Comprehensive Data Analytics Suite: Access AGMRI Insights and AGMRI Analyze for full-season analytics during the 2024 crop season.
Yield Potential Focus: AGMRI Analyze tracks nine common yield-limiting factors.
Strategic Decision Support: Utilize a comprehensive report for informed decision-making in preparation for the next year’s crop season.
Intelinair, the makers of AGMRI and a leading ag data analytics company, announced the latest addition to its suite of data analytics for the 2024 crop season – AGMRI Analyze. AGMRI Insights, the in-season analytics suite, will continue to be available to inform real-time data-driven decision-making.
AGMRI Analyze monitors nine common yield-limited factors, enabling farmers to pinpoint and understand potential issues that have impacted their yield during the season. This data-driven approach helps farmers make informed decisions for the upcoming crop season, ultimately contributing to improved efficiency and yield potential.
“With the addition of Analyze, we have created a more complete data analytics package that farmers can rely on for both in-season monitoring and postseason analytics,” said Tim Hassinger, Intelinair president and CEO. “Our team identified nine common rate-limiting factors based on feedback from AGMRI users, and we’ve integrated them into this new capability for the 2024 season. By consolidating in-season and postseason analytics into a unified platform, we’re taking real-time and postseason data-driven decision-making to the next level.”
Highlights of AGMRI Insights and AGMRI Analyze:
Covers in-season agronomic insights:
Emergence
Weeds
Crop Health – Disease, Nutrient Deficiency, and Underperforming Areas
Variable Dry Down
Covers postseason data analytics:
Emergence
Nutrient Availability
Crop Stress
Disease
Hybrid and Variety
Weather
Soil
Machine
Crop Input Product Performance
Use Case: Using AGMRI Analyze to Measure Emergence Impact on Yield
Measured emergence helps farmers determine the emergence percentage and how well hybrids or varieties performed. With this information, a farmer can explore which hybrids or varieties had a combination of good emergence and yield and answer key questions for planning for the next crop season.
Potential Impact on Yield
AGMRI Analyze measures every plant throughout the field for emergence and can correlate actual emergence back to many factors to help understand which ones impacted emergence and the final field yield.
Key Data Provided:
Emergence % = Emerged Plants/Planted Seeds
Yield/1000 Plants = Final Yield/1,000 Emerged Plants
Questions for Next Year’s Crop Season Planning
Do I need to adjust my planting rates
How does my emergence compare to others?
Am I getting a good yield for emerged plants?
Any tillage or residue management changes needed?
Did the planting date impact emergence?
“If a hybrid or variety had poor emergence but still produced a good yield per 1,000 plants, a farmer can explore varied factors such as soil conditions, soil types, weather, planter speed, and other factors that might have limited the emergence potential of those specific hybrids and varieties,” said Conner Schmidt, Intelinair national sales leader. “If good emergence relative to planted rate exists and a poor yield occurs, then a grower may want to reconsider the placement of those hybrids and varieties or possibly eliminate them altogether from their product selection.”
Schmidt added, “Other factors to investigate are nutrient deficiencies, disease, or crop stress on how they impacted the final yield.”
For more information about Intelinair, AGMRI Insights and AGMRI Analyze, or how to sign up for the 2024 season, visit https://www.intelinair.com/agmri.
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. Learn more at Intelinair.com or visit our social media channels.
What exactly is the microbiome? And why is it important when it comes to animal health – both in livestock and pets? All those questions and more get answered this week as we are joined by Aaron Schacht, CEO, and Eric Bonabeau, CTO, of BiomEdit. They talk the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in microbiome science, the intersection of human and animal health and new partnerships paving the way for the acceleration of innovation.
From collaborative partnerships with Nutreco and funding from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, what’s ahead for BiomEdit? Aaron and Eric get into new challenges, leveraging the microbiome to reduce methane emissions in cattle and taking advantage of studying things in animals that can be translated to humans.
