Name: Ryan Anderson University: DePauw University Major/Minor: Environmental Geoscience Major and Political Science Minor Semesters as a Field Atlas Ambassador: This is my second semester as a Field Atlas Ambassador
What do you enjoy most about the role?
Interacting with students who have similar passions as me.
What has surprised you most about the agbiosciences?
How the industry contributes over $58 billion to Indiana’s economy and is still growing. This just reiterates how interconnected the Agbioscience industry is!
Which agbioscience company interests you most, and why?
Field Atlas is the Agbioscience company that interests me the most! While there is an abundance of companies that focus on bringing together agriculture, biology, and science, Field Atlas stands out from them. We help students who want to get involved in the field early and provide them with resources like podcasts and job boards to see opportunities that are best suited for them.
How can students get in touch with you?
I’d love to connect with more students through my email.
On the ground at World AgriTech in San Francisco last week, Corteva announced the launch of a new investment platform focused on bringing to market agricultural innovations that advance the company’s R&D priorities and drive value creation. We caught up with Tom Greene, Corteva’s Senior Director of External Investment, to talk through how the platform is designed, why it’s launching now and what it will mean for farmers in the future.
Tom talks through the areas of focus for Corteva Catalyst and the types of companies that would be a great fit for the platform. Engaging in technology – no matter the stage – is the approach and he talks about the criticality of their partnership with Corteva’s larger M&A team to drive meaningful results.
Corteva enters the market with this program at a time when commodity prices are low, investment in agricultural innovation is down and so the question has to be asked – why now? Tom talks about the long-term view that Corteva Catalyst will take, the excitement of being in agbioscience (despite the volatility) and what he envisions for the program in the future.
The connection between agbioscience and human health has become undeniable and in the case of Indiana – it’s a differentiator. Today we are joined by Vince Wong, the brand new CEO of BioCrossroads to talk life sciences and extending the state’s leadership to drive growth.
Vince talks about the challenges facing Indiana, where we are uniquely positioned to lead and the criticality of collaboration to elevate the state’s profile. Of course we also dive into the idea of plant, animal and human life sciences coming together to create new biotechnology innovation. Vince scratches the surface on what’s possible on the heels of Indianapolis’ designation as a U.S. Federal Tech Hub.
Scott Massey, CEO and co-founder of anu, has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Manufacturing and Industry category. Massey is an Evansville resident and Purdue University alumnus.
Anu commercializes fully automated, in-home smart gardens that grow daily servings of produce using aeroponics. Aeroponics is a form of hydroponics, the technique of growing plants without soil.
Scott’s profile on the Forbes 30 Under 30 site is here.
Scott said, “Anu™ is a dedicated health and wellness brand platform, committed to bringing the simplicity and purity of growing fresh produce into the comfort of your home. Our highly efficient and sustainable Rotary Aeroponics® technology supports a ‘Nespresso for plants’ business model, offering a straightforward and recurring seed pod subscription service to help you cultivate Pure Produce® that not only sets a new standard for nutrition and flavor, but also food safety.”
Name: Ainsley Kiefer University: Huntington University Major/Minor: Agronomy/Crop Production with a minor in Ag Business Semesters as a Field Atlas Ambassador: One
What do you enjoy most about the role?
Getting to inform and bring joy to people.
What has surprised you most about the agbiosciences?
How incredibly complex it is. It involves so many people and industries, yet it’s the thing people don’t think about and just take for granted.
Which agbioscience company interests you most, and why?
The agbioscience company that interests me the most would be Hello Nature. Their work in modernizing agriculture and making it easily accessible for everyone, yet sustainable, is truly inspiring and different from other companies out there.
How can students get in touch with you?
Students can always get in touch with me at my email, [email protected], from there I am open to setting a time to have a more in-depth conversation!
Offering Actionable Insights for Product Placement and Management Strategies
For more than 40 years, the seed industry has described corn products by certain attributes that aid in placement. Beck’s is proud to announce its investment in a uniquely different approach to product research, Root Reveal, to spark a change in the industry standards of how corn products are characterized. The efforts of Beck’s Root Reveal Research will offer farmers more knowledge of hybrid selection, product placement, and crop management by uncovering how the root architecture and root volume of each hybrid impact performance.
“Every industry has a common set of prevailing assumptions. In the seed industry, it’s how corn products are described and recommended,” said Jim Schwartz, director of research, agronomy, and PFR for Beck’s. “We’re digging deeper to provide farmers with more knowledge about the products they’re planting. Our hope is that this research will help us identify correlations leading to causation in relation to root architecture and size and how it impacts variables like nitrogen utilization, population, and stress response.”
Product description looks at static information that describes certain attributes of the hybrid to aid in placement. Beck’s goal is to revolutionize methods of characterization by proactively looking at what influences the hybrid to perform at its highest potential in the soil and environment where it is placed. These insights will provide farmers with unique, hybrid-specific information that will create actionable insights to help them improve their yield potential.
