Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), along with its wholly owned subsidiary, Verity Holdings, LLC, (“Verity”), and ClearFlame Engine Technologies, Inc., (“ClearFlame”) announced today a collaboration to drive decarbonization traceability from field-to-fleet for the road freight transportation market in the United States, which consumes an estimated 29 billion gallons of fuel every year.
Under this collaboration, the parties intend to use Verity’s proprietary carbon accounting software to authenticate the carbon intensity (CI) of biofuels derived from crops grown on U.S. farms to their consumption in ClearFlame-equipped trucks. The Verity platform would track environmental attributes from field-to-fleet. At the field level, data regarding the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions required to grow a crop are tracked to calculate a CI score for the crop, e.g., corn. That corn is then processed by an ethanol plant where the energy usage, potential carbon capture and other carbon abatement efforts would be quantified to deliver low-carbon ethanol for use by ClearFlame and their customers.
By replacing diesel fuel with engines that run on 100% ethanol, ClearFlame has shown greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 42%, helping companies to meet their ESG goals while supporting rural communities. In addition, a ClearFlame retrofit changes fewer than 5% of parts on an existing vehicle. With the addition of access to low-carbon ethanol that would be tracked and verified by Verity, the ClearFlame technology has a path to deliver net zero solutions to the freight industry.
“ClearFlame is the only engine and technology design offering the lowest cost per mile and carbon output with performance comparable to a diesel engine,” said BJ Johnson, CEO and cofounder of ClearFlame Engine Technologies. “Customers have been looking for a way to report these savings and secure emissions credits more easily. Through our collaboration with Gevo and Verity, we are making tracking carbon abatement easy, effective and efficient.”
“Consumers are demanding real, authenticated steps toward decarbonization. Verity’s end-to-end carbon accounting solution (e.g., from the field to fuel producer to use in a fleet), enables our partners to show verifiable progress in their decarbonization efforts. We believe this will foster demand for low carbon intensity biofuels, accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture practices and incentivize further investments in decarbonization.” said Ron Zink, COO of Verity.
From food production to R&D heavy plant science and animal health, Agbioscience is a capital-intensive business. This week, we are joined by Growers Edge Chief Commercial Officer, Todd Robran, to talk reducing risk for farmers, partnerships with ag retailers and how models are shifting to reward growers with lower rates for more productivity.
Todd also gets into data as a differentiator when it comes to lending and risk management, the current challenges in the agbisocience landscape – from tight commodity markets to interest rates – and how Growers Edge is navigating those waters. He also talks backing innovation for farmer confidence to drive efficient decision-making and incentivize farmers alongside ag retailers.
As experts in fintech, how does Growers Edge see themselves when it comes to the adoption of new and emerging technologies? Todd talks about where the company has been, where it’s headed and how he sees the next chapter of agtech coming to fruition.
Honor recognizes 30 professionals in Indiana’s advanced manufacturing and logistics industries
Conexus Indiana today announced the newest members of the Conexus Indiana Rising 30, an exclusive group of young professionals recognized for their early-career accomplishments in the advanced manufacturing and logistics industries.
The Rising 30 program, presented by KSM, is in its fourth year and is part of Conexus Indiana’s mission to strengthen Indiana’s advanced manufacturing and logistics industries. Program honorees represent Indiana’s top talent under the age of 30 who will drive the state’s advanced manufacturing and logistics industries successfully into the future.
This year’s winners exemplify leadership and innovation in Indiana’s largest industry sector and are poised to become Indiana’s future industry leaders.
“The dynamic professionals named to this year’s Rising 30 cohort are defining what it means to be a young leader in Indiana’s AML sector,” said Fred Cartwright, president and CEO of Conexus Indiana. “I’m more optimistic than ever about the future of industry in Indiana after meeting this year’s honorees and learning about their accomplishments and plans for the future.”
This year’s honorees represent diverse professions, including engineers, entrepreneurs and business owners, educators, CEOs and product developers who exemplify leadership and innovation in their workplaces and across the industry at large. The companies they work for range from global companies to local start-ups located in cities and towns all across the state, from Elkhart to Columbus to Evansville.
