Partnership with Bioversity International USA and Yale University will build the Rumen Digital Twin to model and optimize climate‑smart feed and microbiome interventions
In partnership with Bioversity International USA and Yale University, BiomEdit, a pioneering animal health biotechnology company, announced today it has been selected as one of 15 global teams awarded funding of nearly $2 million from the Bezos Earth Fund’s AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge. The funding will support development of the Rumen Digital Twin, an artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model designed to identify the most effective strategies for reducing methane emissions in cattle while also optimizing animal productivity and welfare.
Together with its partners, BiomEdit will lead the effort to train a generative AI model on data from more than 20,000 ruminants across 25+ countries, including the Global South. The model will integrate publicly available and newly generated data, producing more than 10,000 microbiome profiles crosslinked with methane emissions, diet, host genetics and animal performance data.
The goal of the project is to replace lengthy and expensive animal trials with AI-powered simulations that can identify the precise conditions and animal traits where specific feed additives or interventions will be most effective. These tailored strategies are expected to reduce methane emissions by up to 75% compared to untargeted approaches, while maintaining or improving animal productivity.
“This project reflects the power of the microbiome and the use of AI to reduce methane and improve productivity in livestock,” said Aaron Schacht, CEO of BiomEdit. “With the generous support of the Bezos Earth Fund and in collaboration with Bioversity and Yale, we aim to develop a better understanding of targeted interventions and share that knowledge to positively affect both climate impact and animal well-being.”
Expected outcomes of the project include an open-access, cloud-based platform where users can generate and explore virtual ruminant populations, simulate interventions and fine-tune strategies for methane mitigation and productivity. The platform and model will be made available to research and non-profit organizations globally at no cost, with licensing pathways for commercial developers.
Launched in 2024, the Bezos Earth Fund’s AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge is a $100 million initiative designed to harness AI to address the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. The program connects innovators with resources and mentorship from leading technology partners including AWS, Google.org, NVIDIA Corporation, Microsoft Research, AI2, and Esri.
“These projects show how AI, when developed responsibly and guided by science and local knowledge, can strengthen environmental action and ensure its overall impact on the planet is positive,” said Dr. Amen Ra Mashariki, Director of AI and Data Strategies at the Bezos Earth Fund.
The Rumen Digital Twin builds on BiomEdit’s first methane-reduction initiative: a $4.5 million grant from the Gates Foundation awarded in 2023. That program focuses on microbiome-based feed additives to reduce methane in cattle across Africa and South Asia while improving feed efficiency and food security for small-scale producers. Together, the two initiatives reflect BiomEdit’s growing leadership in developing sustainable, microbiome-based climate solutions for agriculture.
Traction Ag Inc., the first cloud-based farm accounting software delivering solutions to growers across the Midwest, has appointed Hannah Parsons as Chief Operating Officer.
Parsons is an experienced operator known for building structure around innovation and aligning vision, people, and process to deliver results. At Barn Owl Technologies, she established the systems, teams, and culture that enabled the company’s evolution from an early-stage e-commerce startup to a respected name in agricultural technology through product development and government-backed research initiatives.
“Hannah’s operational discipline and founder-level mindset make her an exceptional fit for Traction,” said Dustin Sapp, CEO of Traction Ag. “She understands what it takes to build systems that scale while keeping customers at the center of every decision.”
As COO, Parsons will lead Traction Ag’s day-to-day operations, ensuring the company’s systems, teams, and customer experience scale in step with its growth. Her focus will be on translating strategic goals into clear execution across growth, customer success and operations. The appointment comes at a pivotal moment as more farms seek integrated financial platforms to manage increasingly complex operations and data-driven decisions.
