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.
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.
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.
OmniVis, which makes hand-held devices to detect pathogens, will use the funding to launch a field pilot
OmniVis makes iSpyDx hand-held devices that rapidly detect pathogens in food, agriculture and water samples. The devices perform to laboratory method standards but do not require special equipment or training.
CEO and co-founder Katherine Clayton said OmniVis is interested in detecting pathogens related to food safety to protect the consumer, grower and everyone along the food production and distribution chain. The Ag-Celerator funding allows OmniVis to establish a field pilot for iSpyDx.
“OmniVis knows what a top-notch agricultural program Purdue has, along with amazing support from the state,” Clayton said. “The funding will help us to test our solution in real-world settings and make more connections in the agricultural community. We see the Ag-Celerator as an incredible opportunity to work with amazing talent in the agricultural community across Purdue and the state of Indiana.”
Tamara Kinzer-Ursem, associate head for academic programs and the Marta E. Gross Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. Kinzer-Ursem pitched OmniVis during the Ag-Celerator Demo Day event in December.
Jacqueline Linnes, the Marta E. Gross Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, and director of the College of Engineering Honors Program.
“Purdue’s culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture supports students, faculty, staff and alumni who want to strengthen the industry,” said Bernie Engel, senior associate dean of research and graduate education. “Ag-Celerator investments are a resource that can help them bring their work to market.”
Riley Gibb, director of business development at Purdue Ventures, said, “Ag-Celerator funding has impacted several startup companies that bring Purdue innovations to the market, including preparing them for further investment. We are excited by the advancements being developed by OmniVis and are excited for its growth.”
Previous recipients of Ag-Celerator investments are AkanoCure Pharmaceuticals Inc., Heliponix, Insignum AgTech, JUA Technologies International LLC, Karyosoft LLC, Krishi LLC, LeafSpec AgTech, NanoBio Designs, Ongenia LLC, Phicrobe LLC, Progeny Drone Inc., Rogo Ag LLC, Verility Inc., VinSense LLC and ZeaVaxx. Applications for the spring 2023 funding round are due February 15.
Advanced Agrilytics – an agronomy services company focused on unlocking the potential of every acre – has announced the collective achievement of reaching one million acres of agronomic influence across its eight-state Midwestern footprint. Since its founding in 2015, the company has been driven by its mission to deliver on the promise of precision agriculture. The achievement of this growth milestone signifies the continued need for unbiased, science-based agronomic recommendations for corn and soybean growers to help improve productivity.
“Our team’s success in growing together and making a positive impact with growers is truly remarkable,” said Sean Arians, Grower Direct Lead. “We’re proud of the reputation we’re building as the primary agronomic resource. It’s an honor to provide our service to growers as we continue to expand our footprint.”
Headquartered in Indianapolis with a primarily remote workforce, the team has grown over 300% in the last three years. This has included the addition of roles across the business including sales leadership, engineering, data science, research, people development and operations.
“Our innovation is being powered by an industry-leading research division in Ag Ingenuity Partners, providing our agronomists with proprietary tools and technology helping to make our science actionable,” said Kay Kuenker, CEO. “While this milestone has been achieved by our Grower Direct business segment, it’s been the consistent effort from our entire team to get us to this point.”
Throughout this high-growth period, the team has also experienced over 95% customer retention, year over year – indicating the consistent, reliable delivery of on-farm results for its growers.
“We’ve been customers of Advanced Agrilytics since it was founded in 2015,” said Ben Moore, Woodburn, Indiana farmer. “They continue to challenge our thought process and help us to improve the overall productivity of our operation. They’re constantly innovating, bringing us something new to consider, and are an invaluable resource on our farm.”
Phase II SBIR grant will provide seed funding for R&D and commercialization
Heliponix LLC, doing business as anu™ (previously gropod®), has been awarded a Phase II National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $970,993 and $75,000 in matching funding from Elevate Ventures.
Anu will continue its research and development work on multispectral photomorphogenesis that is now being deployed in conjunction with deep-learning, computer-vision algorithms within its novel rotary aeroponic cultivation chambers. It was previously awarded an NSF SBIR Phase I grant of $256,000 in addition to $50,000 in matching funding from Elevate Ventures. An online video shows the technology in use.