Rising 30 candidates are nominated by their employer or an industry representative, and winners are selected based on their career accomplishments to date. In the coming year, the Rising 30 honorees will participate in Conexus Indiana’s work by serving as thought leaders on subjects ranging from emerging technologies and smart manufacturing to talent development.
2024 Rising 30 honorees are being honored during a special event this evening in downtown Indianapolis.
Weaver Popcorn Manufacturing, based in Van Buren, Indiana, has announced a multi-year investment in excess of $22 million dollars. The company, which has consistently invested in its operations, plans for future investments that include additional state-of-the-art packaging and food processing technology in addition to new production lines for continued growth. In addition to adding approximately 45 new high-tech positions, these investments will increase the skills required for existing positions and career growth.
The Van Buren campus includes 2 state of the art manufacturing plants and a corn processing facility that has received over $16 million dollars in upgrades in just the last two years. “As the gold standard in the snacking industry, we are thrilled to further invest right here in Indiana, where we have the opportunity to grow for the next generation of success”, says Tim Ingle, COO of Weaver Popcorn Manufacturing.
“Indiana has a rich tradition of agricultural excellence that remains strong today, producing $4.6 billion in annual exports to customers across the world with companies like Weaver Popcorn leading the way,” said Ann Lathrop, chief strategy officer at the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC). “This investment will help modernize the company’s manufacturing operations, increasing production efficiencies while ensuring Weaver Popcorn’s long-term presence in Grant County and its positive economic and community impact on the surrounding east central Indiana region.”
“Van Buren is proud to be the Popcorn Capital of the World,” said Town Council President Jerry Caudill. “We are thrilled with Weaver Popcorn’s decision to add more great jobs and invest further in our community. With nearly 100 years of shared history, we look forward to the continued mutual success of Weaver Popcorn and the Van Buren community.”
Based on the company’s investment plans, the IEDC committed an investment in Weaver Popcorn of up to $500,000 in incentive-based tax credits and up to $150,000 in training grants. These incentives are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim incentives once Hoosiers are hired and trained.
The rise in alternative foods has become a growth driver for the food industry at large and has created new opportunities for innovators and consumers to experience new foods, alike. This week, we are joined by Maizly CEO, Tim Leclercq, to talk about the most abundant crop in the world being transformed into a new drink: corn-based milk.
From taste to mouth feel, Tim gets into Maizly’s differentiated product and functionality. He also talks about its environmental impact versus other milk alternatives and Maizly’s commitment to sustainability – from product creation to packaging.
Why milk? And why corn? Maizly’s founding expands well beyond a business getting off the ground. Tim discusses their passion project in Sub-Sarahan Africa, nutrition access for infants as a challenge and their ability to deliver life-saving solutions to young babies.
As Tim looks ahead at Maizly, the U.S. market is on the horizon; so what’s next? He talks working with corn growers, who is driving the next wave of food innovation (hint: he thinks there is a lot of smaller competitors coming) and when Maizly will hit store shelves and e-commerce sites near you.
Recognized for Its Ability to Harnesses Regenerative Technology to Accelerate Agriculture’s Transition to a More Balanced Biological Approach
DPH Biologicals’ RegenAphex® received the first runner-up BioAgTech Innovator Award at the annual BioAgTech World Congress, a gathering of leaders from across the agriculture industry to share the latest technological advances in biologicals. RegenAphex, a plant-based liquid humus extract, fosters biological product innovation to improve soil and crop health by providing a superfood base of readily available organic carbon.
“RegenAphex is the culmination of DPH Biological’s unwavering commitment to unlocking the potential of the biological industry for improving crop production and land stewardship,” said Mick Messman, president and CEO of DPH Biologicals. “We are honored to be recognized by the BioAgTech World Congress and look forward to helping increase product development to meet farmer and consumer demand for more sustainable practices.”
First selected by the Congress Scientific Committee, finalists presented to a live-voting audience. During his presentation, Messman detailed RegenAphex’s potential to unlock value and accelerate agriculture’s transition to a more balanced biological approach through industry channel collaboration.
RegenAphex is produced at DPH Bio’s Illinois-based production facility using a proprietary plant-based composting and extracting process. The process preserves and extracts soluble and suspendable minerals, humus proteins, humic substances, enzymes and microbes, resulting in a safe, shelf-stable, water-based extract. The resulting biological platform is available to the market in an easy-to-use, transferable package size ranging from 2×2.5 gallon jugs to bulk tankers.
