Agronomy – the science of soil management and crop production – is critical to advancing the profitability, sustainability and durability of modern agriculture. However, science alone is not enough. An emerging agtech company is combining that science with technology and people to create the next generation of precision crop production. Today we are joined by Advanced Agrilytics CEO, Kay Kuenker, as the company celebrates one million acres of farmland served. From 29.6 years as a mathematician (her words) at Dow Chemical to her leadership at Advanced Agrilytics today, she gets into math and risk assessment paving the way for better on-farm decisions defining her career. She also talks what Advanced Agrilytics does differently, treating sub acre environments to create on-farm efficiency and optimal productivity. Kay also talks about the company’s growth story over the last few years, growing her team five-fold during that time (and the variety of careers they are hiring for) and what’s ahead at Advanced Agrilytics. 

About 90% of US seafood comes from abroad, resulting in a $17 billion trade deficit.  With a new $10 million grant from USDA, a Purdue professor is working to eradicate that deficit with a new sustainable and integrated aquaponic production system. Today we are joined by Dr. Jen-Yi Huang, Project Director and Associate Professor of Food Science, at Purdue University. He talks about innovation in this area creating more environmental and economic sustainability, and how the Midwest could benefit from aquaponics. Jen also gets into the timelines for products to be commercialized and what’s ahead for his team. Learn more here.  

The agbioscience economy is the only economy that touches every person on the Planet given that it centers on food. It’s necessary for life; and for generations, Indiana farmers have served a critical role in the global food supply chain. Now the state has a farmer leading the charge to shape the next chapter of the state’s ag economy and he joins us today. Don Lamb, Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA), talks with us about always wanting to be a farmer and the season of life being right for him to lead ISDA. Like many Indiana natives, he talks basketball as a metaphor for the role of production agriculture in the agbiosciences. He also gets into farmer adoption of new innovations, his advice to innovators that want to bring a product to market and the role of farmers when it comes to helping companies develop new innovations. He highlights soil conservation, mental health of the farmer and ISDA’s Indiana Grown initiative as three things he sees as big opportunities for the organization in the future. 

Indiana soybean production eclipsed more than 330 million bushels in 2022 making it the state’s second-largest commodity crop. Twelve Purdue University student teams set out to transform those soybeans into new products during the Indiana Soybean Alliance’s New Uses Competition and a winner was selected to receive the top prize of $20,000 just a few short weeks ago. Today we are joined by Team StyroSoy, winners of the competition, to talk through their innovative soy-based styrofoam product. They get into the critical problem that current styrofoam packaging presents, their varied backgrounds coming together to create a healthy team dynamic and all the challenges that come when creating a new product. The team also talks about the sustainability aspect of StyroSoy, its ability to serve multiple facets of the packaging industry and what’s ahead for their team. 

Congratulations to Team StyroSoy! Members include Louis Edwards Caceres-Martinez, of Bogota, Colombia, a PhD student at the School of Engineering Technology at Purdue University; Alyssa Choi, a Purdue sophomore studying biological engineering from Addison, Ill.; Valeria Tellez Gallego, a PhD student studying industrial and physical pharmacy from Bogota, Colombia; and Amy Tang, a Purdue sophomore from Sao Paulo, Brazil, studying biological engineering and pharmaceutical sciences. 

Rapid identification of pathogens in food and water holds the power to save lives. Katherine Clayton, Founder and CEO of OmniVis, has developed a technology that puts the power of a pathogen lab in hands around the world. She joins us to talk about her personal story paving the way for this innovation, her passion for proactively stopping disease from happening and moving from California to study at Purdue University.  

So what does a handheld lab entail? Katherine talks about her device, iSpyDx, and its ability to quickly turn results (40 minutes), a focus on ease of use (it weighs under 2 pounds) and COVID-19 rapid tests as market validation for the work the OmniVis team was doing at the time. She also examines this innovation as a tool for crowdsourcing insights on infectious diseases and what’s ahead for the company. 

Learn more at omnivistech.com.   

Last year, the federal government invested nearly $120 billion to combat food insecurity with its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but the challenge still remains. As AgriNovus works to inspire innovation in food security through a new category of agtech we call HungerTech, it’s important to understand the scope of food insecurity in America and how we can improve. Today we are joined by Head of Economics at Purdue University and Distinguished Professor, Dr. Jayson Lusk, to discuss new research from AgriNovus that examines factors driving food insecurity across Indiana and areas ripe for private-sector innovation to increase proper access to nutrition.  

Read the full report here.   

In the US, more than 42 million people don’t know where their next meal is coming from and nearly 1/3 of those are children. Today we are joined by HATCH for Hunger Executive Director, Danny Leckie, to talk about the organization’s mission to unite Midwest poultry producers and a distribution network to combat hunger.  They talk about how the organization was founded, building a sustainable model for food insecure populations and animal protein as a key to building healthy lives. Danny also gets into COVID, inflation and manning a difficult pricing era for eggs.  

So why eggs? Danny gets into that, eggs as a powerful tool to do great things and what’s ahead for HATCH for Hunger. Learn more here.  

The agbiosciences offer one of the most approachable areas of modern innovation. From new foods to sustainability advances and new tech, agbioscience touches every human being on the planet. Today we are joined by Elevate Ventures CEO, Toph Day, to talk about a new global event where agbiosciences will link arms with other modern focuses of our economy: RALLY Innovation Conference, which is coming to Indianapolis on August 29-31, 2023. They dig into what attendees can expect for the world’s largest cross-sector innovation conference (including a $5M pitch competition), why Indianapolis and RALLY as a launch pad for big ideas and authentic connections.  

From high school and university talent to venture, entrepreneurship, industry and beyond, RALLY is Indiana’s time to put their game face on and seize an opportunity.  

Get your spot for RALLY today! Visit rallyinnovation.com. 

Pork’s place on the plates of people around the globe continues to grow with a global pork market expected to reach more than $418 billion by 2028. Indiana hog producer and National Pork Board President, Heather Hill, joins this week to talk a growing demand for the protein paving the way for new innovation. She dives into her work at the National Pork Board, emerging trends in pork consumption and a continued dedication to sustainability (and also what that actually looks like on a farm). Heather also gets into the criticality of public education, emerging innovations she sees on the horizon and the one thing she wants others to know about raising pork.  

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 13.5 million households – more than 10% of the population – experience food insecurity. Innovation, especially in the category of agtech, holds tremendous promise to lower that number. Today we are joined by AgriNovus Indiana Senior Director of Innovation, Geoff Zentz, to announce the launch of the 2023 HungerTech Challenge. They talk about what this year’s challenge entails, the intersection of doing good and doing well and what’s at stake for this year’s winning team (hint: it includes a $25K prize to accelerate their solution). They also dive into the role of innovation to eliminate food insecurity, not needing to know food or agriculture to solve this problem and the importance of food and nutrition to drive better health outcomes. 

Are you ready to take on the 2023 HungerTech Challenge or do you want to learn more about AgriNovus’ work in this space? Click here. 

Special thank you to Elevance Health – our presenting sponsor of the HungerTech Challenge – for their commitment to tackling food insecurity. Hear Dr. Shantanu Agrawal’s episode of Agbioscience here.