From agbioscience innovation to defense, pharma, food and nutrition, and beyond – the bioeconomy is broad; and the intersection of innovation, research and policy generates a lot of questions when it comes to how we grow and scale to be a global leader right here in the United States. This week, we are joined by Sarah Glaven, Visiting Fellow at Princeton University’s Andlinger Center and a former biotechnologist representing The White House, The Pentagon and The Naval Research Laboratory. We get into:
Sarah’s professional story, from being an outdoors kid to leading critical bioinnovation work on a national scale
How she defines the bioeconomy and what she believes is its importance to the US’ future
Biggest headwinds we are facing when it comes to the growth and scale of the bioeconomy
How her past experiences have shaped her perspective on the critical alignment needed among policy, innovation and research to advance the bioeconomy in the US (and the grade she’d give us on that alignment today)
Indiana’s position in the bioeconomy and how reshoring biomanufacturing supply chains can reduce disruption and increase competitiveness in the US
Creating a skilled workforce to grow the bioeconomy and examples of upskilling and developing talent that have her most impressed
What has Sarah most excited about the US’ bioinnovation future
Integration automates Keystone Cooperative billing processing, eliminating manual data entry for farmers
Traction Ag Inc., a leading provider of farm accounting and operations software, today announced its latest billing integration with Keystone Cooperative. This new workflow enables Keystone Cooperative bills to sync directly into Traction Ag’s cloud-based platform, reducing manual data entry and ensuring accounting entries remain accurate and up to date.
Traction Ag’s new billing integration with Keystone Cooperative addresses a major need for today’s farmers by saving time and simplifying workflows. With this new feature, farmers can automatically import, review, and approve Keystone invoices directly in their accounting system, reducing manual entry and freeing up time to focus on running their operation.
“Today’s farmers are running complex businesses, and they need tools that work as hard as they do. By bringing Keystone invoices directly into the Traction Ag platform, we’re helping farmers save time, reduce errors, and get a clearer picture of their finances. It’s about giving them the same kind of business tools any successful operation needs, so they can make smart decisions and have sustained success,” said Kevin Still, President and CEO of Keystone Cooperative.
Key Benefits:
Gain clarity on paid and unpaid bills, while keeping a precise inventory of farm inputs
Reduce paperwork and keep farm accounting streamlined and well organized
Save time during peak billing periods
Improve accuracy by eliminating manual data entry errors
Dustin Sapp, CEO of Traction Ag, highlighted the company’s deep commitment to farm-focused financial tools: “Traction Ag was built from the ground up for the specific demands of farm accounting. When farmers receive Keystone Cooperative bills through our platform, they’re not just logging another expense; they’re gaining full visibility into discounts, inventory, and prepaid inputs. It’s all centralized in one place. That’s what empowers farmers to clearly understand their true financial position and make more confident decisions.”
“It was easy to connect my Keystone Cooperative account, my bills were flowing into Traction Ag automatically,” said Mike Bell, Traction Ag customer. “It’s going to save me hours of manual entry every month.”
Traction Ag continues to expand its network of partnerships to support better data flow and decision-making on the farm. By connecting with organizations that generate or rely on farm financial and operational data, we help farmers consolidate information, streamline workflows, and uncover actionable insights. The successful Keystone Cooperative rollout, enabled through an integration with Agvance, demonstrates our commitment to building a more connected and efficient farm financial ecosystem.
The Keystone integration is now available for Traction Ag customers. For more details, visit tractionag.com/integrations/keystone-cooperative.
From the early days of biotechnology to the growing voice of today’s consumer, a desire exists for knowledge and understanding of the work being done by scientists, farmers and agbioscience innovators to bring food to our tables. Today we are joined by Michele Payn, author and founder of Cause Matters Corp., who has made it her mission to bridge this gap, to make agriculture less defensive and to put emotion and heart at the center of the work happening across the industry. We get into:
Michele’s boots on the ground perspective from scientists, farmers and industry professionals on what’s evolving in how they share their stories with consumers
How Cause Matters Corp. came to be and how new eras present a fresh set of challenges for her tackle and communicate in her business
The biggest gaps agbioscience has in bridging the technical to the practical
Helping others adapt and stay nimble in their communication and acceptance of new information in a fast-paced world
Artificial Intelligence, its role in how consumers learn about agbioscience, the pros and cons and how it can be leveraged as a trusted source in the future
Disinformation vs. Misinformation – the distinction and the dangers between the two
How she would compare agbioscience today to other decades of her time in the industry – from a communications and consumer acceptance perspective
Finding emotional center in your agbioscience story – and the importance of making it personal to seek understanding when you communicate
Her new book, Science Story Speak, and its opportunity for readers to connect with science understanding on a more meaningful level
The USDA estimates that each year in the U.S., poor nutrition causes roughly $1.1 trillion in preventable health care spending and lost productivity from diet-attributable diseases. As farmers continue their work of producing food for a growing population, agbioscience companies are also seeking new ways to innovate and optimize for human, animal and planetary health. This week, we are joined by Corteva Agriscience’s first Chief Health Officer, Dr. Claudia Coplein, to examine the breadth of her new role with the company and what they aim to achieve. We get into:
The macro gaps in the way we produce and consume food and its overall impact on our health
Corteva’s launch of the Chief Health Officer role and how they’re approaching new audiences to tell the story of farming around the world
Putting this platform into practice – Claudia talks about where you see and experience her team’s work
What reception has been like from different audiences thus far
Corteva’s focus on farmer health and how current headwinds facing the industry impacts their physical, mental and emotional well-being
Claudia’s vision for how Corteva’s health platform evolves
Her background and how this role – and agbioscience – feels custom-built for her
Where Claudia believes the food is health movement is headed and Corteva’s role in that movement
What’s ahead for her team – and what has her most excited
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today announced the reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), refocusing its core operations to better align with its founding mission of supporting American farming, ranching, and forestry.
