At the midpoint of 2026, there is a lot to reflect on across Indiana’s agbioscience economy and the sector at large. AgriNovus President and CEO, Christy Wright, joins today for an economic checkup. She highlights big wins for Indiana in 2026 – from hubs to headquarters – and looks ahead to AgriNovus’ moves to impact the state long-term.
Highlights include:
Corteva’s decision to double down on Indiana, choosing the state for its global headquarters, what factors ultimately helped drive that decision and what it signals to the rest of the state
USDA’s pending relocation announcements and how welcoming missions to Indiana might reshape the region’s ecosystem
The opportunities that exist to accelerate innovation and commercialization at the intersection of federal presence and global anchors as headquarters (both Elanco and Corteva)
Secondary effects Christy expects from these decisions – from partnerships to venture and beyond – and how AgriNovus is working with industry to capture those
Ecosystem engagement amid the pursuits of Corteva and USDA and how these decisions will ultimately impact all industry players
Indiana’s robust university system and how they fit into attracting bigger companies and organizations to the state that are seeking to fill talent
Investment, talent and innovation as proof points of momentum and the impetus behind the launch of BioHeartland – a shared economic identity for Indiana
Why now for BioHeartland and what differentiates the region from other innovation hubs across the U.S.
How Christy will view BioHeartland as a success
Biggest gaps and opportunities to seize momentum over the next few years to unlock Indiana’s next chapter of agbioscience growth
catalyst for growth
What’s coming up for AgriNovus
Key Takeaways
Now live inside the AGMRI platform, the AGMRI AI Agent is in use for the 2026 crop season.
Agronomic advisors and growers are using the AGMRI AI Agent to ask questions and get field-level answers in seconds, grounded in their own imagery, soil, weather, input, and yield data.
Purpose-built for agronomy, the AI Agent is being used for hybrid placement, in-season decisions, trial data analysis, breakeven and profitability modeling, and grower-ready reports.
INDIANAPOLIS — June 18, 2026 — Intelinair has launched the AGMRI AI Agent, an AI capability inside the AGMRI platform that lets agronomic advisors and growers ask questions and receive field-level answers in seconds. Now live, the AGMRI AI Agent is built on the agronomic data already in AGMRI: multi-source imagery, soil characteristics, weather, input applications, field boundaries, and historical yield outcomes.
The AGMRI AI Agent is purpose-built for agronomy, not adapted from a general-purpose AI tool. Advisors and growers are using it to ask questions such as “Which hybrids performed best on my high-productivity ground last season?” or “Where should I prioritize replant across these fields?” and receive answers grounded in their own data, eliminating hours of manual report pulling and cross-referencing.
“Agriculture has never had a shortage of data; it has had a shortage of time,” said Conner Schmidt, Commercial Leader of Intelinair. “Advisors are managing hundreds of grower accounts, and every recommendation carries weight. The AGMRI AI Agent gives them a way to surface the right insight on the right acre, instantly, without sacrificing the agronomic rigor behind it, and teams are already putting it to work this 2026 crop season.”
What the AGMRI AI Agent does Agronomic advisors and growers are using the AGMRI AI Agent across five core use cases:
Hybrid placement and performance: Identifies which hybrids perform best by county, soil type, or productivity zone, and how to manage them in the coming season.
In-season decision support: Pairs current crop and weather conditions with historical performance to guide replant, nitrogen timing, and fungicide application.
Reports and grower deliverables: Generates field reports, summaries, and shareable documents directly from the conversation.
Trial data analysis: Performs comparative analysis of trial results across environments, hybrids, and management practices.
Breakeven and profitability analysis: Calculates breakeven yield at the field or hybrid level, factoring in land, machinery, seed, chemical, and fertility costs.
Availability The AGMRI AI Agent is live now and integrated directly into the AGMRI platform for all AGMRI customers. To learn more or request a demonstration, visit intelinair.com.
Editor’s Note: High-resolution images of the AGMRI AI Agent are available for download here.
