Solinftec, a global leader in agricultural digitalization, has announced that it will expand the launch of its new cutting edge AgTech robotic platform, Solix Ag Robotics, into Canada in partnership with Stone Farms and the University of Saskatchewan.
The new technology aims to provide farmers and agronomists a new level of information to increase yields, improve the usage of inputs, lower environmental impact, and support the global demand for food supply. The goal is to have the robot commercially available for the 2023 season for wheat crops.
Solinftec will run the new robot at multiple farms, one being Stone Farms in Davidson, aiming to adapt the technology to the specific needs of the Canadian grower and improve the algorithm for identifying weeds.
With more than 15 years of experience developing digital ag solutions throughout various geographies and crops around the world, Solinftec’s Solix Ag Robotics is integrated with the company’s artificial intelligence platform, ALICE A.I., capturing information directly from the crops. Programmed with a neurological network featuring a complex detection algorithm, the new in-field robotic device has the ability not only to scan for crop health and nutrition, disease, insects, and weeds, but is built to monitor the entire field ecosystem and provide real-time insights.
“Technology and how it is implemented in agriculture will play an even more critical role in our future,” said Rob Stone, owner of Stone Farms, “We know Solinftec continues to innovate for the better of the agriculture economy and the addition of their robotics platform will only enhance our work together. We are excited about the possibility for this technology to improve the way we manage inputs with enhanced real time information.
The platform will drastically reduce many risks related to the use of chemical and biological pesticides, as extremely low volumes will be applied with high precision on the target, only in the required place, at the most appropriate time, without excess or loss.
“As we’ve done in regions across the globe, we are taking the robot directly to the fields to learn at a hyper-local level how they perform,” said Leonardo Carvalho, Solinftec’s operational director lead in Canada. “The cutting-edge robotics technology will help develop agricultural solutions and support sustainable farming practices. Having the continued support of Stone Farms and the University of Saskatchewan during a season of testing the new technology is a great opportunity for Canadian agriculture.”
Solinftec will also work in partnership with the University of Saskatchewan (USask) in Saskatoon, SK to validate field results provided by the new robotics technology.
“Solinftec’s vision and commitment to the increased incorporation of digital technologies in agriculture are exciting, and researchers at the USask College of Agriculture and Bioresources are actively engaged in supporting and promoting this digital revolution,” shared Dr. Trever Crowe (PhD), associate dean, USask College of Agriculture and Bioresources. “Researchers in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources have a world-wide reputation of conducting relevant leading-edge applied and field-based research. Canadian farmers place a tremendous amount of trust in the work of this college, and we are excited to partner with Solinftec and agriculture producers to help advance this technology.”
“At Solinftec, I’m proud we continue in our dedication to evolve agriculture practices in close partnerships with local farmers,” said Britaldo Hernandez, Solinftec’s chief executive officer. “With our expansion into Canada in 2021, we are learning so much about the farms, the business processes, and agricultural needs. We value how our partnerships allow us to innovate at a local level with new technologies – like with our new robot.”
Indiana pig farmer Heather Hill was elected this week to serve as the president of the National Pork Board for the next year. Heather, her husband Marc, and his parents have a 600-sow farrow-to-finish operation in Greenfield, just east of Indianapolis, where they also grow corn, soybeans, and wheat.
Hill says she initially got involved in leadership roles because of what she’s most passionate about her family.
“When I first became involved at the state level through Indiana Pork and served as the president there and then became involved with National Pork Board and joined the officer rotation, it was very much I feel like we need to be willing to stand up and be the voice for our industry today if we want there to be an industry for our children in the future.”
Traction™, a comprehensive farm accounting solution, is now connected to the Climate FieldView™ platform, providing farmers the option to share field records seamlessly from their FieldView account. With this new capability, Traction delivers accurate field profitability analysis and up-to-date inventory tracking for farmers across the U.S.
This new connection is unique to the industry due to the integration of Traction’s farm accounting software. As field records are created automatically from the FieldView platform, Traction can assign exact costs to products and equipment from actual accounting entries. This enables farmers to see their margin per bushel, immediate visibility of their product inventories, and a clear picture of their overall profit on the farm.
