Agbioscience

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213. BONUS: Creativity + confection collide Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

Happy Valentine’s Day! It is estimated that 58 million pounds of chocolate have been purchased over the last seven days in honor of the holiday, fueling a global market of more than $46 billion. Today we are joined by an Indiana leader in sweet treats: founder and president of DeBrand Fine Chocolates, Cathy Brand-Beere.

From a high school student making wedding cakes to the specialty chocolates that come from DeBrand’s today, Cathy talks about her love for sweets, allowing her creativity to fuel a growing business and working alongside her husband and kids. She also talks innovation not always being new, but improving what’s right in front of you. Lastly, what are the trends coming in chocolate? She has your answers and why trends aren’t always the answer.

DeBrand Fine Chocolates is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana with an additional retail location in Indianapolis. Learn more here.

212. Innovating for consumer choice Feb 13, 2023

Show notes

Fermentation has become a catalyst for new food innovation and Mark Warner, co-founder and CEO of Liberation Labs, is bringing a new approach to scaling a solution to support food companies and the customers they serve. With the recent announcement that Liberation Labs would build a new facility in Indiana, we sit down with Mark to talk through his background, what’s on the horizon for alternative proteins and when products will roll out of their new location.

Liberation Labs, which aims to enable the commercialization of alternative protein products through fermentation manufacturing, will construct a facility on 36 acres of Richmond’s 700-acre Midwest Industrial Park. The new facility, which will have a fermentation capacity of 600,000 liters with a fully dedicated downstream process (DSP), is part of the company’s model to offer customers fit-for-purpose capacity at large scale. Liberation Labs’ facility in Richmond will help meet demand for alternative proteins, increasing its availability and cost-effectiveness for existing major food brands as well as the growing network of food-tech innovators.

Read more about Liberation Labs’ new Indiana location here.

211. Collaboration defeats complexity Feb 06, 2023

Show notes

Microbiome has been heralded as a next frontier of unlocking the power of biology to drive healthier outcomes. This week, we bring together two pioneers focused on driving those outcomes in animal health: Aaron Schacht, CEO of BiomEdit, and David Bravo, Chief Science Officer at Nutreco. The two companies recently announced plans for a long-term strategic partnership focused on discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation ultra-specialty feed additives called Biom-actives to address livestock producers’ health and sustainability challenges.

The two leaders dive into the details of their collaboration and what the industry can expect in terms of new products. They also examine the power of partnership, a nice marriage bringing out what both companies do best and the luxury of good timing. David and Aaron also discuss the emergence of microbiome innovation, an environment of complexity creating difficulty for companies’ continued ambition and turning that complexity into a competitive advantage.

Read the full announcement on this partnership here.

210. Agbioscience clicking with young talent Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

Last week, AgriNovus announced its sixth class of Field Atlas Ambassadors – students that serve as the on-campus peer connection to the online career exploration platform (MyFieldAtlas.com). After a handful of ambassador classes, several Indiana college campuses and lots of discussion surrounding the sector, one this is clear: young talent is learning what it means to work in agbioscience (and they really like it). Julia Hamblen is an agricultural education major at Purdue University and a three-time Field Atlas Ambassador while DePauw University biology major, Bree Mahoney-Sutherland, takes on the role as the first-ever ambassador on her campus.

The two of them dive into what draws them to agbioscience, the surprise reaction from their peers when they realize the breadth of opportunities available to them and how they plan to advocate for the industry on their campus this semester.

Interested in learning more about this year’s Field Atlas Ambassador class? Visit MyFieldAtlas.com/Ambassadors.

209. BONUS: Indianapolis, it’s our time Jan 25, 2023

Show notes

From COVID-19 to African Swine Fever and now a global recession facing supply challenges, Elanco has faced many circumstances since becoming an independent company in 2018. CEO Jeff Simmons addressed the Economic Club of Indiana last week to send a clear message: their greatest era of innovation and impact to society lies ahead (and is coming quickly). This week, we bring you his comments as a special bonus episode.

Jeff dives into Elanco’s new global headquarters being a destination, not an obligation, where people want to go and work with purpose and reaching the world’s animals from this new epicenter for innovation. And while acknowledging that great work has been done in Indianapolis, he calls on leaders to prioritize building an inclusive community where talent wants to be and to work quickly – because the window is small for us to seize our opportunity.

**A special thank you to the Economic Club of Indiana for allowing use of their audio for this episode. To watch Jeff Simmons’ full program, click here.**

208. Finding your funding Jan 23, 2023

Show notes

Agbioscience companies attracted more than $50B in venture capital globally in 2021, but venture isn’t the only source of funding fueling innovation. Private equity and debt are also flowing into the agbioscience economy as investors seek new avenues to deliver returns while advancing innovation. With interest rates rising and a cool off in the tech economy, what does this mean for the future? This week, we are joined by Patrick Gilbert, Managing Director of Vine Capital, Randall Lewis, Managing Partner at Cleveland Avenue and Steve Witges, SVP of Ag Lending at Farm Credit Mid-America to examine all the potential tools for startups and early-stage companies to scale and grow.

