American farmers often face cumbersome regulatory and compounded reporting issues that hamper both their expansion opportunities and worse, the capacity to effectively sustain operations. Fallow AG, a new fintech company based here, strategically focuses on addressing and resolving those critical issues—including capital access–through innovative data-driven means.

According to Naveed Iqbal, CEO of Fallow AG, this significant challenge for farmers is reflected in an annual acreage report that the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires as a condition of most federal farm programs. Since crop and production performance can occasionally be adversely affected by drought and other issues, the information formally filed on that acreage report reappears in disaster and loss claims. It also has to square with a second acreage report the farmer files with its crop insurance provider.

The information required on the forms does not reflect modern farm operations.  “The farmer is essentially asked to produce a document that has almost nothing to do with how the operation actually runs,” said Iqbal.

The net effect?  A poor and inadequate record of a farming operation can emerge, especially in complicated operations. That record produced by that process can negatively impact farmers in a major way.

A negative cascading effect can result as the submitted information is consolidated into financial records that include farm program payments, insurance history and loss claims. These consolidated records can inadvertently exaggerate negative issues against performance.

The Fallow CEO, a serial founder who comes from a senior banking and operations technology background, explains how this happens: “The federal form process was built for a certain kind of farm. Growers who raise specialty crops, farm across state lines, or run layered ownership structures spend a major part of every year translating what they actually did into outdated information boxes that were not built to hold it.”

These are the records that a lender reviews prior to extending an operating line of credit.

“This may seem abstract, but it’s what Indiana and U.S. farmers face every year,” said Iqbal. “The key point? A farm that is hard to describe on paper is hard to price, and lenders make up the difference by asking for more documents rather than by getting a better picture.”

Ethan Anson, 5th generation farmer in Knox County confirmed the challenge: “It’s hard to say with real confidence what our operation qualifies for in a given year. That’s not a knock on anybody. There’s just an enormous amount of complexity stacked up in these programs.

“Fallow is working towards helping me not leave money on the table,” he emphasized.

“Crop diversification helps mitigate risk and grow our farm, but it creates a complicated record keeping process,” said Blake Mouzin, a fourth-generation farmer in Knox County. “Fallow simplifies and streamlines that process and gives us more tools for evaluation.” –

Fallow AG, the new fintech company starting up in Vincennes, plans to level that financial playing field by establishing new processes and standards to produce an accurate view of performance. The company formally began operations in The Pantheon business and innovation center here on August 30.

How will Fallow AG achieve change and resolve issues? “The company takes the documents an operation already produces, including acreage certifications, farm and tract maps and crop insurance elections, and builds a single record of the operation out of them,” explains Iqbal. “For the farmer the near-term value is practical, as Fallow AG produces  cleaner filings, a clear view of what the operation qualifies for, and documents federal program money the farming operation never claimed.”

Iqbal emphasizes one rule as the center of Fallow AG: “The farmer sees the same picture of the operation that a lender would see, and Fallow only helps a farmer improve the accuracy of that view.”

Iqbal came to the problem from an objective fintech view outside agriculture. He holds a PhD in applied mathematics and a master’s in operations research and spent years at JPMorganChase building risk and fraud systems, including the device authentication protecting more than 40 million banking customers. He went on to found and lead a fintech company in Columbus, Ohio, from 2019 through 2025.

“I never saw myself living in a small town,” he said. “But my family wanted to move closer to grandparents, so I was fortunate to move to Vincennes a year ago.”

In Knox County he found The Pantheon, a business and innovation center in downtown Vincennes, and started sitting down with farmers, lenders and county Farm Service Agency staff to learn how agricultural credit decisions get made.

“With respect to successful farming, people really don’t appreciate how hard this is to do, and how well American farmers do it,” he said.

He has since conducted two open sessions in the building, putting early versions of the Fallow AG model in front of farmers, bankers and ag industry people for evaluation and refinement.

“I found my people at the Pantheon,” he said.

“Fallow AG represents excellent potential and a strong match for the development assets in the region,” said Drew Garretson, President of the Pantheon board and a vice president with Keystone Cooperative in Indianapolis.  “We expect Fallow AG to develop the means to address key issues in agricultural-related finance and capital formation.”