“Reducing manual data entry and tying information back to your actual accounting numbers is our top priority,” said Ian Harley, Traction’s CEO. “Other companies claim to have accurate field costing but Traction is the only company to use actual financial data to drive field profitability analysis. We look forward to adding other integrations in the future that greatly enhance value for the farmer.”
“With every decision a farmer makes, profitability of those decisions is always top of mind,” said Marc Harris, Partner Engagement and Outreach for Climate LLC and Digital Farming at Bayer. “Easily collecting data with FieldView and connecting to a partner like Traction delivers value in a streamlined process when combining field level data insights and farm accounting.”
Whether it’s 3D printers in food or personalized nutrition, the way consumers eat is continually evolving. On this week’s episode, we are joined by Purdue University’s Food Science Department lead, Senay Simsek.
She dives into her work, the importance of carbohydrates, the opening of Purdue’s Food Entrepreneurship Manufacturing Institute and what she sees as the exciting future of food science innovation.
From a humble soybean, a team of Boilermakers has sprouted the idea for “Smulch.” Comprised of Indiana soybeans, the rubber-like material could be used to make gardening mulch or soft playground surfacing, eliminating potentially toxic materials used in the traditional versions of both products, says Team Smulch. The student trio captured the $20,000 top prize at the annual Student Soybean Innovation Competition, where students harvest new ideas to drive consumption of the crop.
Many conventional mulch products—both for landscaping and gardening—contain chopped pieces of rubber from recycled tires. The soft, buoyant surfacing used on playgrounds also contains “crumb rubber” made from grinding recycled tires, which is causing alarm.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is currently assessing the risk to children from playground surfaces containing tire crumb, as they may get the surfacing in their mouth or on their hands. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Environmental Protection Agency are studying the chemical characteristics of recycled tire materials related to exposures on artificial turf athletic fields.
“[Tires] are made from really bad plastic and can eventually cause a carcinogen effect,” says Zuhal Cakir, a Purdue University chemical engineering PhD student on Team Smulch. “It’s really bad, especially for kids playing on the playground, or even garden settings where [the toxins] can transfer [from mulch] to the vegetables and eventually affect our health. We need healthier and non-cancer related products on the market that we can use in these settings.”
It’s a bonus episode! AgriNovus hosted a panel discussion at Indiana’s first Global Economic Summit last week and we’ve got the full session right here. Joining Mitch Frazier was Jeff Simmons, CEO of Elanco, Martha Hoover, Founder of Patachou, Inc., Jean Luc Tete, Founder of Paris-based Horus Impact, and Robert King, EVP of Crop Protection of Corteva Agriscience.
For the first time ever, Indiana Economic Development Corp (IEDC) will host a Global Economic Summit in tandem with The Grea test Spectacle in Racing – The Indianapolis 500. This week, we are joined by IEDC’s SVP of Global Investments, Andrea Richter-Garry, to talk about GES, what attendees can expect, what this means for Indiana and potential surprises that may come from the event.
Company’s creative model minimizes carbon footprint, greenhouse gases
Do Good Foods, a producer of sustainable foods that seeks to use nutritious surplus grocery from stores and farmers markets, announced plans to establish operations in Fort Wayne, creating up to 100 jobs by the end of 2024.
“Do Good Foods takes Indiana’s advancements in sustainable food production to the next level and propels the state’s progress in clean energy,” said Governor Eric J. Holcomb. “Taking food waste, the number one material in America’s landfills, and upcycling it to feed our livestock is the type of ingenuity we encourage and cultivate in Indiana.”
Headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey, Do Good Foods plans to invest up to $100 million in an animal feed production facility located at 8645 Aviation Dr., near the Fort Wayne International Airport. The facility will divert food waste from up to 450 supermarkets, repurposing about 60,000 tons of food waste on an annual basis. This reduces the amount of food waste and associated greenhouse gas emissions in area landfills. The facility is expected to open by early 2025.
“Governor Holcomb and I are ecstatic to welcome Do Good Foods to Indiana,” said Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers. ”Their business model helps expand the circular economy here in the Hoosier state, building on Indiana’s momentum to shift away from the consumption of finite resources to more sustainable alternatives.”
With the mission to reduce and ultimately eliminate food waste, Do Good Foods upcycles excess food into nutrient-dense animal feed, which is then fed to chickens. Each Do Good Chicken saves approximately four pounds of surplus groceries from being thrown away, preventing approximately three pounds of greenhouse gases. The company’s first product, Do Good Chicken, is available in grocery stores in northeast Indiana and will soon be available nationwide.
