With 2.4 million U.S. agriculture jobs to fill each year and an unemployment rate that still remains below 5%, leaders in agbioscience and farmers are facing a challenge. Like the rest of the economy, they’re in a battle for talent. One unique ally in agriculture is the cooperative system, a collective buying group and service provider network that’s serving American farmers. Phil Brewer, Vice President of Strategy at Keystone Cooperative, joins us to talk about the evolution of the cooperative from what it was – to what it is. We get into:  

• Keystone Cooperative’s footprint across Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan and the health of farmers heading into planting season 
• The evolution of the cooperative system over the last two decades – from service provider to business partner 
• How the farmer-led model of a cooperative ultimately drives adoption of new innovation and fills gaps for its members on their operations  
• Areas where Keystone needs to move quicker and capture market opportunities to deliver value to farmers 
• How they approach working with small companies and early-stage, venture-backed innovators 

The power of experience is undeniable. The context it creates, the insight that it develops is far more than could be accomplished than by simply reading. Benjamin Franklin, one of our nation’s founding fathers, I think, said it best. “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll learn.”  Dr. Ronda Hamm, Director of Food, Farm and Energy Experience and Conner Prairie, joins this week to talk experiential learning and what lies ahead for the National Register of Historic Places in the coming years. We get into:  

• Ronda’s scientific background and how she’s seen biology accelerate innovation over the last two decades 
• Her love for entomology – that’s it – she loves bugs 
• The exciting idea that science is continuing to educate itself, always evolving – and the endless career possibilities that it can present  
• The Food, Farm and Energy Experience at Conner Prairie – what it is, what it’s designed to bring to consumers and industry alike – from grower to grocer 
• How she hopes this new addition to Conner Prairie engages a new generation of agbioscience workforce – and to understand that it expands well beyond farmers to supply chain, food scientists, data analysts and more 
• Her ambition for this site to become The Smithsonian of the Midwest focused on food and agriculture 
• A call to action for industry wanting to be involved in this project and timelines for when to expect this to be rolled out at Conner Prairie 

Agbioscience comes to you from the first ever Indiana Farm Bureau Indiana Ag Threats and Security Summit hosted in partnership with Beck’s Hybrids, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. We had the opportunity to speak with Megan Ritter (Indiana Farm Bureau), Herb Stapleton (FBI) and Aaron Pierce (Pierce Aerospace) on the breadth, timeliness and criticality of keeping farming operations secure to maintain a safe, abundant food supply.  

We also cover:  

• A March Quadrant recap and a look ahead to our May 14 event. Register here: https://agrinovusindiana.com/quadrant/ 
• Big pre-seed funding news for startup Gripp. Listen to their recent episode of Agbioscience here: https://podcast.agrinovusindiana.com/public/215/Agbioscience-8a9a4381/f0137c47 
• ReproHealth Technologies as the winner of the first-ever Agbioscience Innovator Award at the TechPoint Mira Awards 

Gene editing in plants – it's been heralded as the next step-function change in the advancement of agriculture. One Indiana company is advancing the technology fresh off a $144 million venture capital raise. Claudia Nari, Chief Product Officer of Inari, joins today to talk through this historic time for gene editing and biotechnology at large. They get into:  

• From speed to precision, Claudia lays out the differentiation of gene editing to other types of plant breeding 
• Crops of focus for Inari right now and stresses they’re focused on to enable farmer success 
• The company’s recent venture capital raise, their value proposition and educating investors 
• Inari’s unique advantage (knowing what to do, having the tools to do it and being able to do those at the same time) 
• The status of field trials and what commercialization will look like for Inari 
• Biggest problems in-field to be solved through gene editing – from yield to resource efficiencies 
• Regulatory hurdles and Claudia’s perspective on the acceptance of gene editing as a technology 
• When will Inari technology be in customer fields? And what’s next? 

The Economic Policy Institute estimates there are 2.4 million employees in U.S. agriculture and Purdue finds that 40% of new ag jobs go unfilled. One entrepreneur is turning to computer vision, artificial intelligence and robotics – maybe a little autonomy – to try to address these challenges facing farmers. Mike Jacob, founder and CEO of TerraForce, joins to talk farmer-led innovation, solving for the labor gap and jobs to be done. We get into:  