Breakthrough software and services reduce grower resource usage and costs while increasing volume and quality
Boyd Street Ventures announced that it has become the lead investor in VinSense, LLC, whose innovative decision support software system and services enable agricultural crop producers to optimize their use of water, fertilizers and other resources while increasing their crop yields, quality and prices.
VinSense’s mission is to address the serious challenges faced by crop growers due to climate change and rising costs of water, labor, fertilizers and other resources. The company has developed a proprietary and highly effective approach to precision soil management to meet growers’ needs.
“VinSense technology transforms soil data, microdata, historical data and precision soil maps into intuitive, easy-to-use visual information to increase the effectiveness of the decisions growers make throughout the season,” said Dr. David Ebert, developer of the technology and VinSense Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer. “This allows growers to optimize water and resource management to achieve the best possible combination of quantity, quality, uniformity and cost from their crops.”
VinSense’s customers include numerous California and Washington wineries, including Robert Biale Vineyards, Cakebread Cellars, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Ridge Vineyards, and Silver Oak. The company will be moving its headquarters from Northern California to Norman, Oklahoma, where Dr. Ebert is Gallogly Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Director of the Data Institute for Societal Challenges.
“We’re very excited to become the lead investor in a Smart Agriculture innovator that brilliantly and economically addresses many of the most serious threats climate change and rising costs are creating for growers of wine grapes and other important crops,” said James Spann, Boyd Street Ventures Founder and General Partner. “We’re also very proud that VinSense is relocating to our home city of Norman, and we look forward to helping the company grow its revenues and create new job opportunities for Oklahomans.”
ABOUT BOYD STREET VENTURES
Boyd Street Ventures is a groundbreaking, early-stage venture capital firm connecting institutional and other investors to high-growth investment opportunities founded and developed by entrepreneurs from Oklahoma and elsewhere. BSV places Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A and follow-on investments in the Life Sciences, FinTech, Energy Tech, Aerospace & Defense, and Climate Tech sectors. The firm focuses on under-the-radar startups that are less likely to have their prices overbid and overpriced than startups targeted by larger VC firms on the East and West Coasts. This focus, coupled with its unusually active involvement in providing de-risking strategic and operational counsel to its portfolio companies through its Boyd Street Venture Studio, enables BSV to target above-average returns for its investors. For more information, please visit https://www.boydstreetventures.com/
We are bringing you something new with this episode: a look back at February’s news in agbioscience including Elanco’s sale of their aqua business, a new partnership between Corteva and John Deere, Indiana as a top ag state and the current operating environment for the farmer.
We are days away from guidance from the federal government on how it will calculate the carbon intensity of corn production for ethanol and how that will impact farmers, ethanol producers and the economy at large. Kevin Summers, North American Carbon Sustainability Lead for Trimble, joins us to talk about the Wild West that is the current carbon market structure and Trimble’s Connected Climate Exchange as a voice of reason platform in it all.
Originally launched in Canada, Kevin talks through CCE’s 5 million tons of ag carbon offsets, the $50 million dollars for Canadian farmers and how Trimble plans to roll this program out in the United States. From data security to education, he also talks about the challenges of carbon markets today and their potential for growers and CPG companies in the future.
In the launch of Connected Climate Exchange, what has Trimble learned? Kevin says it’s about keeping the grower first in mind, connecting sellers and buyers in the marketplace and continuing to tell the story of its measured impact on the climate.
AgriNovus Indiana announced today that Dr. Karen Plaut, executive vice president of research at Purdue University, will serve as chair of the organization’s board of directors.
The board also unanimously approved Trent Torrance, chief operating officer at United Animal Health, as its vice chair and the appointment of Courtney Kingery, CEO of Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, to the executive committee. Dr. Jose Simas, executive vice president, U.S. Farm Animal Business at Elanco was approved as a succession to replace an outgoing director.
“Indiana’s agbioscience economy continues to record growth and strength thanks to the direction and support of the AgriNovus board of directors,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “The addition of these experts to our Board brings even more leadership and industry context to our team as we work together to build the agbioscience economy of the future.”