Over the last four years, USDA’s workforce grew by 8%, and employees’ salaries increased by 14.5% – including hiring thousands of employees with no sustainable way to pay them. This all occurred without any tangible increase in service to USDA’s core constituencies across the agricultural sector. USDA’s footprint in the National Capital Region (NCR) is underutilized and redundant, plagued by rampant overspending and decades of mismanagement and costly deferred maintenance. President Trump has made it clear government needs to be scrutinized, and after this thorough review of USDA, the results show a bloated, expensive, and unsustainable organization.
To be clear, all critical functions of the Department will continue uninterrupted. For example, we are at the height of fire season, and to date, have not only exceeded hiring goals, but have preserved the ability to continue to hire. Earlier this year, Secretary Rollins issued a Secretarial Memorandum exempting National Security and Public Safety positions from the federal hiring freeze. These 52 position classifications carry out functions that are critical to the safety and security of the American people, our national forests, and the inspection and safety of the Nation’s agriculture and food supply system. These positions will not be eliminated. However, employees may be subject to relocation.
“American agriculture feeds, clothes, and fuels this nation and the world, and it is long past time the Department better serve the great and patriotic farmers, ranchers, and producers we are mandated to support. President Trump was elected to make real change in Washington, and we are doing just that by moving our key services outside the beltway and into great American cities across the country,” said Secretary Rollins. “We will do so through a transparent and common-sense process that preserves USDA’s critical health and public safety services the American public relies on. We will do right by the great American people who we serve and with respect to the thousands of hardworking USDA employees who so nobly serve their country.”
The reorganization consists of four pillars:
Ensure the size of USDA’s workforce aligns with available financial resources and agricultural priorities
Bring USDA closer to its customers
Eliminate management layers and bureaucracy
Consolidate redundant support functions
To bring USDA closer to the people it serves while also providing a more affordable cost of living for USDA employees, USDA has developed a phased plan to relocate much of its Agency headquarters and NCR staff out of the Washington, D.C. area to five hub locations. The Department currently has approximately 4,600 employees within the National Capital Region (NCR). This Region has one of the highest costs of living in the country, with a federal salary locality rate of 33.94%. In selecting its hub locations, USDA considered where existing concentrations of USDA employees are located and factored in the cost of living. Washington, D.C. will still hold functions for every mission area of USDA at the conclusion of this reorganization, but USDA expects no more than 2,000 employees will remain in the NCR.
USDA will vacate and return to the General Services Administration the South Building, Braddock Place, and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, and revisit utilization and functions in the USDA Whitten Building, Yates Building, and the National Agricultural Library. The George Washington Carver Center will also be utilized until space optimization activities are completed. These buildings have a backlog of costly deferred maintenance and currently are occupied below the minimum set by law. For example, the South Building has approximately $1.3 billion in deferred maintenance and has an average daily occupancy of less than 1,900 individuals for a building that can house over 6,000 employees.
USDA’s five hub locations and current Federal locality rates are:
This is only the first phase of a multi-month process. Over the next month and where applicable, USDA senior leadership will notify offices with more information on relocation to one of the regional hubs.
To make certain USDA can afford its workforce, this reorganization is another step of the Department’s process of reducing its workforce. Much of this reduction was through voluntary retirements and the Deferred Retirement Program (DRP), a completely voluntary tool. As of today, 15,364 individuals voluntarily elected deferred resignation.