• The overview of the farm labor market, its challenges and where TerraForce specifically focuses right now in the specialty melon crop market 
• What challenges face melon producers when it comes to harvest 
• How Mike sees this new era of AI and computer vision shaping precision in agbioscience innovation 
• What TerraForce does, solving labor challenges and how they plan to tackle a real problem facing farmers 
• Mike gets into seeing his first melon harvest, identifying the problem to be solved and innovating from there 
• The criticality of melons – yes melons – to make an impact on his community as an entrepreneur 
• Where the TerraForce product sits today and how regional producers are the critical testbed to the company’s success 
• TerraForce’s recent fundraise and what it will enable them to do 
• Mike’s take on the ag’s jobs to be done: ag becoming less optimized and finding ways to become more resilient to big changes 

Stage content at events like World AgriTech is always of highest quality but there are conversations happening behind the scenes that give a sense of what’s happening in the industry. Brook Cunningham, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Corteva Agriscience, and Rob Dongoski, Food and Agribusiness Leader at Kearney, joined us for a conversation at World AgriTech to get perspective on many topics, including:  

• A volatile market – and the reminder that it’s also cyclical 
• The tipping point for investors and the critical questions they have beyond just yield at this point in time 
• Corteva’s balanced approach between internal and external innovation and the company’s areas of focus when it comes to investment and partnership 
• How Kearney is advising companies seeking investment – of all sizes – in this volatile time (hint: don’t go it alone) 
• Areas of innovation that are seeing traction from investors 
• The importance of creating certainty around the noise – from regulatory to policy and beyond 
• How they both see this market cycle differently than past cycles 
• The role of food and consumers in this next evolution of food and agriculture 
• Crystal ball: what are the conversations at World AgriTech like five years from now? 

Identifying customer needs – jobs to be done – it's the core of innovation. But what are the jobs that need to be done? What are those things left undone as we head into the 2025 growing season? And what does the current economy, trade environment and overall farm sentiment mean for innovators and the farmers they serve? Brad Fruth, Director of Innovation at Beck’s Hybrids, joins this week to make sense of it all. We get into:  

• What’s on farmers minds given the current state of the ag economy 
• Big trends Brad is seeing aside from the macroeconomic headwinds and tailwinds 
• The role of biologicals and seed traits in this current economy 
• Beck’s approach to innovation and helping emerging companies bring new ideas to market 
• The differentiation of go-to market in ag versus other industries and the criticality of patient capital from VCs 
• Areas for great impact in agtech right now as Brad sees it 
• The importance of staying lean when you’re starting up and recalling really great technologies that didn’t hit the market because they ballooned and got too big, too fast 

Research estimates the global animal health market to be roughly $8 billion, a number analyst firm Grand View Research expects to grow at a 10% compounded annual growth rate through 2030. Much of that growth will be driven by biotechnology. Dr. Todd Zion, CEO and founder of Akston Biosciences, joins this week to help understand what is happening in the biotech markets, specifically as it relates to companion animal innovation. We get into:  

• Where the market sits today and how it is evolving 
• Akston Biosciences’ 2024 partnership announcement with Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine focused on a therapeutic for canine oncology 
• His approach to animal health innovation through precision proteins creating affordable, effective treatments for companion animals 
• What sits in the Akston Biosciences pipeline currently and the company’s approach to cost-effectiveness while also staying innovative 
• Todd’s past work in human health, how he sees two sides – animal and human health – coming together to push innovation further, faster 
• The regulatory hurdles faced by both human and animal health innovators that delay getting safe, effective treatments to market 
• A big need for more risk capital coming into the animal health innovation market  

Pitchbook reports that of venture capital deals in 2024, roughly 30% of them were down rounds or flat, meaning their valuation of the companies either went backwards or were the same round to round. It’s a trend that will continue, so how can entrepreneurs break the cycle? Matt Tyner, managing partner of America’s most active venture capital firm – Elevate Ventures, joins today to make sense of what’s ahead and how innovators can succeed. He gets into:  

• The current state of venture capital – and the criticality of taking a step back to understand where things sit today 
• Investors’ increased focus on profitability and not being able to cut your way to growth 
• Artificial intelligence as an enabler – not a vertical  
• Does the future include a shift to debt versus venture 
• The cost of innovation and the role of an investor in this era of venture capital 
• What the current conversation with portfolio companies looks like for Elevate Ventures 
• What Matt sees as emerging trends in agbioscience 
• The most important jobs to be done in the industry 

Mitch Frazier and Cayla Chiddister recap February by reviewing his three big trends in agbioscience for 2025, big investment news for Ingredion, Liberation Labs, Corteva Catalyst and TerraForce and look ahead to big events in March - including Quadrant on March 12. Register here: https://agrinovusindiana.com/quadrant/

Learn more about the Indiana Ag Threats and Security Summit: https://agrinovusindiana.com/2025/02/11/indiana-ag-threats-security-summit/