liberation Bioindustries 
• Ed Fish, Bay State Milling 
• Sarah Glaven, Princeton University’s Andlinger Center 
• Aaron Schacht, BiomEdit 
• Christy Wright, AgriNovus 
• 
  

We can’t wait to bring you even more fantastic Agbioscience content in 2026! Season 9 starts January 12. 

When it comes to crop inputs, farmers are looking for more than a salesman in the field – they need an advisor. One partner that can help shape decision making that keeps them profitable, efficient and sustainable all while driving yield to make their operations successful. It’s a tall order and one this week’s guest loves to welcome as a challenge. Danny Carmony, Central Indiana GM for Nutrien Ag Solutions, joins AgriNovus’ VP Libby Fritz to talk consistency, serving in that advisory role over multiple generations and what innovations have him most excited for the future of the industry. We get into:  

• The work Nutrien Ag Solutions does to serve farmers and the outlook of growers over the last 12 months 
• What Danny sees ahead for 2026 and recommendations they are making to their customers 
• The relationship of Nutrien Ag Solutions with its parent company and its unique advantage 
• Alternatives for nitrogen fertilizer, new forms of nitrogen or emerging innovations that enable the farmer to be more efficient 
• Generational farming operations and the difference in selling across multiple generations of operators who have different schools of thought on ROI 
• Biologicals past, present and future in agbiosience innovation 
• Global geopolitical pressures factoring into supply and demand for farmers 
• Using the power of partnerships, leverage Nutrien Ag Solutions’ reach, while also tapping into locally to create maximum value for customers 
• The criticality of sourcing talent in areas that are serving rural customers – and Danny’s passion for bringing people from outside the industry into agbioscience 
• What’s ahead for Nutrien Ag Solutions that has him excited in 2026 

It is rare air to get two fantastic leaders in the same room for the podcast, but today we are joined by our very own. CICP’s CEO, Melina Kennedy, hosts our newly named AgriNovus President and CEO, Christy Wright, to talk service, food as the next frontier of health and her vision for what lies ahead for Indiana’s agbioscience economy.