Planting season is nearing in North America and as farmers head to the fields, they’re doing so in a tough global market for agricultural commodities. Those markets have an impact on nearly every facet of our daily lives. Today we are joined by Dr. Scott Irwin, author and Laurence J. Norton Chair of Agricultural Marketing at the University of Illinois, to share his market perspective (it’s on the side of bearish) and what he sees ahead.
How low for how long? That’s a big question for the markets and one Scott dives into during the discussion. He also talks about his book, Back to the Futures, looking at the ag markets as an implication on the broader economy and educating a widespread audience using stories from his childhood on an Iowa farm.
The B20 Club of Indiana, a collaborative initiative between the Indiana Soybean Alliance and the American Lung Association, is pleased to announce that Andretti INDYCAR, a world-renowned motorsport team based in Indiana, has joined as an Affiliate Member.
This partnership underscores Andretti INDYCAR’s commitment to its sustainability goals and the importance of companies embracing biodiesel and renewable diesel, which are renewable transportation fuels derived from natural oils and fats like soybean oil and used cooking oil.
The B20 Club of Indiana recognizes and supports Indiana-based companies that use or support the use of biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, which are high-performance, cleaner-burning, low-carbon fuels made from soybean oil and other renewable feedstocks produced in Indiana. Andretti INDYCAR’s decision to become an Affiliate Member of the B20 Club of Indiana demonstrates the two organizations’ shared efforts to promote cleaner air by reducing carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions that impact our climate and health.
“We are thrilled to welcome Andretti INDYCAR as an Affiliate Member of the B20 Club of Indiana,” said Courtney Kingery, Chief Executive Officer of the Indiana Soybean Alliance. “Their dedication to supporting the use of biodiesel and renewable diesel aligns perfectly with our efforts to promote sustainable agriculture and reduce carbon emissions. This partnership highlights the significant role that Indiana farmers play in producing renewable fuels.”
“Andretti INDYCAR’s decision to join the B20 Club of Indiana demonstrates the growing momentum behind the adoption of biobased diesel fuels in the transportation sector,” said Helena Jette, Director of Biofuels at the Indiana Soybean Alliance. “They are setting an example for other companies to follow in reducing their carbon footprint while supporting local farmers.”
Sustainability is a key focus of Andretti INDYCAR’s operations as a business and in the other racing series they compete in across the globe. The Indianapolis-based organization proudly holds an ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Certification. The Andretti Formula E team, which also owns an ISO 14001 certification, has additionally earned the FIA Three-Star Environmental Accreditation. And, just last month, the team revealed the site designs for its new headquarters being constructed in Fishers, Ind., which will expand existing goals for implementing technologically advanced, sustainable practices.
Brad Banker, Team Logistics Manager at Andretti INDYCAR, is proud of the work they have been doing to conserve the environment’s resources. “We recognize the importance of reducing our environmental impact,” Banker said. “Using biodiesel and renewable diesel helps us do that. Joining the B20 Club of Indiana as an Affiliate Member is another step to progressing our sustainability strategy and contributing to a cleaner and greener future.”
The B20 Club of Indiana looks forward to collaborating with Andretti INDYCAR, other members, and more companies and organizations in Indiana to promote the use of biodiesel and renewable diesel and advance sustainability efforts throughout the state.
Advanced Digital Agronomy: The partnership introduces myFS Agronomy, leveraging data analytics to offer precise crop intelligence for data-driven decision-making throughout the growing season and planning for next year’s crop plan.
Data-Driven Insights: The app combines myFS Solution Center functionalities with Intelinair’s analytics so that users can easily diagnose field issues, optimize in-season decision making, and stay connected with advisors.
Mobile Access: iOS, Android and web-based versions of myFS Agronomy are available now to expand accessibility and convenience for farmers and agronomists.
As GROWMARK, Inc. continues to position itself to lead in the digital agronomy space, it has partnered with Intelinair, an ag data analytics company, on a new digital agronomy application to equip its farmer customers with data-driven insights to improve agronomic outcomes throughout the growing season.
The myFS Agronomy application provides additional functionality for farmers while creating synergies with myFS Solution Center for an enhanced digital experience that:
Enables customers to quantify agronomic opportunities impacting business decisions through data analytics.
