Robust system simplifies integration and maintenance, empowers specialty crop growers’ profitability, and aids compliance with chemical and water use mandates.
Heading into the 2023, specialty crop growers are looking for any advantage they can to improve operational costs, satisfy mandates on chemical and water use, meet sustainability goals, and increase healthy harvests. Just in time, agtech company Smart Apply, Inc., has released its Generation 2 (Gen2) Intelligent Spray Control System that upgrades operational toughness in the field and greatly expands precision data functionality.
First launched in 2019, Smart Apply’s Intelligent Spray Control System™ combines LiDAR-enabled precision spraying with the ability to automatically collect and store data to the Cloud during each spray event. To date, specialty growers of tree fruits and nuts, grapes, hops, and nurseries have been drawn to the Smart Apply Systems’ ability to reduce chemical and water use by an average of 50 percent while decreasing chemical run off by up to 97 percent and air borne drift up to 83 percent.
Originally developed by the USDA, Smart Apply’s Gen2 exponentially improves the system by making it more impervious to the rigors of the field as well as easier to install and maintain. Among the biggest changes are a more sophisticated yet simple to use electrical system with 50 percent fewer electrical connectors, a single power harness with a circuit breaker to protect the battery and eliminate fuses, and a common ground that reduces the number of wires to the solenoids. The control board has been expanded to support 40 spray nozzles, a significant improvement for larger air blast sprayers. Additionally, the system’s new junction box is sealed for improved weather protection and wire and component management. It comes with a more robust Android tablet with improved data connections.
The Smart Apply System Gen2’s expanded data capabilities support growers’ efforts to reduce and digitally document chemical use as well as meet demands from brands and consumers for sustainably raised produce. Highlights of Smart Apply Gen2 data functionality upgrades include:
Expanded data collection of chemical application rates, tractor speeds, chemical volumes applied and savings, and operator performance.
Additional job management capabilities that enable the grower to program—and thus automate—the day’s spray schedule: assign multiple boundaries and operators; designate start and end dates; set application rates; and adjust calibration settings. The grower can also document the chemicals used during each spray session.
More intuitive operating screens for ease of use, including a choice of languages.
Increased Cloud storage to archive current and historical spray data.
Option to integrate with the Deere Precision Ag Operations Center.
Commenting on the Smart Apply System G2, CEO Jerry Johnson says the enhancements proactively address the immediate and long-term needs of specialty crops growers. “Today’s growers face rising costs; mandates on chemical and water use; verification requirements from government agencies, export partners and brands; and their own desire to be better stewards of the land. Smart Apply Gen2 is a transformational tool that enables corporate to privately owned growers alike to meet these challenges head on while making their operations simpler, more profitable and sustainable. The ability to integrate with Deere’s Operations Center is another benefit that distinguishes Smart Apply from other sprayer systems.”
The Smart Apply Intelligent Spray Control System is sold as a kit that can be retrofitted to virtually any air blast sprayer. The company continues to expand its authorized dealer network and currently is available at more than 350 retail locations in the United States, Canada, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. A complete dealer list is available here.
The Smart Apply System is the winner of the 2021 World Ag Expo Top 10 Award, 2021 SIMA Paris Gold Award and 2020 ASABE AE50 Outstanding Innovation Award. Visit the website to see the Smart Apply System in action.
What has these students interested in agbioscience? Learn more in their welcome video here.
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.**
Company’s first purpose-built commercial precision fermentation plant in the US will increase production of alternative proteins, create jobs
Liberation Labs, a precision fermentation manufacturer, announced plans today to establish operations in Indiana, investing $115 million to develop its first commercial-scale biomanufacturing facility in Richmond.
“Next generation technology is critical to future food security for people everywhere, and I am proud that Indiana is leading the charge,” said Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers. “We are excited to welcome Liberation Labs to our growing agbiosciences ecosystem. Liberation Labs will continue to enable companies to innovate while creating high-paying, quality career opportunities for Hoosiers.”
The company, 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.
“The three things a biomanufacturing facility like ours needs are sugar, power and people – and Richmond, Indiana, has them all,” said Mark Warner, co-founder and CEO of Liberation Labs. “While sugar and power are commodities, a workforce experienced in manufacturing is not, which is why Richmond really stands out. We are thankful for the support the state and the local community have provided us, and we can’t wait to break ground.”
Liberation Labs plans to break ground later this spring and reach full commercial production by the end of 2024. The company plans to create 45 new manufacturing jobs to support its growth, with average wages well above the state average.
“Securing this partnership and investment from Liberation Labs is another milestone in our strong relationship with Governor Holcomb and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation,” said Richmond Mayor Dave Snow. “We are thrilled to add the expertise of Liberation Labs to our Industrial Park. Make no mistake, when a company of this caliber chooses to invest in Richmond, it’s a resounding vote of confidence that we are moving in the right direction. With more jobs being created, and such a strong business model, I am confident this is just the beginning of a long and mutually prosperous relationship.”