New corporate venture capital platform will invest to advance therapeutics, technologies and One Health solutions
INDIANAPOLIS (June 18, 2026) – Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE: ELAN) today announced plans to establish Elanco Ventures, a dedicated corporate venture capital (CVC) platform designed to support, invest and advance innovation in animal health.
To be backed by a $25 million multi-year commitment, Elanco Ventures will initially focus on strategic investments in therapeutic advancements and supportive technologies across the animal health sector.
“From pets to protein – the animal health industry has never been more relevant than it is today,” said Jeff Simmons, President and CEO of Elanco. “Innovation is happening outside of the boundaries of any single company. Elanco Ventures allows us to strategically leverage the startup landscape to expand our visibility into a range of emerging technologies that help us meet pet owners’ evolving expectation of care and the increasing global demand for protein.”
While primarily focused on animal health, the fund may also explore opportunities within the broader One Health landscape. It will also leverage the proximity of partnerships within the One Health Innovation District in Indianapolis, anchored by Elanco and Purdue University, and designed to bring together life sciences, researchers, and entrepreneurs in one place to break innovation barriers and accelerate progress.
“Elanco Ventures embodies our commitment to partnership and innovation,” said Tim Bettington, Executive Vice President, Center of Strategic Growth at Elanco. “By identifying promising startup technologies and collaborating with the One Health Innovation District, we are better positioned to fast-track innovation that can redefine the future of animal health.”
Launching in late 2026, Elanco Ventures will be overseen by Eric Steager, an experienced CVC leader, and focus on early-stage companies, prioritizing Pre-Seed, Seed and Series A stages of development.
Hoosier Ag Today (HAT), Indiana’s premier agricultural radio network and digital news source, today announced a groundbreaking strategic partnership with Circle City Broadcasting (CCB) to dramatically expand agricultural television coverage across the state. Under the new agreement, WRTV-ABC will officially become “Indiana’s Ag TV Station,” powered in part by the trusted, daily reporting of Hoosier Ag Today.
For two decades, Hoosier Ag Today has been the backbone of farm broadcasting in Indiana. This first-of-its-kind collaboration between a local agricultural media organization and a major broadcast television company will bring critical farm, agribusiness, and rural community stories into mainstream television markets.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to tell agriculture’s story on the radio for the past 20 years across this great state, becoming Indiana’s most trusted ag source,” said Eric Pfeiffer, president of Hoosier Ag Today. “We’re thrilled to partner with CCB to expand that reach into the television space, bridging the longstanding gap in understanding between the agricultural community and the broader public.”
While WRTV-ABC will carry the designation of “Indiana’s Ag TV Station,” agricultural content produced through this partnership will be amplified across all of Circle City Broadcasting’s major platforms. This includes the WISH-TV statewide network (covering Fort Wayne, South Bend, Chicago/NW Indiana, and Lousville/Southern Indiana markets), MyINDY-TV 23 (WNDY), and all associated digital and social media channels.
The partnership will launch with daily agricultural news segments integrated directly into local newscasts, with plans to expand programming in the near future.
“The importance of agriculture to our Indiana community deserves a consistent, in-depth presence in mainstream media,” said DuJuan McCoy, owner, president, and CEO of Circle City Broadcasting. “CCB is proud to lead this important and long-overdue initiative. Our partnership with Hoosier Ag Today—recognized as a trusted digital and radio source for farmers since 2006—marks a historic step forward for Indiana broadcasting.”
“Our radio network has built an incredibly loyal, daily audience of farmers who rely on us for critical market and weather data and ag news that impacts their operations,” Pfeiffer added. “This partnership doesn’t shift our focus; it amplifies it. By pairing the dominant reach of our radio footprint with the incredible visual storytelling power of television, we are creating an unprecedented media powerhouse that serves both the producer in the field and the consumer at home.”
The collaborative agricultural news initiative is scheduled to officially launch on-air during the third quarter of this year on WRTV-ABC.