Provides data-driven agronomic insights to implement solutions for diagnosing problems in the field.
Utilizes field data to assist with making growing decisions.
Allows users to closely monitor news, weather, and markets.
Equips FS crop advisors to have impactful discussions with their farmer customers based on a wide range of agronomic data.
“The new myFS Agronomy app delivers a digital experience focusing on data-driven analytics, enhanced communication, and agronomic intelligence into the hands of our FS members and their customers,” said GROWMARK’s Director of FS Agronomy, Brendan Bachman. “This digital experience aims to increase our farmers’ bottom line by streamlining the decision-making process for better outcomes while enabling FS to make proactive agronomy decisions and stay connected with our farmer owners.”
GROWMARK Chief Financial Officer, Brad Drake, says the new tool will help farmers stay on top of the latest technology available. “As agronomic technology continues to evolve, farmers will get overwhelmed with more and more data to make decisions. The GROWMARK System will continue to deploy emerging technologies to help farmers manage the data in a way that equips them to make decisions that support their long-term profitability.”
Intelinair President and CEO Tim Hassinger says, “With in-season agronomic insights and the new Analyze capability, farmers can get help monitoring their entire fields for issues during the season and then evaluate what changes can be made for the following crop season. The addition of the postseason analytics suite this year provides valuable information for data-driven decision-making throughout the entire year.”
The myFS Agronomy platform is available on iOS, iPadOS, Android, Android tablet, and can also be accessed through the web.
About Intelinair Intelinair provides whole-field insights all season long to farmers and ag retailers through its easy-to-use interactive platform, AGMRI. Through AGMRI Insights and AGMRI Analyze, Intelinair’s proven data analytics capabilities tracks every acre, every factor – emergence & population impacts, nutrient utilization, hybrid and variety performance, and even weather impact – for data-driven in-season and postseason decision making and identifies sustainability opportunities. For more information, visit intelinair.com or follow us on our social media channels.
About GROWMARK
GROWMARK is an agricultural cooperative serving almost 400,000 customers across North America, providing agronomy, energy, facility engineering and construction, and logistics products and services, as well as grain marketing and risk management services. Headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois, GROWMARK owns the FS trademark, which is used by member cooperatives. More information is available at GROWMARK.com
We are living in a time of innovation crisis where most innovation isn’t driven by large corporations despite them being managed better than ever before, says High Alpha Innovation CEO Elliott Parker. One day ahead of his new book release, The Illusion of Innovation, he joins us to get into how corporations equipped for efficiency losing their resilience and why it’s dangerous to advancing innovation.
Now this isn’t a hot take: Elliott believes in efficiency, but not as a lone strategy. He talks about controlled chaos, a systematic approach to experimentation and uncovering ideas to challenge things we think we know.
So what do companies do? Elliott talks new funding mechanisms, finding the best home for innovations to grow and being contrarian to win over the long-term.
The Illusion of Innovation comes out tomorrow, April 16. Learn more here.
Agbioscience is the only economy in the world that touches every person on planet, every day, given that it centers on food. Today we are joined by Lorelei Bergin, Vice President of North American Retail for NielsenIQ, to talk trends shaping food and what’s ahead for grocery store shelves in 2024.
From ingredient labels being more closely examined by savvy shoppers to the uptick of wellness-related products gaining more traction, Lorelei lays out what is driving consumer behavior and purchase patterns. She also gets into data creating insights for food companies to get the ultimate in-store commodity: shelf space.
Mitch and Lorelei take time to walk through consumers’ increased focus on health, GLP-1 drugs, how it’s shaping what goes in grocery carts and the food system’s response. How does a focus on health function in a tightening economy? Lorelei says food is first and a “better for you” lifestyle is staying resilient in these times. She also looks ahead to trends we could see impacting the food space and how that impacts consumers – no matter their budget.