Anu was established six years ago by two undergraduate students in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute who were working on a NASA-funded research study at Purdue University. The research sought to optimize the photosynthetic efficiency of growing lettuce in a controlled-environment hydroponic chamber for astronauts to grow crops more efficiently in space. By manipulating the spectrum of LED light on the lettuce plants, the research team, led by Cary Mitchell, a professor of horticulture in the College of Agriculture, saw an increase in yields while simultaneously reducing the system’s energy consumption.
Research team members Scott Massey and Ivan Ball, co-founders of anu, saw an opportunity to further increase yields and minimize energy consumption. Their innovative design called the Rotary Aeroponic™ Cultivation Chamber, which has multiple patents pending, produces higher yields through its novel mechanical design coupled with a novel control algorithm facilitated through proprietary cloud software.
“Through decentralized, in-home production of produce, the wasteful inefficiencies and environmental destruction attributed to industrialized agriculture are eliminated, while simultaneously delivering maximum freshness, flavor and nutritional value directly to consumers conveniently,” said anu CEO Massey. “Produce is harvested when consumers are hungry rather than everything being harvested at the same time, which requires preservation of the produce. It simply stays alive and fresh until it’s eaten. The anu team is now composed of more than 20 team members and continues to rapidly grow.”
Massey said the Phase I SBIR grant from the NSF supported anu’s “light recipe” research to maximize plant growth yields, nutritional content and energy efficiency within the proprietary Rotary Aeroponic Cultivation Chambers.
“We are now deploying those discoveries into our Phase II deep-learning, computer-vision system to commercialize an autonomous cultivation system for consumers to sustainably eliminate their dependency on grocery stores for eligible produce varieties without preexisting horticultural knowledge required,” Massey said. “Our ‘Keurig for plants’ commercialization strategy empowers consumers to grow their own Pure Produce® that is more food safe, free of any pesticides and/or preservatives, and has much less environmental impact than industrial agriculture. This accomplishment is a giant leap forward as this century’s Victory Gardens will unite to become the world’s largest farm without owning a single acre of land.”
As a leader in tunable horticultural research lighting systems, the Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) Center of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has and continues to work with Anu to provide research-grade, multispectral, tunable LED modules and associated programmable control systems compatible with Heliponix’s rotary chamber. These modules are based on the LESA Center’s TIGER horticulture research lighting modules and will provide the research flexibility needed in Phase II to optimize the LED illumination impact on plant growth variables in leafy greens including biomass, crop yield, nutritional content and energy efficiency.
“NSF is proud to support the technology of the future by thinking beyond incremental developments and funding the most creative, impactful ideas across all markets and areas of science and engineering,” said Andrea Belz, division director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. “With the support of our research funds, any deep technology startup or small business can guide basic science into meaningful solutions that address tremendous needs.”
Once a small business is awarded a Phase II SBIR/STTR grant, up to $1 million, it becomes eligible to receive up to $500,000 in additional matching funds with qualifying third-party investment or sales.
Startups or entrepreneurs who submit a three-page Project Pitch will know within three weeks if they meet the program’s objectives to support innovative technologies that show promise of commercial and/or societal impact and involve a level of technical risk. Small businesses with innovative science and technology solutions, and commercial potential are encouraged to apply. All proposals submitted to the NSF SBIR/STTR program, also known as America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, undergo a rigorous merit-based review process. To learn more about America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, visit: https://seedfund.nsf.gov/
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.
A subsidiary of Fishers-based Land Betterment Corp. has acquired an ownership stake in two greenhouse operations in Canada. While financial terms were not disclosed, Betterment Harvest calls the deal a strategic acquisition that will expand its footprint.
Betterment Harvest is a sustainable farming company that focuses on upcycling land that has been previously impacted by coal mining and industrial activity, according to the company’s website.
Notre Dame Engineering senior and Field Atlas Ambassador alumnus, Jack Reford, will participate in the Grand Challenges Scholars Program, inspired by the vision of the National Academy of Engineering for making our world “more sustainable, secure, healthy and joyful.” A mechanical engineering major, Reford will focus on the use of algae to manage the nitrogen cycle.
Notre Dame’s Grand Challenges Scholars Program is for students who are inspired to understand and contribute to solutions for some of the greatest challenges facing humanity.
This semester, Field Atlas will be on university campuses across Indiana to connect students with opportunities in agbioscience fields of study, career paths, companies hiring and where to apply for real-time internship + job opportunities.