With a two-year shelf-life and leading compatibility characteristics, RegenAphex remains viable even through freeze and thaw conditions, requires no special handling, is tank-mix friendly and can be safely combined with other inputs, including conventional chemistry-based inputs.
A key component of DPH Bio’s flagship biological product, SP-1® Classic, RegenAphex is commercially available for product collaborations through partnerships and private label opportunities.
Funding will accelerate manufacturing of 100% compostable seedpods used in anu’s smart gardens
Anu™, a health and wellness brand developing innovative controlled-environment agriculture systems, has received a $194,197 grant through the National Science Foundation’s Technology Enhancement for Commercial Partnerships, or TECP, program.
Purdue University alumni Scott Massey and Ivan Ball founded anu, which has received funding from Purdue Innovates. Anu currently is led by partners Sven Nelson, Ball and Massey.
Anu commercializes fully automated, in-home and commercial smart gardens that grow daily servings of produce using compostable seedpods and aeroponics. Aeroponics is a form of hydroponics, the technique of growing plants without soil.
CEO Massey said the grant marks a significant milestone in anu’s journey to redefine home gardening and localized production.
“This TECP funding from the NSF will help us in the final push to commercialization,” he said. “It will support the development for high-throughput manufacturing of 100% compostable seedpods.”
The supplemental funding opportunity is for active NSF Small Business Innovation Research or Small Business Technology Transfer Phase II grant awardees. The NSF awarded anu a Phase II SBIR grant for $970,993 in 2023.
Simplifying aeroponics, addressing energy concerns
Massey said anu’s technology is based on aeroponics, a soil-free growing method developed by NASA. It grows food three times faster and uses 90% less water than traditional gardening, and it enables monthly harvests year-round without pesticides or preservatives.
Massey said the anu technology also enables users to grow fresh produce near or at the point of consumption.
“This eliminates the need for perishable produce supply chains that are prone to losses as much as 40% from field through the end consumer,” he said. “These losses exacerbate an already stressed environment that must overproduce to account for supply chain losses.”
Massey said anu’s innovations simplify traditional aeroponic cultivation, which requires skilled labor and expensive equipment to manage nutrients and pH levels. He draws a parallel between the company’s seedpods and Keurig’s single-serve coffee makers.
“Keurig transformed coffee brewing from a time-consuming task into a quick, convenient process,” he said. “Similarly, our compostable seedpods simplify home and commercial cultivation by packaging seeds, growth media and nutrients into a single consumable that can be composted or replanted in soil. This eliminates the complexity and skilled labor associated with traditional systems, which addresses the greatest barrier to widespread adoption.”
Massey said anu’s innovations also address criticisms of high power consumption leveled against the traditional controlled-environment agriculture industry.
“Our proprietary Rotary Aeroponics® system, refined quietly over the past few years, significantly enhances energy efficiency in terms of grams of produce per kilowatt-hour,” he said. “The system is inspired by biomimicry of trees and optimizes light exposure. It reduces the total number of LEDs needed to illuminate the aeroponic tower expanding outer plant canopy, demonstrating our commitment to reducing energy consumption while improving yield.”
Expanding produce options
Massey said anu is expanding its Pure Produce® offerings into flowering and fruiting plants like peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. He said these plants have a longer growth cycle and more specific lighting requirements, making them much harder to grow than leafy green produce due to energy demands.
“Traditional nonrotary systems struggle with managing thermodynamic heat from lights, leading to high costs or unwanted heating in homes, making it impossible to profitability grow fruiting varieties beyond less light-intensive leafy greens varieties such as lettuces, kales, etc.,” he said. “Anu’s remarkably efficient system operates at about $5 per month in power for daily servings of produce, a small fraction of the power costs of other systems, with the potential to be even more efficient in the near future.”
Anu received a $75,000 investment from the Ag-Celerator Fund, co-founded by the Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue’s College of Agriculture. It has received Phase I and Phase II SBIR grants from the National Science Foundation and matching funds from Elevate Ventures, as well as a $200,000 Indiana Manufacturing Readiness Grants award.
