AgriNovus Indiana-commissioned study identifies opportunity to unite state’s strengths in agbioscience, tech
AgriNovus released new research today showing Indiana as an emerging hub for agtech innovation due to its strengths in agriculture and technology.
Conducted by TEConomy Partners, the study entitled The Intersection of Agbioscience and Tech, identified the growth of tech-related positions across the broader Indiana economy and in agbioscience, including identifying the occupations contributing to the growth.
“The agbioscience economy is the only economy in the world that touches every person on the planet given it centers on food,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “Given Indiana’s strength in agbioscience and its history of success in technology, significant opportunity exists to further unite these two industries to build the next chapter of Indiana’s economy.”
Key highlights of the study include:
Tech job postings in agbioscience saw nearly seven times growth since 2017.
Companies have posted more than 6,700 tech jobs in agbioscience since 2015.
Industrial engineering, technologies and technicians are among the leading jobs postings by agbioscience companies in Indiana.
“Indiana has many evident strengths and assets in agtech-related fields,” wrote TEConomy Partners in the research. “… there is strong evidence that Indiana’s agbioscience companies are endeavoring to significantly boost their core tech and tech reliant workforce, and if connectivity can be increased to the increasing output of students at Purdue, IU and other Indiana institutions, significant employment growth is likely to occur.”
The study follows TechPoint’s release of Putting Tech to Work in Critical Industries, which examines Indiana’s tech sector and its relationship with other advanced industries to drive economic growth. That study can be found here.
The full study, The Intersection of Agbioscience and Tech, is available at www.AgriNovusIndiana.com.
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Ken’s Foods received incentive approval for a 288,000 square foot expansion of their current building in the Lebanon Business Park. Currently, Ken’s Foods employs 230 people and anticipates the additional hiring of 10 additional employees after the expansion is complete. With this expansion, they anticipate a $29.4 million real property investment and a $10.3 million personal investment. The expansion is set to be completed in the third quarter of 2024.
“The expansion of Ken’s Foods and the additional job opportunities they will bring to Lebanon continues to showcase our growth in economic opportunities. It proves our ability to be a place for businesses to find value with our ease of accessibility, our community and our dedication in our partnerships with these organizations ultimately producing a positive impact on the city, county and state,” says Mayor Matthew Gentry.
“Ken’s is excited to continue our investment in our Lebanon plant which will help us to continue to grow our business and contribute to the local community. We look forward to many years of continued partnership. Says Tim Cahalane, COO of Ken’s Foods.
Ken’s Foods began construction in Lebanon in 2016 and opened in 2018 with the anticipation of hiring 150 hourly employees at an average of $23 per hour. Since locating in Boone County, Ken’s Foods has and continues to be a stellar partner in the community supporting over four-dozen organizations and non-profits including Lebanon Community Schools, Boone County Cancer Society, Shalom House, Habitat for Humanity and others. With the continued advocacy and support of the Boone County Economic Development Corporation, Ken’s Foods and other companies have the ability to grow, expand and make positive impacts directly on the economy.
Leaders from agbioscience juggernauts gathered on stage at the Rally Innovation Conference last month to talk about the growing, evolving sector and what’s ahead for the agbiosciences in terms of both challenges and opportunities. This week, we bring the panel to you. Brook Cunningham, Chief Strategy Officer at Corteva Agriscience, Audre Kapacinkskas, Principal at S2G Ventures and Jeff Simmons, CEO of Elanco, have a candid discussion on their vision for the future of food and innovating to feed a growing population.
They get into how they are approaching the challenge of feeding more people with less resources, how funding will impact new innovators entering the market and streamlining new innovation from the outside looking in (rather than internally at large companies). How do companies think about internal research and development versus acquiring innovation from the outside? Brook and Jeff break down their approach in this area, collaborating cross sector to drive new solutions into the market and doing what you’re good at (or as Brook says: fit and focus).
What innovations do Brook, Audre and Jeff see as potential game changers for the agbioscience? They discuss emerging technologies, sustainability as profitability and barriers that exist that keep innovation from the farm gate.
Listen here:
Twenty-two years ago, terrorists took to the sky and transformed airplanes into weapons. Nearly 3,000 Americans were killed in the attacks. The nation and the world responded, and much has changed since to enhance U.S. National Security. One area that remains a significant area of focus is here in agbioscience – specifically the food system. To help define this challenge and how the Nation is responding is a former Marine and a national security expert. Today we are joined by U.S. Senator Todd Young of Indiana to talk about his military service, the events of 9/11 unveiling just how vulnerable Americans were and the correlation between food security and national security.
