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Join Purdue experts for the Digital Ag Showcase on Friday, July 14, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET at the Beck Agricultural Center in West Lafayette. The free event includes demonstrations featuring both leading-edge research and practical applications related to data-driven agriculture.
The program will feature an energetic presentation by full-time farmer and part-time software engineer/architect Aaron Ault of Rochester, Ind. With motivating examples from his crop and livestock farm, Ault will demonstrate how simple digital platforms can enable improved logistics and decision making.
Farmers, industry professionals, educators, students and anyone with an interest in digital agriculture are encouraged to attend. Preregistration is requested at purdue.ag/digitalagshowcase by July 6 as lunch will be provided.
More than 34 million people, including nine million children, in the United States are food insecure. It’s a staggering reality that has become a call to action for innovators seeking new approaches to better connect food supply to food demand. Today’s guest is a pioneer in innovating to improve access. Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, Chief Health Officer of Elevance Health gets into the criticality of better nutrition to drive positive health outcomes and innovative, digital worlds colliding to create an ecosystem where food is medicine (and is accessible to all).
As a country so well resourced, how do we address a growing problem that is food insecurity? Shantanu gets into our HungerTech Innovation Challenge, digital connections creating better access to food and nutrition and it being a part of the Elevance Whole Health toolkit for their users. He also talks about nutritious food as a right in America, kicking the stigma surrounding SNAP and how Elevance Heath views innovation in nutrition security. To learn more about Elevance Health’s investment in food and nutrition security, click here.
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Premier ready-to-eat bakery brand Café Valley® today announced it invested more than $5 million in its Marion, Ind. facility by adding high-speed production equipment to accommodate its new 12-count and 24-count Mini Cupcake product line. The investment has resulted in 83 job opportunities for numerous employment levels across first-to-third shifts.
Café Valley will host a hiring event on Monday, June 26 from 9 a.m. to Noon and 2 to 5 p.m. at its Marion facility located at 3701 S. Adams Street. Job opportunities will be offered on-the-spot for select candidates with wages starting at $15 per hour for entry-level first-shift positions and $17 per hour for entry level second-and-third shift positions.
“At Café Valley, we firmly believe in maximizing opportunity for the communities we serve,” said Brian Owens, Chief Executive Officer at Café Valley. “By investing in our facilities, we’re also investing in our local communities by adding jobs with competitive pay and numerous benefits. We are eager to grow our team in Marion because of this manufacturing investment and new product line.”
Café Valley offers a fast-track career pathing program to cultivate ownership and opportunity from day one. The program allows entry level staff to follow a promotional path from production team member to supervisor in training – in some instances – within the course of a year. Throughout the year, staff members could earn several pay increases, with higher wages offered to second-and-third shift workers. A full range of healthcare and wellness benefits, 401K match, and paid time off is also offered.
The more than $5 million investment comes one month after Café Valley announced the launch of its highly anticipated mini cupcake product line. Available in a variety of flavors, Café Valley’s new Everyday Mini Cupcakes and Seasonal Mini Cupcakes will be sold at select grocers nationwide beginning this summer.
“Mini iced cupcakes are a core offering in many retailers across the country and drive significant excitement to the in-store bakery category,” said Matt Goldthwaite, Senior Vice President of Sales at Café Valley. “We’ve received tremendous feedback on our new mini iced cupcakes and are excited to get them in consumers’ hands.”
Café Valley currently employs 560 team members at its Marion facility.
For more information on Café Valley’s job opportunities, visit: cafevalleyjobs.com. For more information on Café Valley’s product offerings, visit: cafevalley.com.
RuralUrban Labs, a “HardTech” research and development organization headquartered in the historic Camden Opera House, which has placed special emphasis on the societal implications of uniting rural and urban entrepreneurs, is partnering with Hawk Networks to build a 5G Smart Farm and “HardTech” hub. Hawk Networks will use its Althea platform and KeyLTE™ to provide next generation farm-wide connectivity to power the test and development for the next generation of automated farm equipment and machinery that will be deployed across the farms surrounding Camden.
Hawk Networks developed KeyLTE™ as a unique approach to building private LTE and 5G networks. KeyLTE™ uses an edge EPC (evolved packet core) embedded into the home router. This empowers farmers in Indiana to build connectivity solutions at a fraction of the cost of legacy cellular networks. Deploying a KeyLTE™ network is simple and similar in nature to setting up a wi-fi network.
This partnership includes a joint investment by Hawk and RuralUrban to bring high speed broadband internet to the residents of Camden. Hawk Networks will function as a Virtual Network Operator and support the deployment of a high speed broadband network utilizing fiber optic, fixed wireless, and CBRS LTE technologies. Hawk Networks has been an industry leader in the deployment of virtual network services which are powered by the “Althea” software platform. Althea offers an innovative system for routing network traffic and billing, which enables building and operating networks in communities that currently lack fast, affordable internet and mobile options.