Massey recently was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Manufacturing and Industry category. Anu received the AgriNovus Indiana HungerTech Challenge Award at the 25th annual TechPoint Mira Awards, recognizing its work in market-driven technologies that enhance food distribution and security. TechPoint, a Central Indiana Corporate Partnership initiative, supports Indiana’s digital innovation economy and tech ecosystem.
“Indiana’s long-standing industry expertise of appliances and advanced polymer materials for consumer packaged goods has been instrumental in anu’s initial success, leading to profound and lasting impacts toward sustainability and food sovereignty,” Massey said.
It’s the end of the month, so you know what that means. AgriNovus CEO, Mitch Frazier, sits down with Cayla Chiddister to recap Indiana’s agbioscience trip to Brazil and Mexico with Governor Holcomb, creating new opportunities and driving economies forward.
He also gets into big announcements and items on the move as it relates to bioinnovation, including an investment announcement from Liberation Labs and conversations with BioMADE.
Innovators also made big moves this month and Mitch gets into students winning big at the Indiana Soybean Alliance’s Annual Soybean Innovation Competition. And oh yeah, we’ve got details on this year’s HungerTech Innovation Challenge winner, Anu, and their unique value and potential to deliver nutrition to homes across the world.
Anu selected from 16 teams aiming to create tech-enabled solutions that connect food supply with food demand
INDIANAPOLIS (April 29, 2024) — AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the state’s agbioscience economy, today announced Evansville, Ind.-based Anu has won the HungerTech Innovation Challenge, securing the company $25,000 to advance its tech-enabled food security solution.
Presented by Elevance Health, the HungerTech Innovation Challenge is a four-week accelerator supporting entrepreneurs to create tech-enabled businesses that ensure increased and equitable food distribution that is both environmentally sustainable and economically viable.
“HungerTech was created to inspire innovation that durably addresses the gap that exists between food supply and food demand,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “Anu’s technology has potential to bring the production and availability of healthy foods to consumers across the country and around the world.”
Anu is a dedicated health and wellness platform committed to growing fresh produce from the comfort of home. Their Rotary Aeroponics technology supports a ‘Nespresso for plants’ business model, offering a recurring seed pod subscription service that sets a standard for nutrition and flavor while also focusing on food safety. Anu has previously received funding from the Purdue University Research Foundation Capital Fund, the National Science Foundation for the development of computer vision AI and the State of Indiana Manufacturing Grants to enhance production capabilities. The company was founded by a team of former NASA research engineers from Purdue University, Ivan Ball and Scott Massey, and is now taking steps to bring their technology into everyday living spaces and commercial settings.
“Increased access to more nutritious and flavorful food is a principle upon which Anu was founded,” said Scott Massey, Founder and CEO of Anu. “Participating in the HungerTech Innovation Challenge creates new opportunities to educate and empower consumers to sustainably grow Pure Produce that ultimately solves one of the most critical challenges of our time: food insecurity.”
Anu’s win follows a string of several accolades to kick off 2024, including founder and CEO Scott Massey’s naming to the Forbes 30 Under 30 and the company being named semi-finalists in the American Farm Bureau Federation Ag Innovation Challenge.
In addition to Elevance Health, leaders from Gleaners, NEXT Studios and TechPoint supported the challenge.
The HungerTech Innovation Challenge was informed by an AgriNovus study commissioned by the Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability at Purdue University. Entitled Addressing Food Insecurity and Waste in the United States Through a Market-Driven Model, the research shows a significant paradox in the United States where nearly 12 percent of households face food insecurity while up to 40 percent of our nation’s food supply is discarded annually. This stark contrast is exacerbated by logistical inefficiencies, inaccurate demand planning and unequal access to information about the availability of food and nutrition.
Delegates from Indiana’s agbioscience sector traveled to Brazil and Mexico this month alongside Governor Eric Holcomb as the minutes tick away on his leadership of the state. Courtney Kingery, CEO of Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, joins Mitch for this episode from Mexico City to discuss the trip, its findings and Indiana’s unique advantage on a global stage.
Courtney talks Brazilian companies seeking to understand the U.S. market, and the shared opportunities and challenges for farmers selling commodities in Mexico. There may be a cameo in this episode – shout out to Governor Holcomb – and Courtney talks through how trips like this one shape the future of our state’s economy.