Strategic supply and license agreement will accelerate access for North and South American corn and soybean growers
PHILADELPHIA and INDIANAPOLIS, June 16, 2026 – FMC Corporation (NYSE: FMC) and Corteva, Inc. (NYSE: CTVA), two leading global agricultural science and innovation companies, today announced a co-exclusive strategic supply and license agreement that will expand access to FMC’s rimisoxafen technology across North and South America corn and soybean markets, adding an important new tool to each company’s respective herbicide portfolio. This collaboration will enable more growers across the Americas to control herbicide-resistant weeds, including Amaranthus species – the number one weed resistance challenge globally in soybeans and critical in cross-crop pressure in corn – with this groundbreaking dual mode of action herbicide technology.
“This agreement ensures that more growers across the Americas will have access to rimisoxafen, one of the most innovative herbicide technologies developed in decades,” said Leonardo Bastos, FMC vice president and chief marketing officer. “By working with Corteva, we are expanding the reach of this breakthrough technology to help growers effectively manage resistant weeds that threaten their productivity and profitability. Together, we are bringing growers a solution they urgently need. At the same time, FMC is committed to unlocking the full global potential of rimisoxafen across additional crops and geographies, reflecting our confidence in this molecule as a cornerstone of our innovation pipeline.”
Under the terms of the agreement, which extends through the next decade, FMC retains all rights of ownership to rimisoxafen and will supply Corteva with the active ingredient. Both companies will develop and commercialize their own exclusive premix formulations for the corn and soybean markets across North and South America, while FMC will continue to develop additional rimisoxafen-based products for other crops and geographies globally. Corteva will make an initial prepurchase payment of $200 million USD for product to be supplied by FMC. Together, both companies are committed to ensuring broad availability of this innovative technology and rapid adoption, supporting growers with durable weed management solutions for years to come.
“By collaborating with FMC on rimisoxafen, we are expanding our ability to provide growers with advanced weed control tools that complement our portfolio,” said Cynthia Ericson, Corteva vice president, weed control segment. “This agreement supports our long-term strategy of forging new collaborations that drive value for farmers, as well as a unique growth opportunity with attractive economics for Corteva above our current deep crop protection pipeline set to launch over the next decade.”
Rimisoxafen’s dual mode of action creates a significantly higher barrier to resistance development compared to single mode of action herbicides, providing growers with an essential tool for managing weeds like palmer amaranth and waterhemp that have become resistant to multiple herbicide classes and cost farmers billions of dollars annually in lost yield. First commercial sales are anticipated by the end of the decade, pending applicable regulatory approvals. The Herbicide Resistance Action Committee recently classified rimisoxafen as the industry’s first dual mode of action herbicide, recognizing its unique ability to control troublesome broadleaf weeds that threaten crop yields and farm profitability.
Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Former Purdue DIAL Ventures and Serial Startup Veteran Tim Dixon to Focus on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Joins AgriNovus Senior Leadership Team
AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the agbioscience economy, announced today Tim Dixon as its new senior director of innovation – a role charged with accelerating startup and entrepreneurial activity in the state.
Dixon joins the AgriNovus team after more than 30 years of experience in the startup space and will lead the organization’s efforts to accelerate commercial innovation and company creation, building coalitions across industry, academia, capital providers, governments, non-profits and donors to drive awareness around the need for agbioscience innovation and the momentum growing around the state.
“Tim brings to the AgriNovus team a unique mix of startup experience, strategic vision and a deep understanding of transforming big ideas into real-world impact,” said Christy Wright, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “As Indiana accelerates its position as a global leader in agbioscience, Tim’s experience will enable entrepreneurial activity, new company creation and strengthen ties across industry, academia and capital providers that are critical to our sector’s growth.”
Prior to AgriNovus, Dixon served as managing director of Purdue DIAL Ventures, where he fostered an ecosystem of corporate partners, successful entrepreneurs, startup investors and leaders in academic research to create companies that bring novel solutions to market to improve the global food supply.