Liberation Labs’ first-of-its-kind precision fermentation facilities are engineered to deliver cost-effective, high-yield production of novel proteins and accelerate consumer adoption of healthy food alternatives. The company aims to build a network of purpose-built facilities to accommodate 80 percent or more of the alternative protein market, delivering a global solution to unlock a new era of food accessibility and sustainability.
Based on the company’s job creation plans, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) committed an investment in Liberation Labs of up to $780,000 in the form of incentive-based tax credits and up to $50,000 in training grants. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim incentives once Hoosiers are hired and trained. Wayne County will consider additional incentives at the request of Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County.
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.
Huntington University is teaming up with Purdue University to launch a new dual-degree program in Veterinary Nursing and Animal Health.
“To my knowledge, this is the only program across the country like this,” according to Nate Perry (shown above), Managing Director of the Haupert Institute for Agricultural Studies with Huntington University.
Perry says the brand new major is being offered as part of the partnership with Purdue.
Read the full story on Hoosier Ag Today — click here.
Matt Ritter, Ph.D. has accepted a position with United Animal Health as senior vice president of research and development, where he will serve on United’s dynamic executive leadership team. Well-known within the swine industry and in food animal research and development, Ritter is leaving Cargill Animal Nutrition where he has held the position of director, swine nutrition and technical services since 2018. Prior to that, he has held various leadership roles in research and development with Elanco Animal Health from 2006 to 2018.
Ritter will officially start at United Animal Health on Jan. 23.
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.
Collaboration an industry–first focusingondiscovery, development, and commercialisation of next-generation ultra-specialty feed additives called Biome-actives to address livestock producers’ health and sustainability challenges
Today, Nutreco and BiomEdit announce a ground–breaking,long-term strategic research and commercial partnershipto bring livestock producersinnovative and trulynovel feed additives developed through microbiome technology. The partnership aligns Nutreco Exploration (NutEx), Nutreco’s teamtasked with developing proprietary ultra-specialty ingredients to promote its purpose of Feeding the Future, with animal health’s most advanced microbiome biotechcompany, BiomEdit.
The collaboration covers the discovery, development and commercialisation of Biome-actives developed using BiomEdit’s advanced microbiome science and bioinformatics platform. These novel feed additives address the health and sustainability challenges of today’s animal producers, for aquaculture, poultry, swine and cattle.
In recent years, studies into the gut microbiome have led to a basic understanding of their role in human and animal health and in how foods are digested in the gastrointestinal tract. Influencing the gut microbiome – the microbes – what they produce and their environment, for example through food supplements or medicines, can have a major impact on human health – and, similarly, can impact the health, well-being, and performance of animals.
“Saying that microbiome science has created a buzz in the last decade is an understatement. However, practical applications of this scientific progress remain scarce. Instead of focusing on microbiome composition and how to affect it, at Nutreco, we believe that mining the microbiome to find microbial functions that will benefit the animal’s physiology will unlock real sustainable progress for the welfare, health, and productivity of farm animals,” explains Nutreco’s Chief Science Officer David Bravo. “Our first NutEx strategic program will focus on these Biome-actives. We share so much with BiomEdit’s teams – scientific views, discovery and development processes, culture and approach – that it was only logical to engage in this major strategic partnership.”
Aaron Schacht, Chief Executive Officer of BiomEdit, commented, “Microbiome science has the potential to address the complex health challenges and unmet needs our customers and their livestock face today. By leveraging BiomEdit’s advanced microbiome discovery platform and bench of deep experts together with Nutreco’s expertise and commercial deployment capabilities, we will launch novel feed additive products that address some of the most important problems in animal health, sustainability and food security. This broad strategic alliance with Nutreco is unique in our industry and plays to the strengths of both companies. Together, we will drive innovation and raise customer expectations for the impact of novel feed additives in livestock production systems.”
This industry-influencing move combines the depth, breadth and experience of a leading animal nutrition company with a leading biotechnology R&D program.
“To help transform our industry and feed the growing global population, we are moving beyond just nutrition, supporting farmers in operating in a more sustainable way while also working across the supply chain to drive positive change in the way we source, produce and utilise feed ingredients,” says Nutreco Chief Executive Officer Fulco van Lede. “The partnership with BiomEdit fits perfectly into this longer-term strategy and underlines our commitment to the development of ultra-specialties. Today’s announcement will benefit all of Nutreco’s businesses: Skretting (aquaculture feed), and Trouw Nutrition (livestock feed) including, in particular, our feed additives brand, Selko.”
BiomEdit, established in April 2022 in acarve outfrom Elanco Animal Health (NYSE: ELAN), is a venture–backed start up focused on the discovery and development of animal health products that leverage microbiome science to improve animal health, animal protein production and livestock disease monitoring. This is its first commercial partnership since itbegan with contributions of assets and technology from Elanco and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA) and a successful $40M Series A funding round with Ferment,Viking Global Investors,Anterra Capital.
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.