They dive into how companies discern the right financial instrument for them given the current state of our economy, uncertainty driving the source of capital (along with an uptick in involvement from investors) and agbioscience as a growing market of attraction for investors. They also talk about capital efficiency and how it relates to trends and commitments made by companies, such as sustainability and environmental impact, and their ability to capture market while saving costs in the long-term.

207. Thinking in systems to achieve sustainability Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

How does wrangling bulls compare to working in corporate America? Perhaps no one is more supremely qualified to answer that question than Anya Gandy. From Capitol Hill to The Great Plains, Google and now Inari, the Sustainability and Strategy Leader has an impressive resume. This week, we talk with Anya about her career – from cowboy to tech star - and the common thread through it all: sustainability. She dives into nature-positive farming, Inari’s potential to go beyond net-zero pledges and the urgent need for more companies creating positive value to the planet (rather than a commitment to do less harm).

Anya also talks about Inari’s plan to make that happen: AI-powered predictive design and a pioneering multiplex gene editing toolbox that unlocks the full potential of seed as a cornerstone of our food system. She also busts the myth that sustainability comes at a cost to profits, walking through the relationship between economic and environmental sustainability and talks about the future of collaboration and partnerships for Inari.

Want to learn more about Inari? Click here.

206. AgriNovus at CES 2023 Jan 09, 2023

Show notes

An audible gasp filled the room at CES 2023’s opening keynote as the world’s leading innovators heard John Deere unveil its new robotic technology, ExactShot, which gives farmers the opportunity to dose fertilizer with precision rather than apply an entire stream – creating healthier plants with less chemical use while saving farmers money. AgriNovus caught up with John Deere’s VP of Production and Precision Ag Production Systems, Deanna Kovar, to talk about this continuation of the company’s smart industrial strategy and putting farmers at the heart of everything they do.

Deanna also talks about the critical problems facing farmers – both economically and environmentally, the history of John Deere’s investment into groundbreaking technology and being precise to make sure their tools create efficiency. She also dives into what’s ahead being bigger than what’s behind us, finding and creating new uses for their current tools and drawing inspiration on tech solutions at the show, paving the way for potential application in agbioscience.

205. A look back at 2022 Dec 19, 2022

Show notes

Do you also feel as though the year flew right on past you? As we sat down to recap what 2022 looked like for Indiana’s agbiosciences, we realized how much can happen in a short amount of time. From food to agtech, creating new innovative opportunities and putting Indiana on a global stage, please enjoy our first-ever year-in-review episode of Agbioscience, and also, our season 5 finale. We appreciate your passion and enthusiasm each week and look forward to bringing you more episodes in the new year.

Reference episodes:

Jeff Simmons, Elanco: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agbioscience/id1412179095

Pamela Whitten, Indiana University: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/building-the-crossroads-of-biomedical-engineering/id1412179095?i=1000587701375

Susanne Wasson, Corteva Agriscience: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/modern-crop-protection-making-an-impact/id1412179095?i=1000561550250

Luca Bonini, Hello Nature: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bionutrients-indianas-latest-agbioscience-collaboration/id1412179095?i=1000553925930

Sam Krouse, MPS Egg Farms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/egg-celerating-innovation-in-indiana/id1412179095?i=1000557079928

Daniel Russek, Atarraya: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shrimp-shipping-containers-sustainability/id1412179095?i=1000580638895

Aaron Schacht: BiomEdit: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/biomedit-betting-on-microbiome-science/id1412179095?i=1000567108868

Mike DiPaola + Opher Flohr, Taranis: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonus-taranis-recent-fundraise-brings-new-growth-opportunities/id1412179095?i=1000579439249

Stacy Dean, USDA: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonus-agrinovus-at-the-white-house-conference-on/id1412179095?i=1000581518985

204. BONUS: Introducing the winner of the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

In partnership with Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, the 2022 Producer-Led Innovation Challenge tasked innovators with optimizing existing on-farm data to create a farmer-focused platform that will increase data accuracy and reliability to impact speed and cost of capital from lenders. The winning prize: $25,000 to help accelerate commercialization of their solution. This week, we are joined by the winning team, Orlando Saez and Tom Uthell with Aker Technologies.

They dive into their approach to the Challenge, how their solution fits within their existing tech stack and their plans to accelerate the platform’s growth in the future.

Learn more about AgriNovus Indiana’s Producer-Led Innovation Challenge: https://agrinovusindiana.com/producer-led-innovation-challenge/

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