DIAL’s venture studio employed an entrepreneur-first approach, resulting in the launch of 10 new companies in its first three years. Dixon also led Doyen Analytics, a human capital diligence firm, and InterOptic, a high-tech company backed by Pritzker Ventures that delivers high-speed optical networking solutions.
Earlier in his career, Dixon held various roles at startups and Fortune 500 companies in Silicon Valley, Dallas, Washington, D.C. and Europe, launching multiple multibillion-dollar data center products and raising more than $300 million in startup funding and private equity investment.
He serves as a business mentor for the Mandela Washington Fellowship and is a prefect and board member of the Indiana chapter of the Tripoli Rocketry Association. Dixon holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and a master’s degree in quantitative psychology from Ball State University.
Dixon will lead AgriNovus’ cornerstone innovation program, Velocity, an accelerator guided by research that focuses in three critical agbioscience areas: bioinnovation, farmer-focused innovation and food is health. Velocity culminates with a demo day event and three $25,000 cash prizes for each track winner.
The next Velocity accelerator will kick off in mid-July. Companies, individuals and entrepreneurs who want to apply to participate can access more information here.
Convergence research: the idea of taking major agricultural themes and breaking them down into simple, digestible insights for various audiences. Necessary? Absolutely. And it’s the work that Dr. Trey Malone, Boehlje Chair in Managerial Economics for Agribusiness at Purdue University, has been doing with his team for awhile now. He brings his expertise in the studio today to dive into the intersection of entrepreneurship, policy and a massive agbioscience supply chain. Many highlights follow, including:
What the role of Boehlje Chair in Managerial Economics for Agribusiness has meant to Trey in his career and how it has scoped the work he is leading at Purdue today
The realization behind convergence research and how they’ve seen it pay off in practice
Pressure points Trey sees creating the most concern for the industry at large and what the economics say about how industry is responding to them
The idea of “real options thinking” as less about predicting the future and more about preparing for it by placing small bets to widen your options rather than focusing on one path for success
How real options thinking applies across the value chain
How Trey has seen agbioscience businesses respond to the demands of the consumer and their shifting behavior over the last five years
What moves the needle for consumers versus what’s mainly just perceived to be marketing
The Health Halo effect, hard seltzer drinks and what they’ve taught industry about labeling, marketing and how they interact with the consumer
The gap Trey sees that academic research needs to address for industry in agricultural economics
Research that Trey wishes everyone had their hands on and used with regularity to drive insight and decision making
What’s ahead for his time this year
Creates a scaled global provider of specialty ingredient solutions for a healthier, tastier and more sustainable future of food
Broadens Ingredion’s specialty ingredients platform across texturants, sugar reduction, and fortification, adding complementary capabilities in multi-ingredient systems and recipe development
Expands Ingredion’s ability to address customer needs across a wider range of end use categories and applications
Brings together complementary geographic supply networks across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific to deliver faster, more reliable and cost-effective ingredients and solutions for customers and consumers worldwide
ESTCHESTER, IL., JUNE 8, 2026 – Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE: INGR) (“Ingredion”), a leading global provider of ingredient solutions to the food and beverage and industrial segments, today announced a recommended all-cash offer for the acquisition of Tate & Lyle PLC (“Tate & Lyle”), a global leader in mouthfeel, sweetening and fortification (the “Acquisition”). The transaction implies a total enterprise value of approximately £3.7B ($5.0B), based on the pound sterling to U.S. dollar exchange rate on June 5, 2026.
The Acquisition represents a compelling opportunity to bring together two complementary businesses with a shared commitment to innovation, customer partnership and scientific excellence. Together, the combined group will be better positioned to help customers address evolving consumer needs by delivering products that are nutritious and affordable, with the taste, texture and quality that consumers expect. By combining complementary ingredient portfolios, technical expertise and geographic supply networks, the Acquisition will accelerate Ingredion’s ongoing transformation and enhance its ability to support customers as they address the trends reshaping the global food and beverage industry.