Once deemed by Senator Young as “a moral imperative,” he dives into hunger within our country’s food system, the proximity to anarchy and crises when food access is removed and the importance of sustaining and nurturing these systems to keep our nation secure. He also talks about the role of innovation in creating better food security, The CHIPS and Science Act to enable this innovation and Indiana’s enviable position to lead the way in creating a better food system for a growing population.
Listen here:
From the outside looking in, most would be shocked to learn that Mahsa Vazin was once afraid of dogs. The PawCo Foods founder went from a career in chemistry and nanoscience to plant-based diets for humans in her role at Impossible Foods – and eventually, her work trickled into pet animals. AgriNovus spoke with Mahsa during the Rally Innovation Conference in Indianapolis to talk about gaps in the pet food market, key allergens in dogs and her fast-growing line of fresh, plant-based dog foods.
She gets into the emerging trends surrounding plant-based foods for humans and animals, approaching the direct-to-customer subscription sales model and her plans to grow and scale PawCo (hint: it involves the Midwest). Mahsa also talks about her advice to entrepreneurs and what’s ahead for her company.
PawCo Foods was announced as the winner of the Rally Innovation Conference In-Prize Pitch Competition and could receive up to $1M in funding for her company. Learn more here.
Listen here:
AgriNovus today announced that Karis Witte will serve as its new career success manager, a role aimed at fostering connections between academia and industry to attract next-generation talent to agbioscience careers.
Witte, who joins AgriNovus from TEKsystems, will lead AgriNovus’ career exploration platform, Field Atlas, and its on-campus student ambassador program; both resources are designed to connect students to careers and companies hiring in traditional and allied agbioscience roles.
“As AgriNovus continues its bold ambition to grow Indiana’s agbioscience economy, building a high-caliber talent pipeline is critical to our success,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “Karis’ experience in connecting talent to roles that best align with their strengths, coupled with her dedication to helping young people succeed, makes her a great fit for our team.”
Prior to her work at TEKsystems, Witte received her bachelor’s degree in business communications from Purdue University. She also served as vice president of engagement for College Mentors for Kids, Inc. and is an active volunteer at Partners for Animal Welfare Society.
The addition of Witte to the AgriNovus team comes aligned with the fall school semester and a new class of Field Atlas Ambassadors. To learn more about Field Atlas, click here.
Patented cooling pads developed by animal science experts keep boars and sows cooler, improve their feed intake and milk output, and increase piglet wean weight
IHT Group, a division of Decisive Dividend Corp. (TSXV: DE) based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is bringing patented cooling pad technology for hogs to the North American market in spring 2024.
The pads are 2-foot-by-4-foot aluminum tread plates on top of copper pipes that circulate water. Sensors in the pads determine if the hog is too hot and circulate new water to keep the pad cool. The technology was designed by researchers in Purdue University’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Department of Animal Sciences.
Heat harms hogs
Record heat across North America impacts not just people but also animals, including farmers’ livestock. Francisco Cabezon, research president at Pipestone Research, which specializes in swine health research and recommendations, said overheating can cause problems for hogs.
“Under heat stress conditions, lactating sows reduce their feed intake and milk output to attempt to reduce their metabolic heat production. In consequence, their piglet growth and subsequent reproductive performance is negatively affected,” said Cabezon, who earned his PhD at Purdue University. “In boars, some negative impacts of heat stress are decreased sperm motility and concentration and an increase in sperm abnormalities.”
Chris Grant, IHT president, said farmers benefit when their swine aren’t affected by heat stress.
“Animal welfare and well-being improve when heat stress is reduced,” Grant said. “Farmers will have a larger, healthier animal that can grow better and has a better chance of survivability at the next stage.”
Tests prove benefits
Allan Schinckel, a professor in Purdue’s Department of Animal Sciences, and Robert M. Stwalley III, associate clinical professor in Purdue’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, designed the cooling pads.
“The Purdue-developed IHT active swine cooling pads will represent a paradigm shift in hog production, increasing both operational efficiency and animal welfare,” Stwalley said. “We are refining the pads and their materials, currently testing stainless steel pipes versus copper pipes to continue optimizing their performance.”
Schinckel said the initial research showed the cooling pads make sows more comfortable.
“We saw a decrease in their overall respiration rates, slightly lower internal temperatures and lower daily maximum temperatures. The sows also produced more heat, which corresponded to an increase in their feed intake and milk production; this improves animal welfare and well-being,” Schinckel said. “Piglets who were on the cooling pads had a 26% increase in weaning weight and 7.2% increase in feed intake.”