Plaut is the executive vice president for research at Purdue University. She previously served as dean of Purdue’s College of Agriculture, overseeing academic programs within the college, the Indiana Agricultural Experiment Station, the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service and several state regulatory services. Plaut was also the senior associate dean for Research and Faculty Affairs in Purdue’s College of Agriculture and held faculty positions at the University of Vermont and Michigan State University, serving as the chair of the Department of Animal Sciences at both institutions. She spent a few years working with NASA as lead scientist for the Space Station Biological Research Project for the International Space Station. Plaut holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Vermont, a master’s degree in animal nutrition from Penn State University and a doctorate in animal science from Cornell University. Her postdoctoral studies were completed at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institute of Health. Plaut was named a Fellow of the American Dairy Science Association in 2020.
Torrance is the chief operating officer and is a member of the board of directors for United Animal Health, a Sheridan, Ind.-based company focused on providing solutions for animal nutrition and health. He has served in various roles for the company since 2001, including research and development, project management and corporate leadership. Torrance holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Western Illinois University and a master’s in animal science from the University of Missouri. He also serves on the board of directors for United Animal Health’s Joint Venture in China, Shandong United Nutrition.
Kingery serves as the CEO of Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, leading the state’s corn and soybean checkoff programs to build domestic and global demand for those crops. She previously worked as global director of health and wellness innovation at Tate and Lyle and was a grain trader and marketing manager for oilseeds and food ingredients for ADM. Kingery has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hanover College with a master’s of business administration from Kuztown University.
Simas is executive vice president of U.S. Farm Animal at Elanco, bringing more than 20 years of leadership experience in commercial, marketing, R&D and regulatory roles. Previously, he served as president of Trouw Nutrition USA and has also served in key roles within Elanco’s business, including senior director of Latin America and Global Aquaculture, senior director of U.S. Beef Business and area director for Central, Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Simas received a bachelor’s degree from the Federal University of Lavras in Brazil. He also holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in Animal Nutrition and Physiology from the University of Arizona, as well as a post doctorate from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The AgriNovus Indiana board of directors is comprised of leaders from industry, academia and government. All members are listed online at www.AgriNovusIndiana.com/Board.
Key Takeaways:
Improving access to timely agronomic insights for the entire 2024 crop season.
Complementary technologies will make it easier and more streamlined for farmers.
Support farmers and ag retailers with data-driven decision-making.
Intelinair, the makers of AGMRI and a leading ag data analytics company, announced today it has extended its digital connectivity options for farmers by integrating its digital platform, AGMRI, with CNH’s global operating platform.
Through this integration, farmer customers can easily export field boundary data, as applied, and yield data to AGMRI. Platform users that will have access include:
CNH brands Case IH, through its AFS Connect platform
New Holland, with its MyPLM Connect platform
As part of the collaboration, CNH customers will receive direct access to AGMRI’s agronomic full-season insights and analytics at the field level in a single platform. AGMRI Insights monitors and tracks in-season agronomic insights for emergence, weeds, crop health, and variable dry down. AGMRI Analyze monitors nine common yield-limited factors, enabling farmers to pinpoint and understand potential issues that may have impacted their yield during the season. This data-driven approach helps farmers make informed decisions for the upcoming crop season, ultimately contributing to improved efficiency and yield potential.
“Increasing connectivity options for farmers provides more ways to use technology to help improve efficiency on the farm and protect yield potential,” said Kevin Krieg, Director of Business Development at Intelinair. “This new connection is one more way farmers can efficiently get insights to make real-time data-driven decisions and inform the next year’s crop plan.”
Dan Danford, Precision Technology Partner Manager from CNH, commented, “By establishing connections with important partners like Intelinair, we aim to drive interoperability between the various systems and services our customers use to maximize the value of their data and actions in the field.”