“Combining Ingredion and Tate & Lyle’s complementary portfolios establishes a global leader in ingredient solutions with the innovation expertise and geographic reach that will help create the future of food,” said Jim Zallie, chairman, president and CEO of Ingredion. “The combined business will be better positioned to serve customers’ needs for the development of great-tasting, healthier and affordable food products that consumers demand. This compelling combination will create exciting new possibilities for employees and generate significant value for all stakeholders.”
Commenting on today’s announcement, David Hearn, Chair of Tate & Lyle said: “Over the last few years, Tate & Lyle has been successfully repositioned as a leading global specialty food and beverage solutions business aligned to growing consumer demand for healthier, more nutritious and sustainable food and drink. I would like to recognise the exceptional contribution of the team at Tate & Lyle for their talent, insight and commitment which has been a key driver of this transformation and the business we have built. Looking forward, we believe the next chapter with Ingredion will create a business with even greater potential, greater scale, and increased investment in innovation in support of customers. The Board of Tate & Lyle believes Ingredion’s offer represents an attractive opportunity for shareholders to crystalise value in cash, and that it will be an excellent steward of Tate & Lyle. The Board therefore unanimously recommends Ingredion’s offer to Tate & Lyle’s shareholders.”
Compelling Strategic Rationale
The Acquisition offers strategic, operational and financial benefits, including:
Bolstering Ingredion’s portfolio and creating significant strategic growth opportunities
Broadens Ingredion’s specialty ingredients platform across texturants, sugar reduction, and fortification.
Adds complementary capabilities in multi-ingredient systems and recipe development.
Expands Ingredion’s ability to address customer needs across a wider range of end use categories and applications.
Creating a complementary and differentiated portfolio in texture and sugar reduction
Combines Ingredion’s texture and sugar reduction capabilities with Tate & Lyle’s expertise in mouthfeel, sweetening, and fortification.
Positions the combined group to better help customers address growing consumer demand for food and beverage products that are safe, high quality, affordable, great tasting, and healthier.
Diversifying Ingredion’s global platform with critical scale in North America, Europe and Emerging Markets
Brings together complementary geographic supply networks across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific.
Delivers faster, more reliable and cost-effective solutions for customers and consumers worldwide.
Enhances local market insights to better anticipate regional customer needs and consumer preferences.
Delivering solutions for diverse consumer needs across the value chain
Combines applications expertise, customer-led formulation capabilities and expanded customer-centric data insights to deliver more integrated, higher-value ingredient solutions at an affordable price for end consumers.
Enables closer partnership with customers – from concept development through to commercialization – by building cost-effective bespoke ingredient solutions to meet customer needs, and by deepening Ingredion’s innovation and formulation capabilities while accelerating and optimizing speed-to-market.
Enhancing IP and technological capabilities to drive innovation
Unifies two respected brands, each with over a century of history and known for innovation, quality, service, and trust in the ingredients space.
Combines complementary IP, technology, talent and applications capabilities to support faster innovation and next-generation ingredient systems development.
Enhances the ability to develop systems-based solutions across mouthfeel, sweetening, and fortification, including solutions that support healthier product offerings.
Delivering significant financial benefits and value creation under a prudent financial structure
The integration is expected to deliver significant run-rate net cost synergies of approximately $130 million, which are expected to be fully realized by the end of 2030. The one-time costs to achieve these annual cost savings are expected to amount to approximately $175 million in aggregate by the end of 2030.
The Acquisition is expected to be adjusted EPS accretive to Ingredion shareholders in the first year following transaction completion, and is expected to enhance the long-term growth profile and earnings potential of the combined group.