The initial research at Purdue also showed the cooling pads maintained boars’ semen quality by reducing heat stress abnormalities. The pads kept the boars cool even at high environmental temperatures and high humidity. They also kept the boars’ respiration rate low.
Peer-reviewed papers about the initial research have been published in journals including Applied Engineering in Agriculture, Applied Animal Science, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Journal of Animal Science, Livestock Science, The Professional Animal Scientist and the Journal of the ASABE (American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers).
Schinckel will present a poster about the effects of cooling pads on sows prior to farrowing and mid and late lactation at the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, which takes place Sept. 16-19 at Saint Paul RiverCentre in Minnesota.
Initial research on the cooling pads’ effects on boars, sows and gilts conducted at Purdue was funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Agricultural Science and Extension for Economic Development, or AgSEED, program from Purdue’s College of Agriculture. IHT Group supported beta tests at Pipestone Research in Minnesota, led by Cabezon, and at Purdue and two commercial facilities in the U.S. IHT Group funded a graduate student at Purdue during the beta test period. Data from those tests is being complied for summarization for analyses.
Manufacturing and sales
IHT evaluated pads for their commercial assessment under a Commercial Evaluation Agreement with the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization. Based on the results of the evaluation, IHT and OTC negotiated an exclusive license for manufacturing and selling the pads.
“We will sell the pads across North America in spring 2024 as farmers prepare for the heat stress of the summer,” Grant said. “That launch date will also allow us to compile and analyze final data from the boar stud tests, which will be available in October.”
Their combined experience in agbioscience leadership has paved the way for Katie Sauer and Scott Keetle’s venture into helping industry companies grow and scale. This week, the Epiphium Advising co-founders join us to talk about helping companies find their innovative spirit, using insights to help agbioscience companies grow and creating processes and procedures to enable business success.
How do you help entrepreneurs grow while you’re also trying to grow a consulting business? Katie and Scott talk about the key ingredients that startups and medium-sized businesses need to consider, slowing down to speed up and making sure you focus as much on whole business growth as much as product growth. They also talk about digging deep into your organization to find great ideas from your team and staying curious to unlock new potential.
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Partnership will enable development of new engineered medicines to address unmet needs in animal health
The Indiana Biosciences Research Institute (IBRI), a leading translational research organization, is pleased to announce an integrated drug discovery collaboration with BiomEdit, the most advanced microbiome company in animal health.
“This collaboration leverages the IBRI’s strong translational science capabilities in partnership with BiomEdit to pursue opportunities that otherwise would not happen,” said Alan Palkowitz, PhD, president and CEO of the IBRI. “Our Diabetes Center, combined with the power of our iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cell) Lab, will allow us to contribute to BiomEdit’s efforts to address unmet needs in animal health with the potential to impact human health.”
In recent years, studies into microorganisms in the gut (known as the microbiome) have led to a basic understanding of their role in human and animal health and in how foods are digested and glucose metabolism is regulated in the gastrointestinal tract. Influencing the gut microbiome can have a major impact on human health – and, similarly, can impact the health, well-being and performance of animals.
“The talented team at the IBRI brings unique capabilities, skills and innovative insights that will further our combined efforts to advance novel microbiome-based approaches to addressing chronic conditions in companion animals,” said Aaron Schacht, CEO of BiomEdit. “We’re also very interested in demonstrating how studying and developing products for animal health can create powerful translational insights as starting points for analogous human conditions. The IBRI is an ideal partner for BiomEdit in this important project.”
This collaboration utilizes the synergistic application of the IBRI’s drug discovery capabilities combined with the deep expertise of BiomEdit’s R&D team, which has advanced a novel approach to addressing a chronic condition with an engineered live bacterial therapeutic. By combining the strengths of BiomEdit and the IBRI, the collaboration looks to develop a new approach to keep animals, specifically cats, healthy in a safe and sustainable way.
The collaboration between the IBRI and BiomEdit is underwritten by the Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund (21 Fund), created by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC). The 21 Fund is a dedicated investment fund for Indiana-based companies in a growth stage that have a market size of more than $1 billion and demonstrate clear, sustainable competitive advantages and specific measurable outcomes with an in-state, non-profit research partner.
“Access to the 21 Fund and Indiana’s full ecosystem of support for growth-stage companies like BiomEdit unlocks our ability to innovate transformative, novel solutions faster,” said Schacht. “We are grateful for IEDC and their fund administrator, Applied Research Institute (ARI), for their support of BiomEdit’s mission to address some of the most important problems in animal health, sustainability and food security.”