Agronomics (LSE:ANIC), a leading listed company focused on the field of cellular agriculture, is pleased to announce that it has invested US$ 10 million in its portfolio company Liberation Labs Holding Inc. (“Liberation Labs”) as part of a wider US$ 12.5 million financing round with participation from existing investor Siddhi Capital. The investment was made in the form of a Secured Convertible Promissory Note (“SCPN”), a form of convertible debt, for the continued construction of its facility in Richmond, Indiana in advance of Liberation Labs’ Series A round (a “Qualified Financing”). The SCPN will convert into the same instrument and terms as the Qualified Financing which is anticipated to raise a minimum of US$ 37.5 million through a combination of debt and equity. The investment was made using cash from the Company’s own resources.
Including this SCPN, Liberation Labs has now raised US$ 33.5 million in equity-linked instruments and has formal commitments for non-dilutive funding totalling a further US$ 55 million. This includes US$ 30 million in equipment financing and a US$ 25 million loan from Ameris Bank which is backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture via the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program.
Liberation Labs is seeking to become the industrial biotechnology industry’s global fabrication partner through the design, build and operation of Bio3, its purpose-built biomanufacturing platform. This platform will address the critical bottleneck which fermentation companies face. Liberation Labs broke ground in June 2023 on its first facility which when complete will have 600k litres of fermentation capacity. Today, the project is approximately halfway through its build programme and, subject to completion of the Qualified Financing, is expected to be commissioned in Q1 2025. This site, located in Richmond, Indiana which has the potential to be expanded by an additional 4 million litres of capacity was selected considering several key metrics such as access to sugar inputs, utility rates, cost and availability of labour, regulatory environment, availability of government incentives.
Including the SCPN, Agronomics has invested US$ 17.6 million in Liberation Labs which, subject to audit, is currently carried at a book value of £25.7 million. This position represents approximately 14.8% of Agronomics’ last stated Net Asset Value, including post-balance sheet date adjustments. Agronomics now holds 37.5% of Liberation Labs on a fully diluted basis.
Mark Warner, CEO and Co-Founder of Liberation Labs said:
“The new funding from Agronomics and Siddhi Capital comes as we continue to make significant progress in building out our operations team and advancing facility construction – including the installation of key equipment like fermenters and spray dryers. Each day we’re closer to our goal of unlocking the potential of domestic manufacturing of novel proteins for both food and industrial use. We greatly appreciate the continued support of our major funding partners.”
Jim Mellon, Executive Chairman of Agronomics added:
“Liberation Labs continues to deliver on the project milestones of its launch facility in Indiana. We have huge confidence in the team’s ability to execute and believe that Liberation Labs will become the first company in Agronomics’ portfolio to be cash generative.”
A skin-sensitive baby wipe with only one non-soybean ingredient besides water earned the $20,000 grand prize in the 30th annual Student Soybean Innovation Competition, announced during an awards ceremony on Wednesday evening at the Purdue Memorial Union in West Lafayette, Ind.
Gentle on the skin like silk, SoySilk uses soybean ingredients in every step of the baby wipe production, including the base sheet and the formulation. SoySilk is a plastic-free, vegan, non-toxic, environmentally friendly, biodegradable and compostable alternative to all other baby wipes used in the United States, while still giving customers a quality product.
SoySilk was created by the duo of Purdue University junior Kyle Han from Taipei, Taiwan, and Purdue freshman Ben Gottlieb from Chappaqua, New York. Han is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biological engineering with a concentration in cellular and biomolecular engineering in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Gottlieb is studying finance at Purdue’s Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business.
The Student Soybean Innovation Competition is sponsored by the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) and Purdue University. To win this competition, Purdue University students must develop novel applications for soybeans that satisfy a market need.
“ISA looks forward to working with Purdue students each year and seeing what unique products they create,” said ISA Board Chair Kevin Cox, a farmer from Brazil, Ind. “The goal of this competition is to showcase the versatility of soybeans while addressing a need in agriculture or the general public. The results often expand opportunities and markets for all Indiana soybean growers. We are excited about SoySilk. This appears to be a safe and necessary product that we think will be attractive to many people.”
Baby wipes on the market today are made of pulp, plastic and chemicals such as cleaning or disinfecting agents. SoySilk uses soy fiber as the base sheet, soy protein crosslink to increase breaking tenacity, and soy glycerin and soy lecithin as emollients for the skin. No trees are cut down, and no plastic polymers are used, yet it offers the best cleaning effect to consumers. With a soy fiber base sheet, SoySilk created a baby wipe that is 143 percent thicker than the average baby wipes on the market.