“We’re excited about the expansion of DGF into the Fort Wayne market,” said Matt Kamine, co-CEO of Do Good Foods. “This project is a great opportunity for DGF to work with the local community on bringing more sustainable solutions to Fort Wayne and the retailers and food service providers located there.”
The company will begin hiring in Fort Wayne this summer for production, processing, shipping, management and administrative roles to work in remote and on-site locations prior to operations commencing at the facility. Interested applicants may apply online.
“Fort Wayne continues to be a leader in business and job growth, and we’re looking forward to welcoming Do Good Foods,” said Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry. “This substantial and unique investment further positions us as an attractive destination for companies looking to expand and succeed.”
Based on the company’s job creation plans, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) committed an investment in KDC Agribusiness Fort Wayne LLC, dba Do Good Foods, of up to $1.2 million in the form of incentive-based tax credits and up to $100,000 in conditional training grants. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim incentives once Hoosiers are hired and trained. Northeast Indiana Works will provide the company with additional hiring and training assistance. The Fort Wayne City Council will consider additional incentives.
About Do Good Foods Do Good Foods was created by the Kamine Family, founders of the Kamine Development Corporation which has built, owned, and operated more than $3.5 billion in infrastructure for 40 years. The mission of Do Good Foods is to take a scaled infrastructure approach to eliminating grocery store food waste in the United States. This first-of-its kind closed loop system is made possible through investors, retailers, growers, and a best-in-class team. Learn more at dogoodfoods.com.
It’s a bonus episode! This week, we are joined by our very own Senior Director of Innovation, Geoff Zentz, to launch a new challenge to the tech community: HungerTech.
The HungerTech Challenge by AgriNovus Indiana will be a month-long technology challenge looking to use mobile-first technology to improve access to nutrition for people using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Running throughout the month of June 2022, the HungerTech Challenge will help entrepreneurs, students, technologists, and existing companies ideate and iterate toward a minimum viable product that can be launched in a pilot with the State of Indiana. Participants will receive access to AgriNovus research data, connections to subject matter experts and mentors, as well as one-on-one coaching to develop their idea.
The winning team will be given the opportunity to launch their pilot during Q3 2022, be featured in a report to the United States Congress and receive $25,000 to launch their product to market. Learn more at agrinovusindiana.com/hungertech.
In partnership with Anthem, the HungerTech Innovation Challenge creates an opportunity for companies, entrepreneurs, students and innovators to compete for a $25,000 grand prize by developing new technologies and models to enable SNAP recipients to purchase groceries online and receive the products regardless of location.
“Food deserts have long been defined by proximity to a retail grocer; our ambition with the HungerTech Innovation Challenge is to inspire the creation of new technologies and systems that make physical location no longer a barrier,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus. “With the significant adoption of mobile devices and tremendous innovation in ecommerce and on-demand delivery, opportunity exists to build a better system that better serves those in need and reflects the reality of today’s mobile-first world.”
The HungerTech Innovation Challenge includes a four-week AgriNovus-led accelerator program that will provide Challenge participants access to advisors to guide product development, ensure integration with existing systems and validate application of solutions. A panel of industry experts will select the winning team in July, and AgriNovus will work with the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to explore piloting the solution in the third quarter of 2022. AgriNovus plans to present findings from the Challenge to policymakers before year end.
“Anthem is proud to partner in this effort because we believe in the concept of food as medicine and in the power of digital innovations to transform our healthcare system and improve the health of individuals across the country,” said Anthem Chief Health Officer Shantanu Agrawal, M.D. “The HungerTech Innovation Challenge is another aspect of Anthem’s commitment to identify innovative solutions that reduce food insecurity and the chronic health conditions facing those who lack access to nutritious food.”
Solutions developed in the Challenge will be evaluated against the ability to:
Use technology to improve access, simplify online SNAP transactions and unlock no-cost delivery while increasing adoption of online ordering.
Build a scalable mobile-first solution that could be replicated nationally with a path to profitability.
Companies, individuals and entrepreneurs who want to participate in the Challenge can access technical information, Challenge objectives, rules and register to participate online at AgriNovusIndiana.com/HungerTech. Registration ends May 31.