Today, products are recommended to farmers because they are believed to be the best hybrid based on factors such as soil type, placement flexibility, standability, and whether they excel in minimum or no-till scenarios. Beck’s aims to provide farmers with additional data to support whether a hybrid will perform based on root architecture and volume and how those variables affect hybrid performance in various management practices.
Does Root Architecture Matter?
The seed industry has dabbled in understanding different root angles. What it has not done is examine the correlation between root characteristics (specifically structure and volume) and nutrient management and then deliver a recommended product and nutrient plan to customers.
In 2023, with the help of Dr. Fred Below’s team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Beck’s set out to quantify data on root mass, size, and architecture. Beck’s initiated two research projects with the University of Illinois to better understand how hybrid variation in root characteristics is influenced by population and how this variation impacts tolerance to stress and nitrogen uptake.
“We see a shocking amount of rooting variation among commercial hybrids, which seems consistent in ours and Beck’s research,” said Dr. Fred Below. “With our continuing research partnership, we hope to learn how to take advantage of this variation to manage yield-determining variables like nitrogen use or response to population and to allow for more management-specific recommendations to farmers.”
Root Reveal Research
Beck’s Root Reveal Research aims to provide farmers with the best possible recommendations on hybrid selection and crop management. Beck’s team identified a critical component of this research, which is to better understand how the root architecture and root volume of each hybrid in their product lineup impact performance. To do this, Beck’s developed a unique protocol for growing single corn plants in their Corn RootBoxes.
These empty chemical totes were shrink-wrapped, covered with boards, and filled with Turface Athletics™. They were then strung with line to help support and maintain the root architecture of the plant. Each cage contained an individual corn hybrid and was then watered and fed the same amount of nitrogen. Once the plants reached tassel, they were cut off from water and nutrients and left to dry. What were they left with? Incredible visual demonstrations of various root systems’ volume and architecture that will help identify differences farmers may see in product performance relative to root architecture, fertilizer placement, stress tolerance, nitrogen placement, and population management.
Since 2015, Beck’s has evaluated commercial hybrids in low-yielding plots that averaged less than 175 Bu./A. The meta-analysis data shows that of these hybrids, the vertical-rooted products have a +5.4 Bu/A. advantage over the mean of the trials. The eight years of meta-analysis data appears to validate their initial theories around root architecture and their observations of the corn root boxes.
Beck’s robust plans for their Root Reveal Research in 2024 and beyond will help them determine if there is a causational link between root architecture and specific management variables. In addition to evaluating their entire corn lineup through their Corn Root Box protocol, they will continue their on-farm studies through their Practical Farm Research (PFR)® program and in conjunction with the Crop Physiology Laboratory at the University of Illinois and Purdue University.
Name: Alexa Boyles University: Indiana University Bloomington Major/Minor: Majoring in International Law and Institutions and minoring in Environmental and Sustainability Semesters as a Field Atlas Ambassador: This is my second semester as an ambassador
What do you enjoy most about the role?
I most enjoy being able to connect with students who are passionate about sustainability and agbioscience, but I also enjoy helping students who didn’t know there were opportunities for them find their place in agbioscience.
What has surprised you most about the agbiosciences?
I’ve been most surprised to learn that almost any degree or career path can be used in agbioscience.
Which agbioscience company interests you most, and why?
The agbioscience company that interests me the most is Elanco because I am an animal lover and also have pets myself, so I am very passionate about their mission to improve animal health and wellbeing.
How can students get in touch with you?
Students can get in touch me by contacting my AgriNovus email!
As a kid from Ohio that went to Purdue University and then worked for DuPont, Frank Klemens’ career has taken a trendline path to his role at Big Idea Ventures today. He joins this week to walk through their General Rural Partners Fund, taking innovation from university shelves and creating new companies in one of our country’s most untapped resources: rural communities.
How does Frank and his team match innovation to the right community? Frank talks customers driving outcomes, the importance of corporate partnerships and the growing list of universities partnering with the firm to create new companies. He also dives into trends in IP across food and agriculture – including cellular meats, bio-based materials and animal management – that are creating a better rural America.
Looking ahead, how do you create technical companies in rural America that also attract investment? Frank talks about Big Idea Ventures’ secret sauce, making food and ag an investment clear of confusion and their call to the rest of venture capital: come join us, we welcome your competition and it’s necessary to feed a growing world, sustainably.
An agricultural startup founded by Purdue University alumni is addressing international food insecurity in the Kingdom of Lesotho and rural southern Indiana, with a goal to expand domestically and internationally.
Heliponix LLC, doing business as anu™, commercializes fully automated, in-home smart gardens that grow daily servings of produce using aeroponics. Aeroponics is a form of hydroponics, the technique of growing plants without soil.
The anu smart gardens consume less energy and more than 98% less water than conventional field farming. Produce includes most leafy green vegetables, culinary herbs, and fruiting and flowering plants, which anu manufactures in seedpods.
According to the World Food Programme, Lesotho has a population of 2 million. More than 24% of the population lives in extreme poverty, and around 580,000 people face food insecurity.