Name: Julia Hamblen University: Purdue University Major/Minor: Agricultural Education with a Wood Products Manufacturing Technology Minor Semesters as a Field Atlas Ambassador: 5 Semesters
What do you enjoy most about the role?
I enjoy having the creative freedom to discover new ways to educate others on AgBioScience. I love everything about education, and this role allows me to conduct this in new and innovative ways all the time.
What has surprised you most about the agbiosciences?
It never ceases to amaze me how AgBioScience is an industry that truly affects every single person on this planet no matter where we are. I think it is so cool to be able to advocate and educate on an industry that touches all of us and to watch those “ah-ha” moments when I am talking to someone else about AgBioScience when they realize how cool the industry is as well.
Which agbioscience company interests you most, and why?
I may be a little biased, but I will have to say Indiana Soybean Alliance. I had the chance to intern with them in the summer of 2022, and it was one of the best experiences I have ever had. I had the chance to work in the Glass Barn and see all of the behind-the-scenes of renovating it that summer, and it was such a fun process to see progress and watch all of the kids learn about soybeans. Seeing their efforts surrounding education was exciting to be a part of.
How can students get in touch with you?
I can be reached at my AgriNovus email, [email protected].
“This data shows that agriculture remains a pillar of the Indiana economy with the total value of agriculture production growing 62% over the five year period,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “The Census of Agriculture is all encompassing, and it allows us to compare ourselves to fellow states, whether that is in ranking of commodities, prices, demographics and more.”
The Census of Agriculture is a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Even small plots of land – whether rural or urban – growing fruit, vegetables or some food animals count if $1,000 or more of such products were raised and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the Census year. The Census of Agriculture, taken only once every five years, looks at land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income and expenditures.
“We are thankful for all the farmers who completed the survey, this data allows our department to provide accurate and reliable information and data to Hoosiers, to farmers and to decision makers,” said Don Lamb, Indiana State Department of Agriculture director. “The data comes out every five years and its always exciting to see our statewide growth.”
Data from the census shapes programs and initiatives that benefit Indiana farmers, expands access to resources that help farmers and help farmers diversify into new markets, including local and regional food systems, specialty crops and organic production.
Number ten producing state for maple syrup and hemp for floral (CBD and other cannabinoid usage)
Total Value of Agricultural Production over $18 billion at 65% crops and 35% livestock (up from $11.1 million in 2017, a 64% increase)
Land data:
Number of farms is 53,599
Land in farms 14.6 million acres
Average farm size 272 acres
Top five Indiana counties with the largest number of farms: LaGrange, Elkhart, Allen, Adams & Daviess
Top five Indiana counties with the highest value of agriculture production: Jay, Jasper, Elkhart, LaGrange, Dubois
Demographics:
Indiana has 94,282 farmers (30,691 female and 63,321 male)
Average age of the Hoosier Farmer is 56 years old
Young Producers (those under 35 years old) total 11,058 with the average age as 28.7 years old
New and Beginning farmers (those with less than 10 years experience) total 26,428 with the average age as 43.2 years old
Producers with military service totals 6,621
Additional USDA Ag Census data will be coming out throughout the year, including the market value of ag products sold, state and county profiles, race, ethnicity and gender profiles, watershed information, specialty crops, aquaculture and more. See all those at nass.usda.gov.
Transaction reinforces Elanco’s commitment to most significant value creation opportunities in pet health and livestock sustainability
Enables company to accelerate debt paydown by $1.05B to $1.1B
Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE: ELAN) today announced it has entered into an agreement to sell its aqua business to Merck Animal Health (NYSE: MRK) for approximately $1.3 billion in cash, which represents approximately 7.4x the estimated 2023 revenue of the Elanco aqua business.