CountryMark, a farmer-owned cooperative that operates in oil production, refining and marketing, marked a major milestone today with the completion of more than $100M in refinery upgrades that will improve its diesel fuel quality and increase its diesel fuel production capabilities. CountryMark’s refinery investments utilize ISO dewaxing and co-processing technology.
“ISO dewaxing is the process of rearranging molecules so more of the heavier molecules can be used for diesel production,” said CountryMark President and CEO Matt Smorch. “Using these heavier molecules gives the fuel exceptional power and high cetane without sacrificing winter performance capabilities of the fuel.”
Co-processed renewable diesel is fuel produced by combining renewable feedstocks, like soybean oil, with conventional diesel.
“This approach, which we have taken, will allow CountryMark to produce renewable fuel, reduce the carbon intensity of our fuel and do so in the most cost-effective manner possible by utilizing existing refining assets and expertise,” said Smorch.
CountryMark’s diesel expansion project included a new reactor, catalysts, and soybean oil offloading rack and storage. As a result of these investments, CountryMark will have the potential to use up to 20 million gallons of refined, bleached and deodorized soybean oil per year.
“It is important to understand that renewable diesel differs from biodiesel in several ways,” said Smorch. “Renewable diesel meets ASTM D975 diesel specifications, is stable in long-term storage, and has a low cloud point, while biodiesel does not have those characteristics.”
CountryMark broke ground last fall on its diesel expansion project, following several years of engineering development. Milestones included delivery of a new reactor in February, successful turnaround and startup in June, and initial technology validation in July. Expansion of the crude unit will take place in August to increase diesel fuel production, and co-processing will begin in September to validate co-processing technology.
Recognized through a ribbon cutting ceremony held at its Mt. Vernon, Indiana-based refinery, company leadership, government officials and community stakeholders were in attendance to recognize the successful completion of one of the largest undertakings in company history. Following the ceremony, CountryMark hosted attendees on a refinery tour to see the investments made.
CountryMark expressed gratitude to its board, employees, safety teams, member cooperatives, Mt. Vernon community and agricultural allies including Indiana Farm Bureau and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture for their involvement and support of the company’s diesel expansion project
CountryMark’s investment in renewable diesel production brings to the Midwest high-quality, reliable, affordable and cleaner-burning fuel. While renewable diesel fuel blends have been available on America’s West Coast since 2010, CountryMark is Indiana’s first commercially available renewable diesel fuel production facility.
AgriNovus Indiana, a nonprofit coalition focused on growing Indiana’s agbioscience economy, announced today changes to its board of directors.
The board unanimously approved the addition of Craig Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Ag Alumni Seed, Dr. Robert Pepper, president of Huntington University and Eric Young, chief financial officer at BiomEdit, to replace outgoing directors.
“To execute a bold vision, you must have great leaders in place,” said Karen Plaut, executive vice president for research at Purdue University and chair of the AgriNovus Indiana Board of Directors. “The additions of Craig, Robert and Eric bring a varied background of skills, perspectives and experiences to our Board that will be critical to our shared vision of growing this agbioscience economy.”
Andersonis the president and chief executive officer of The Ag Alumni Seed Improvement Association of Romney, or Ag Alumni Seed, a non-profit focused on the research, development and marketing of popcorn seed for domestic and international markets. He most recently served as chief operating officer of Dryland Genetics and has also held several key leadership roles, including chief operating officer, for AgReliant Genetics.
Pepper is the fourteenth president of Huntington University, a non-profit university operating three locations including its home campus in Huntington, Ind. and two others in Fort Wayne, Ind. and Peoria, Ariz. Prior, he was the executive director and assistant to the president for innovation and university partnerships at Messiah University, an institution where he served in roles of increasing responsibility since 1993.
Young serves as chief financial officer at BiomEdit, Inc., an animal health microbial biotechnology company leveraging the power of the microbiome and synthetic biology to develop next-generation solutions for livestock and pet health. He previously led business development strategic growth ventures at Elanco Animal Health and spent 20 years at Eli Lilly and Company across a variety of leadership positions in corporate finance and business development. Eric has served on the Investment Committee Board for the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute.
The AgriNovus Indiana Board of Directors is comprised of leaders from industry, academia and government. Learn more about our members here.
These changes come as the organization continues a national search for its next President and CEO, a process that is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2025. Updates to the search can be found here.