Transaction Details
Under the terms of the transaction, Tate & Lyle shareholders will be entitled to receive 595 pence per share, representing an approximate 59% premium to Tate & Lyle’s closing share price as of May 13, 2026. In addition, Tate & Lyle shareholders will be entitled to receive a final dividend in relation to the financial year ended March 31, 2026 of no greater than 13.2 pence per ordinary Tate & Lyle share and an interim dividend in relation to the six-month period ending September 30, 2026 of no greater than 6.8 pence per ordinary Tate & Lyle share.
Ingredion intends to finance the Acquisition through a combination of existing cash resources, new debt financing and, to the extent required, a drawdown on a fully committed bridge financing facility. Ingredion expects pro forma net leverage at completion of the Acquisition to be approximately 3.0x net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA (as calculated under Ingredion’s credit agreements). Ingredion remains committed to maintaining a strong investment-grade credit profile and expects to reduce leverage to approximately 2.5x net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA within approximately 18 months following completion of the transaction.
It is intended that the Acquisition will be implemented by means of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the United Kingdom Companies Act 2006 (the “Scheme”), although Ingredion reserves the right to effect the Acquisition by way of a takeover offer, subject to the consent of the UK Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the terms of the co-operation agreement between Ingredion and Tate & Lyle.
Timing and Approvals
Completion of the Acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of various conditions, including, among others, approval by Tate & Lyle shareholders, sanction of the Scheme by the High Court of Justice in England and Wales (the “Court”), and the satisfaction or waiver of the antitrust conditions. The transaction has been unanimously approved by Ingredion’s Board of Directors. Tate & Lyle’s Board of Directors intends to recommend unanimously that the Tate & Lyle shareholders vote in favor of the Scheme at the shareholder meetings to be convened by order of the Court for the purpose of, or on any shareholders’ resolutions prepared with respect to, approving the Scheme and related matters.
Ingredion has received an irrevocable undertaking from Huber Equity Corporation to vote in favor of the Scheme at the meeting of Tate & Lyle shareholders and the resolutions to be proposed at the general meeting of Tate & Lyle shareholders (and if Ingredion, with the consent of the Panel and subject to the terms of the co-operation agreement, subsequently structures the Acquisition as a takeover offer, to accept any takeover offer by Ingredion) in respect of a total of 75,000,000 Tate & Lyle Shares representing, in aggregate, approximately 16.8% of Tate & Lyle’s existing issued ordinary share capital as of June 5, 2026.
Completion of the Acquisition is expected to take place in the second half of 2027.
From volatile markets to high input costs, farmers are facing a number of challenges that could be offset by additional markets and revenue streams. Today, we’re joined by Fiber X CEO Dave Skibinski who’s working to give producers exactly that: a new opportunity rooted in the growing demand for natural fiber. Fresh off of a big win at TechPoint’s Mira Awards, Dave shares how FiberX is helping farmers diversify their operations and how agricultural byproducts are enabling the future of the bioeconomy. Highlights include:
The work FiberX leads and who they serve through their work in a growing bioeconomy
How their team chose the approach to leverage ag byproducts like corn stover to make bioindustrial resins and biocomposite plastics rather than other approaches
FiberX’s differentiation from traditional petroleum-based plastics – both in terms of performance and sustainability
Why they chose corn stover as the right feedstock for FiberX
New applications or industries showing the strongest demand for biocomposite materials in this rapidly growing bioeconomy; and how these companies have evolved over time
Performance metrics that industrial customers care most about and how FiberX is delivering on those benchmarks
Barriers their team has faced getting manufacturers to adopt bio-based materials and how they tackle objection
The FiberX // farmer relationship and how they execute that side; how their business model benefits them in terms of a new market unlock, additional revenue stream and more
How the farmer relationship, alongside the manufacturer, creates a circular economy – and what that means
The role of partnerships within the Indiana agbioscience ecosystem to grow and scale their technology
Winning the Agbioscience Innovator Award at TechPoint’s Mira Awards and how that honor validated the company’s work and its trajectory
Breakthroughs and milestones Dave believes will define the future of bioindustrial materials over the next decade