The start-up is strategically positioned to tap critical resources for an agribusiness-centered initiative, according to Chris Pfaff, CEO of Knox County Indiana Economic Development. “There exists a strong depth of related capital and agribusiness experience in the Knox County region that Fallow AG can leverage as it builds its models and growth opportunities,” noted Pfaff.

“Knox County sits at the intersection of deep agricultural knowledge and a growing entrepreneurial culture, and Fallow AG’s launch reflects that,” said Christy Wright, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. 

“When a founder with fintech experience lands in a community this close to production agriculture, good things happen,” she added. “We are excited to see this kind of activity continue to grow across Indiana.”

Fallow Ag was selected this summer to take part in AgriNovus Indiana’s 2026 Velocity Accelerator. Twelve agbioscience startups were chosen statewide, four of them in the farmer-focused innovation track. Guided by research and strong mentorship, Velocity participants will create solutions to defined challenges. Velocity culminates with a $25,000 prize for each track and an opportunity to move big ideas forward.

The company works with three signed design-partner operations across Indiana row-crop and specialty farms, and will work out of The Pantheon.

More than 100 robots covered 55,427 acres in 2026 as Solinftec expands farmer self-service and autonomy across the Solix platform

Solinftec, a global leader in artificial intelligence and robotics for agriculture, will showcase the continued expansion of its Solix autonomous farming platform at the 2026 Farm Progress Show, Sept. 1–3 in Boone, Iowa.

Following its largest U.S. commercial season to date, Solinftec will launch an Amazon store for Solix replacement parts, share new field results, demonstrate how its autonomous Refill Station closes the operating cycle without human intervention and preview the expanded Solix platform. Together, the advancements support what Solinftec calls “Freedom Per Acre,” giving farmers greater flexibility to decide when and how fieldwork is completed.

Through July 2026, more than 100 Solix robots operated in 13 states and Puerto Rico, covering 55,427 acres – 15 times more acreage than three years ago — and monitoring more than 95 million plants individually. The robots reduced chemical use by an average of 85%, with results remaining between 83% and 89% as the fleet and acreage expanded.

Autonomous refilling closes the operating cycle
The 2026 growing season marked the first full commercial season for Solinftec’s autonomous Refill Station, which allows Solix to dock, refill and return to work without a farmer traveling to the field.

Through July 2026, Solix robots completed more than 1,700 autonomous refills, transferring more than 45,000 gallons of product through the Refill Stations. One station alone refilled its accompanying robot more than 120 times, eliminating approximately 120 trips a farmer otherwise would have needed to make to the field.

“A robot that still requires a person to repeatedly drive to the field and refill it is not fully autonomous,” Guiné said. “Closing that cycle gives farmers something extremely valuable: flexibility in their day. The robot can keep working while they focus on another field, another part of the operation or life away from the farm.”

Solinftec expects to deploy approximately 200 robots and 80 additional Refill Stations for the 2027 growing season.

Expanded Solix platform gives farmers more choice
Solinftec is developing an expanded four-model Solix family designed to give farmers the ability to choose the power source, capacity and field performance that best fit their operations. Every model operates with Solinftec’s ALICE AI platform.

The family includes the solar-electric Solix X1; battery-electric Solix XT; gas/diesel-powered Solix XR; and hybrid-electric Solix XC. The models range from 50 to 1,200 gallons in capacity and are designed for targeted or targeted-and-broadcast application, depending on the model.

At the September Farm Progress Show, Solinftec plans to preview the gas/diesel-powered Solix XR, which is expected to be commercially available for the 2027 growing season.

Amazon parts store expands farmer self-service
During the Farm Progress Show, Solinftec will also launch an Amazon store offering certain Solix replacement parts directly to farmers. The company says it is the first agricultural robotics company to offer its replacement parts through Amazon. The move is part of Solinftec’s effort to make Solix increasingly self-service, allowing farmers to purchase robots directly from Solinftec, receive remote support and complete many routine repairs themselves.

The current Solix robot is priced at $55,000, and Solinftec estimates growers can recover that cost in approximately 2.5 years based solely on projected input savings. The estimate does not include potential savings from labor, fuel, equipment use or additional field passes.