In summer 2017, Massey met Fellows from the U.S. Department of State’s Mandela Washington Fellowship, who spent six weeks at Purdue for a Leadership in Business Institute. During their Institute, Fellows had the opportunity to learn about hydroponic farming. Massey participated in the fellowship’s Reciprocal Exchange component to build the first hydroponic systems in Togo in 2018 and Cameroon in 2019. Reciprocal Exchanges strengthen mutual understanding between the U.S. and Africa and contribute to U.S. public diplomacy efforts. U.S. experts and leaders are encouraged to collaborate with Fellows on critical issues such as promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity.
In 2022 Massey mentored Tiisetso Sefatsane, a Mandela Washington Fellow and Mosotho, or member of the Basotho people, during her Leadership in Business Institute at Purdue. Sefatsane returned to Lesotho with hardware to create a functional proof-of-concept system of anu’s technology. It was solar-powered to achieve complete off-grid self-sufficiency.
“Having Scott as my mentor has been a true turning point for me and the community,” Sefatsane said. “Scott not only assisted me on my business pitch, but he also gifted me a pair of grow-ring aeroponics systems. These have been used as proof-of-concept systems in the mountain kingdom to grow vegetables all year round so Basotho can learn climate-smart agriculture tools and techniques.”
Sefatsane, Massey and Ball received a Reciprocal Exchange grant to increase the capacity of the systems from 250 to 750 plants at a time.
“Today, we host students from different backgrounds for capacity building by producing high yields on small spaces and saving water using environmentally friendly tools and techniques,” Sefatsane said. “The anu system has proven its sustainability as we grow vegetables throughout the year, even in the winter season’s harsh, cold weather conditions. The system also can be used in rural areas where there is no grid power because it can be solar-powered.”
Massey said anu will continue its work with Sefatsane and her farm.
“We will maintain the growth of Tiisetso’s farm and we look forward to expanding across the Kingdom of Lesotho and eventually the African continent in parallel to domestic U.S. growth,” Massey said.
Anu in rural southern Indiana
Ray Niehaus is a former high school teacher and the director of Vincennes University’s Center for Technology, Innovation and Manufacturing. He met Massey and Ball when they debuted their smart garden during an event at Purdue WestGate, an economic development accelerator formed by the partnership among WestGate Authority, Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation.
Niehaus kept in touch with Massey after the event to find ways to involve his students in anu’s future work. Niehaus and faculty at Perry Central High School in Leopold led their students’ involvement to bring anu smart gardens to the area.
“My colleagues and I were really interested in the technology and vertical agriculture, along with the impact they could have on a rural community,” Niehaus said. “We thought bringing anu’s smart gardens to Perry Central would be a great experience for students to understand the future of agriculture and the importance of growing our own food.”
Niehaus said Massey and Ball shared their vision of the technology with Perry Central faculty and students.
“Partnering with anu was very valuable to our students and community,” Niehaus said. “Scott and Ivan brought authentic experiences and future-oriented technology that will help our students prepare for the workforce they will be working in.”
Perry Central students set up three grow towers and designed their own structure to contain them. They created a manual that specified the materials needed, explained how to assemble the towers and included a business plan for how to make the product sustainable for other high schools.
“The students gave presentations to elementary students about how to grow their own food,” Niehaus said. “They also designed experiments to determine how much water it would take to run one tower with lettuce, how much lettuce they could harvest out of one pod, etc.”
Perry Central leaders are working to redesign the school’s greenhouse to include more vertical agriculture options.
“The goal is to produce food for our cafeteria and local food pantries,” Niehaus said. “Also, they have worked to get our kitchen certified to process and sell food products in the lab. This will provide an opportunity for our students to not only gain valuable, authentic experiences but teach our community the benefits of vertical planting and self-sufficiency, impacting the world they live in.”
Around 9.2% of the world’s population was affected by hunger in 2022, an increase from pre-pandemic levels of 7.9% in 2019.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people in Africa facing hunger has increased by more than 57 million people.
33.3% of adults living in rural areas were affected by moderate or severe food insecurity in 2022, compared to 26% of adults in urban areas and 28.8% in peri-urban areas. Peri-urban areas are zones where land use transitions from rural land use to urban land use.
It is estimated that by 2030, nearly 600 million people around the world will be chronically undernourished.
Name: Bethanie Majewski University: Marian University Major/Minor: Biology major with a minor in pastoral leadership Semesters as a Field Atlas Ambassador: This is my first semester!
What do you enjoy most about the role?
I enjoy getting the chance to discuss agbiosciences with individuals who may have never heard of them. I also really enjoy hosting events and meeting people!
What has surprised you most about the agbiosciences?
Agbisociences being a $58.1 billion industry in Indiana was the most surprising to me because it highlights how large of an impact agbiosciences has on society in Indiana’s economy.
Which agbioscience company interests you most, and why?
The agbioscience company that interests me most in Corteva Agriscience because it is a corporation focused on enriching the lives of all individuals through agriculture.
How can students get in touch with you?
Students can get in touch with me on campus or via email! I am always open and excited to discuss Field Atlas.