“Our product’s mission is to provide a top-tier customer experience in baby wipes while creating positive environmental effects,” Gottlieb said. “Most importantly, SoySilk will pave a new path for wet wipe materials as countries pass new regulations to prohibit the plastic polymers contained in current baby wipes.”
According to Persistence Market Research, the global baby wipes market will reach $9.9 billion by 2032. SoySilk contains 92 percent soy content on a dry weight, which can utilize $313 million worth of soy protein through U.S. sales alone. Gottlieb added, “Our product introduces an innovative business opportunity in a high-value market with an enormous volume of soy for our high-quality Indiana soybean industry to profit and create a positive impact on our planet.”
The United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published a report on April 4, 2023 calling for a ban on baby wipes – or wet wipes – containing plastic. A similar report listed wet wipes as a commonly littered, single-use plastic items in England. A U.K. survey showed 96 percent of respondents supported a ban on wet wipes containing plastic.
“Global consumer-goods manufacturing companies like Proctor & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark have been trying to develop a new material for their Pampers and Huggies baby wipes pipeline without plastic polymers but still strong,” Han explained. “Many companies believe that with the sustainability trend, the European Union and the United States will soon catch up on banning wet wipes that contain plastic. Our team is providing a new alternative with SoySilk baby wipes to tackle the ban and influence the business for the U.S. market.”
This year, 15 teams composed of 48 Purdue University students and 19 faculty advisors, finished the competition. These students represent a variety of majors including agronomy, biological engineering, animal science, pharmacy and environmental and natural resource engineering. Each team works with two faculty advisors who provide technical and market research support.
As we head into the spring planting season, there is much focus on technologies and innovations that will enable producers to drive returns in a tightening farm economy. Andrew Sunderman, Joint Venture Transition Lead for AGCO, joins today to talk about their new JV with Trimble and having an innovation ecosystem ready to serve the farmer – no matter how or what they’re investing in for their operations during any given year.
In a time where it could be easy to say no to new tech or innovation, how does AGCO differentiate? Andrew talks control and accuracy, usability and optimizing outcomes. From their retrofit tech approach that helps to leverage smaller bets on-farm to improved performance of current equipment, he gets into solving problems that have never been met before and how the joint venture with Trimble will add continuation to their work.
Fresh off a plane from the World AgriTech Summit and following a keynote address on food security as national security, we are recapping a gigantic March in agbioscience. From Corteva’s big news in San Francisco last week to Indiana hitting the short list for BioMADE, we cover the latest industry topics and look ahead to what’s coming.
Company’s compliance brings next level of data safety, security
Intelinair, the makers of AGMRI and a leading ag data analytics company, today announced the achievement of Systems and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 (Type 1) compliance certification and a major milestone for the company. The rigorous SOC 2 compliance is a widely recognized framework comprising standards of data security, privacy, and operational integrity. Meeting the security criteria and validation through a third-party audit are required to successfully complete the certification.
Intelinair SVP of Engineering David Wilson, who led the process at Intelinair, says by achieving SOC 2 compliance, Intelinair has demonstrated its commitment to data safety and integrity. “Security is a top priority for us, and while this security certification marks an important milestone for our company, we are dedicated to continuously enhancing our systems following quality, industry-leading data security standards.“
Ag retailer and farmer customers rely on Intelinair’s digital platforms for in-season and postseason data-driven decision-making for crop production. Current platform users can now have even greater confidence in the security and integrity from this next level of data security. Using AI and machine learning, Intelinair tracks several factors – emergence, weeds, disease, nutrient deficiency, yield and more – to provide the insights to help protect yield potential and identify sustainability opportunities.
The SOC 2 standard was developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts (AICPA). As part of the certification process, a SOC 2 audit is performed by an accredited CPA firm and verifies that safeguards are in place to protect customer data, such as internal controls, policies and procedures and that safeguards are operational per the SOC 2 security criteria over an extended period of time.
For more information about our security initiatives or to download our SOC 2 report, visit Intelinair’s trust center here.
For more information about Intelinair and its agriculture technology, visit intelinair.com.