“A strategic decision resulting from a disciplined process over the last year, the sale of the aqua business allows us to prioritize our investments in larger markets with greater earnings potential over the medium and long term, while creating balance sheet flexibility,” said Jeff Simmons, President and CEO of Elanco Animal Health. “We are focused on delivering consistent high impact innovation and continue to have confidence in our late-stage pipeline with six potential blockbuster products expected in the U.S. market by 2025. Further, we are advancing our next wave of development projects, which we believe will contribute meaningful growth for Elanco through the second half of the decade. Importantly, the proceeds from this transaction combined with improved free cash flow from the business, will accelerate deleveraging with net debt to adjusted EBITDA expected in the high-3x to low-4x range by the end of 2025.”
The transaction reinforces Elanco’s focus and investment on its most significant value creation opportunities, notably in pet health and livestock sustainability. In addition to the expected U.S. approvals in the first half of 2024 for Credelio Quattro™, Zenrelia™ and Bovaer®, Elanco is pursuing a portfolio of clinical development projects that the company expects to have differentiated profiles and blockbuster potential in significant markets with meaningful growth and earnings potential. Elanco’s targeted areas of focus include next generation products for pet parasiticides, dermatology and pain, as well as livestock sustainability. Additionally, the company is opportunistically pursuing platform-aligned targets, such as monoclonal antibodies, and other major emerging spaces of high unmet need.
“We are excited for the acquisition of Elanco’s aqua products, solutions as well as the capabilities and expertise the team brings to our business,” said Rick DeLuca, president, Merck Animal Health. “We believe this acquisition, coupled with our commercial and scientific prowess, will deliver enhanced benefits for our aqua customers. The addition of this innovative portfolio of cold water and warm water aqua products across vaccines, anti-parasitic treatments, water supplements and nutrition, will establish Merck Animal Health as a leader in aqua.”
Transaction Details
Elanco’s aqua business includes products across both warm-water and cold-water species, generating an estimated $175 million in revenue and approximately $92 million in adjusted EBITDA, excluding the allocation of corporate costs, based on 2023 preliminary results. The divestiture includes current marketed brands, aqua R&D projects, the transfer of manufacturing sites in Prince Edward Island, Canada and Dong Nai, Vietnam and approximately 280 commercial and manufacturing employees.
Upon closing of the transaction, Elanco plans to use the expected $1.05 billion to $1.1 billion of after-tax cash proceeds to pay down a portion of the Term Loan B debt. Elanco’s preliminary full year 2023 results, which do not include the effect of the sale of the aqua business, project net debt to adjusted EBITDA to be slightly below the midpoint of the company’s previous guidance range (5.5x to 5.8x). Giving pro forma effect to the transaction for the full year 2023, including the expected debt paydown and excluding the EBITDA associated with the aqua business, the company estimates the net leverage ratio would have been 0.6x to 0.7x lower, at or slightly below 5.0x. In 2024, with the anticipated debt paydown resulting from the transaction and from cash generated by the base business, the company expects to end the year with net debt to adjusted EBITDA in the mid-4x range. Further, the company expects net debt to adjusted EBITDA in high-3x to low-4x range by the end of 2025, driven by innovation fueled growth and continued debt paydown from improving free cash flow.
The expected retirement of a portion of the Term Loan B debt will result in reduced interest expense of approximately $65 million, or $0.11 of EPS, annually. For 2023, based on the midpoint of the company’s previous adjusted EPS guidance ($0.91), net EPS dilution would be approximately $0.03, or about 3%, while the company will be able to reduce net debt by approximately 20%.
The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions and adjustments, is expected to close around mid-year. The Company plans to discuss the transaction further when it releases its fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2023 financial results on February 26th, 2024.
BofA Securities, Inc. is serving as the company’s exclusive financial advisor and White & Case LLP is serving as the company’s legal advisor in connection with the transaction.
Preliminary Full Year 2023 Results
This press release discusses estimated financial results for the full year of 2023, which are preliminary, unaudited and represent the most recent current information available to company management. The company’s actual results may differ from these estimated financial results, including due to the completion of its financial closing procedures and final adjustments. The company expects to issue full financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023 on February 26, 2024.