Farm Progress Show 2026
At the Farm Progress Show, Solinftec will have an expanded booth with a live demonstration area where attendees can see Solix identify and treat simulated weeds and autonomously use the Refill Station. Children and families can also try Solix Defender, a tablet-based game that simulates the robot’s targeted weed-control process and is expected to be released publicly through Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

Solinftec will exhibit at booth 15N. To schedule an interview or demonstration with a Solinftec representative or participating Iowa farmer, contact Angela Tuell, [email protected] or 317-567-9126.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) will honor researchers and companies as Heroes of Chemistry for creating and enhancing products that have led to significant advancements in sustainability and improvements in health care. The ceremony to honor these achievements will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 25, in Chicago, IL, during ACS Fall 2026.

“The 2026 Heroes of Chemistry truly embrace the ACS commitment of improving all lives through the transforming power of chemistry,” says ACS President Rigoberto Hernandez. “These companies are advancing innovations that strengthen human health, support global food systems and enable more sustainable technologies. Their work demonstrates how chemistry can solve some of the most pressing challenges facing society today.”

Scientific teams in industry are being honored for the following achievements:

Novartis: Scemblix® (asciminib) is a novel therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia that works by restoring a key protein to its inactive state.

Corteva: Pyraxalt™ active (triflumezopyrim) provides rapid, long lasting control of rice planthoppers through a novel mode of action that stops pests from feeding and controls resistant populations. Its selectivity and single application effectiveness helps protect yields, supports sustainable farming and strengthens food security for rice growing communities across Asia.

Qnity Electronics: Recognized for a breakthrough in non fluorine photoresists for semiconductor manufacturing. This innovation supports the industry’s shift away from PFAS, advancing sustainability while meeting the precision needs of modern chip production. First commercialized with the launch of UV™ 26GNF photoresist, Qnity has expanded this technology across a range of products used in semiconductor lithography.

Gilead Sciences: Veklury® (remdesivir) is an antiviral that demonstrates broad spectrum activity against multiple pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, SARS, Marburg and MERS in vitro. Rapidly developed and scaled, it became the first FDA approved COVID-19 treatment, with clinical trials showing that it reduced recovery time and disease progression risk during the global pandemic.

The 2026 winners will be inducted into the Heroes of Chemistry scientific hall of fame, which ACS has sponsored annually since 1996.

Special thanks to the ACS Board Committee on Corporation Associates, which evaluated the applications and selected the winners.

Transaction adds CRISPR-based precision microbiome technology and BiomElix® One, a poultry feed additive approved in Brazil

 BiomEdit, a pioneering animal health biotechnology company, announced it has acquired Folium Science’s technology platform and pipeline assets, including BiomElix® One, a poultry feed additive approved in Brazil. The transaction adds both an approved product asset and a complementary CRISPR-based microbiome technology to BiomEdit’s existing capabilities and broadens the company’s pipeline across animal health and nutrition.

BiomEdit is pioneering a new class of genetically engineered bacterial biologics called Programmable Veterinary Biologics™, designed to perform targeted biological functions in animals. This acquisition adds Folium’s Guided Biotics® CRISPR-Cas technology, a complementary approach designed to selectively target specific bacterial populations within the microbiome while preserving the broader microbial community.

“Folium assembled an exceptional scientific team and built a differentiated platform that complements BiomEdit’s existing technology,” said Aaron Schacht, CEO of BiomEdit. “One approach engineers beneficial bacteria to perform targeted biological functions; the other selectively targets specific bacterial populations within the microbiome. Together, these scientific approaches give us a broader set of tools to address important animal health and production challenges.”

BiomEdit will now have two advanced poultry product programs based on distinct precision microbiome technologies. The company’s lead candidate, BE-101, is being developed for the prevention of mortality associated with necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens and is in the final stages of the conditional licensure process with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Veterinary Biologics (USDA CVB). Folium’s BiomElix® One has received approval from Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA) for use as an animal feed additive.

“I’m proud of what our team built and confident that, in BiomEdit, our science has found the right home: one with the vision, expertise and development capability to realize its full potential for animal health,” said Ed Fuchs, co-founder of Folium Science.

“Ed Fuchs, Martin Woodward and the entire Folium team have built a strong foundation over the past decade,” said Schacht. “By combining these complementary technologies in one platform, we can both engineer beneficial microbes to perform specific biological functions and selectively reshape microbial communities. This broader toolkit expands our ability to design precise, differentiated solutions that improve animal health and productivity.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.