News reinforces support for sustainability initiatives and Athian’s model for facilitating verifiable change across food supply chains

Indianapolis — November 19, 2025 — Athian announced today that it has facilitated $18 million in payments to farmers since 2024, financially rewarding them for implementing emissions-reducing practices, including innovative feed ingredients and alternative manure management. Athian, which was founded in 2022 to connect food companies with farmers in their supply chains to achieve Scope 3 goals, also announced it successfully completed a $4 million Series A funding round. These milestones not only signal the food industry’s continued commitment to sustainability goals but also demonstrate the credibility of Athian’s unique, technology-driven model.

New investors include Ajinomoto Group Ventures; Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) Cultivate Next Fund; and Mondelēz International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDLZ), through its impact investing platform, Sustainable Futures. Along with Athian’s seed investors – the Australian Agriculture Company; California Dairies, Inc.; Elanco Animal Health Incorporated; dsm-firmenich Ventures; Newtrient, LLC; and Tyson Ventures – these funding partners span the breadth of the food supply chain, from global leaders in protein production to ingredient manufacturing, consumer-packaged goods companies and food service. These investors will help inform Athian’s continued growth as it expands its capabilities and reach to accommodate new species and international markets.

“Athian’s original vision was to bring together companies from every step in the food supply chain to deliver a more resilient and sustainable product to consumers,” said Paul Myer, Athian founder and CEO. “Our new funding partners are helping us achieve that vision by supporting our industry-wide effort to give credit to farmers, processors and food companies for their sustainability efforts.”

Athian helps farmers adopt science-based practices, called protocols, by selling the verified outcomes to downstream partners, such as CPGs, grocery stores and restaurants. These food brands then claim and report project outcomes as Scope 3 insets that help make credible progress toward their corporate goals, reward producers for on-farm reductions and meet increasing consumer demand for sustainable products. Learn more about how Athian’s process works.

“At Mondelēz, we are interested in sparking and scaling change,” said Susanne Mathis-Alig at Mondelēz, which established its Sustainable Futures platform in 2021 to support impact investments in circularity, community and climate. “The Athian model has the potential to help us achieve our business goals by measurably addressing key challenges, such as expanding adoption of emissions-reducing practices and delivering ROI to farmers so they can be successful for generations to come.”

Athian announced the first sale of verified insets to Dairy Farmers of America, the largest U.S. milk marketing cooperative, in January 2024. Since then, major accomplishments have included:

• Increasing the number of on-farm protocols to include alternative manure management, additional feed ingredients and digester cap and flare;
• Facilitating $18 million in payments to farmers for emissions reductions achieved on their operation;
• Expanding Athian’s independent Scientific Advisory Board to include Australian market expertise; and
• Signing a new memorandum of understanding with the National Milk Producers Federation and California Dairies, Inc. to develop a carbon intensity protocol.

Athian’s technology helps food companies achieve their Scope 3 emissions goals by making the process more predictable, efficient and trustworthy for credible progress reporting. Reductions achieved through the supply chain partnerships Athian facilitates are improving the footprint of dairy products such as milk, cheese and dairy ingredients.

“Chipotle’s Cultivate Next investment in Athian furthers our mission to Cultivate a Better World by addressing emissions from areas like animal agriculture and developing innovative solutions that will make lasting change,” stated Curt Garner, President, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, Chipotle. “By 2030, we aim to report a 50% reduction in Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions from a 2019 base year and with tools that incentivize on-farm GHG reductions, it will help companies like ours that are sourcing the materials to achieve these ambitious goals.”

This funding round will help Athain continue to grow and integrate additional capabilities, such as:

• Increasing the number of protocols available for farmers to make more options available across a broader set of operational conditions.
• Facilitating cost and claim sharing among supply chain partners to make emissions reductions more accessible to mid- to small-sized companies.
• Piloting the Athian model in beef cattle operations to test expansion into livestock beyond dairy cattle and outside the U.S., which is where Athian got its start.

Traction Ag, the leading farm accounting platform built for production row crop operations, today announced the acquisition of PcMars, a trusted desktop-based accounting system used by over 7,000 farms across the U.S

The move brings together two of the most respected names in ag-specific financial software and marks a major step forward in serving the full spectrum of farm accounting needs, from traditional desktop systems to modern, connected platforms.

“PcMars has been a rock-solid product for farm bookkeepers for decades,” said Dustin Sapp, CEO of Traction Ag. “We’re honored to carry that legacy forward—and excited to give their customers a clear, supported path into the future.”

The acquisition allows Traction Ag to:

• Expand its reach among Midwest production farms who trust PcMars and prefer desktop software
• Implement proven PcMars features in Traction’s platform to accelerate innovation
• Offer connected pathways between PcMars and Traction for users ready to modernize
• Combine decades of ag accounting expertise under one roof

Serving Farmers at Every Stage

While many farms are transitioning to cloud-based tools, not all are ready. By bringing PcMars into the fold, Traction Ag becomes the only company offering both desktop and cloud-native solutions purpose-built for agriculture.

“We’re not forcing change,” said Sapp. “We’re giving farms options and making sure that no matter where they are, they’re supported.”

A Future Secured for PcMars Users

Led by Kent Vickre, PcMars has long been a trusted choice for farms seeking simplicity and farm-specific functionality. Ensuring a thoughtful and secure future for its customers was a top priority for the PcMars team.

“My whole career has been helping farmers make better financial management decisions with detailed farm records,” said Vickre. “I am excited for producers to make profitability decisions for each field using the Traction software technology.”

What’s Next

The PcMars brand will continue to operate as it does today, with ongoing support and product maintenance. In the months ahead, Traction Ag will introduce new options for customers who want to transition platforms.

Together, the combined company brings unmatched agricultural expertise, expanded product capabilities, and a deeper commitment to helping farms run stronger, more financially mature businesses.

The process to grant a tax abatement to Cargill Inc. began Monday during the Montgomery County Council meeting. Representatives of the Linden grain marketing facility were present at the meeting to request a 10-year abatement on a planned $17.5 million expansion.

Cargill Linden Plant Manager John Barrett shared expansion plans with council members. The expansion is expected to take three years to complete and will include a new office building, two new large grain bins and enclosed grain conveyor belt, grain pit and an additional lane inside the property.

The expansion is projected to increase capacity at the facility by 10 million bushels per year.

Barrett explained the plant is presently serving more trucks than what it was built for. Because of the heavy truck traffic problems such as trucks waiting to enter the facility causes traffic backups on C.R. 1100N. The goal is to unload and load trucks quicker and have more room within the facility to keep the trucks off of C.R. 1100N.

“Our present facility was built to handle 100 grain trucks today,” Barrett said. “We are averaging 145 trucks per day. This expansion will allow us to take care of the truck traffic more efficiently and more quickly.”

Barrett reported that he recently met with county commissioners to present the plan as a way to solve the truck backup problem.

As part of the expansion project, merchandising agents will work in Linden and the site will be a regional office hub. Currently, grain buyers are located in an office on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette.

All 20 present employees will be retained.

Additionally, the expansion plan includes Cargill connecting to the town of Linden’s water and sewer systems. The company currently uses a well and septic.

The plan is to have the phased expansion complete in July 2029.

The council approved a declaration to start the procedure to award a tax abatement. The actual abatement could be approved at the Dec. 9 council meeting.

In other business, the council:

• Approved the introduction of the 2026 Montgomery County Compensation Plan.
• Approved the introduction of the 2026 Montgomery County Solid Waste District Appropriations Ordinance.