“Althea’s technology allows us to deliver robust connectivity in a community driven and sustainable way. Instead of treating mobile and private 5G networks as separate from broadband, communities like Camden can build holistic networks with Althea,” said Deborah Simpier, Founder and CEO of Hawk Networks. “We are excited to work together with RuralUrban Labs to provide broadband access and support the AgTech innovation at Camden’s 500 Acre 5G Farm.”
By supporting the area with connectivity, RuralUrban Labs is now able to increase the footprint of innovative Agtech, autonomous and artificial intelligence solutions which are being tested and deployed in Camden, including connecting 20 acres of the RuralUrban Labs “5G Farm – Carbon Sequestration Testbed.” This will also contribute towards RuralUrban’s mission of enhancing the educational opportunities of local high school students through 21st century internship opportunities and other socially focused engagements.
“On these 500 acres of land, we are developing, testing and commercializing cutting edge revolutionary Agtech, covered by numerous patents that will work to improve a farmers livelihoods. Partnering with Hawk Networks and using KeyLTE™ provides the connectivity needed to further test and refine these technologies will allow us to focus on the tech commercialization in a much more robust way,” said Neil Mylet, founder of RuralUrban Labs.
Forty chances – that’s the number of times a farmer has in his or her lifetime to optimize growing a crop. It’s also a title of a great book by Howard G. Buffet who describes the realities, challenges, maximization of profit and preservation of legacy that go into the decisions farmers make each season. Critical to optimizing those calculations and managing the complexity, is ag retail or co-ops. And joining us today is the leader of one of the largest coops in the Midwest is Jeff Troike, CEO of Ceres Solutions.
Jeff talks about the consolidation of co-ops and the evolution of meeting the needs of farmers to fuel growth. He also gets into innovations driving profitable growth, being a source of decision-making for farmers and areas ripe for new opportunities when it comes to development and innovation. So many changes have come in the last ten years – what comes in the next five? Jeff gets into automation, efficiency and systems of accuracy to make sure that the one percent focused on growing and producing food can make that happen for 100% of the population.
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The Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) announced today that Katie Nelson has been selected as Deputy Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.
“We are so excited to promote a longstanding public servant, like Katie, to second in command for the Indiana State Department of Agriculture,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “I have worked alongside Katie for over six years now and she has been a strong advocate for farmers and agriculture in Indiana. I am sure that she will continue to push this industry forward in the coming years. Congratulations, Katie.”
As deputy director of the department, Nelson will support the director in achieving ISDA’s mission and strategies. Among many responsibilities, she will oversee the day-to-day operations of the department, represent ISDA at events, engage with producer organizations and identify opportunities to grow the state’s agriculture sector.
Nelson has served and will continue to serve as a liaison between agricultural businesses, state agencies and local units of government.
“We are excited to see Katie flourish in this role within our department,” said Don Lamb, director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. “Katie has a passion for agriculture, public service and supporting staff. I am hopeful this role will continue to support her as a public servant and bring our staff and department great success.”
Nelson has been with the department since 2017. She was previously Director of Legislative Affairs within the department, a role she has held since 2020. Prior to that she was the program manager of policy and regulatory affairs at ISDA.
Nelson’s past work at ISDA has included evaluating the legislative and regulatory landscape at all levels of government while positioning the department to support Indiana’s agricultural industry. She also served as executive director of the Indiana Land Resources Council, which was created to assist state and local decision-makers with land use tools and policies.
“Working for ISDA over the last several years has provided me with numerous opportunities for personal and professional growth, and allowed me to support my favorite industry, agriculture,” said Nelson. “I am looking forward to this new challenge of supporting our outstanding staff and continuing to pursue the ISDA mission of bettering Indiana agriculture within policy work, growing economically and enhancing our stewardship of natural resources.”
Nelson graduated in December of 2016 from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s degree in political science. In 2019, Nelson graduated from the Agribusiness Council of Indiana’s Emerging Professionals Leadership Program. Nelson also is a 2021 graduate of the Richard G. Lugar Excellence in Public Service Series. In the summer of 2024, she will become a graduate of the AgriInstitue’s Agriculture Leadership Program, Class 20.
Nelson resides in Franklin with her husband, two children and beloved dog.
Following their participation in AgriNovus’ HungerTech Innovation Challenge in 2022, KLaunch and BlueSky Commerce, announce the launch of FoodBridge, an e-commerce and AI-powered engine built to revolutionize a pathway to economic sustainability for food banks. The turnkey solution was introduced via an informative webinar available for viewing here.
FoodBridge is designed with food banks’ specific needs in mind and harnesses the power of KLaunch’s KBot Lightning, an AI platform that provides the opportunity to easily build conversational flows for operational and marketing purposes. The end-to-end platform delivers one-to-one engagement via messaging streams coupled with an apples, shoppable digital storefront and powers all messaging communication and support from the time of enrollment to delivery. Once deployed, citizens can shop a food bank’s digital storefront via their mobile device and select free food items as well as purchase food using SNAP benefits at checkout, allowing monetary funds to fuel reallocation and extension of services within food banks. Once the order is processed and packed, FoodBridge orders are delivered free of charge to shoppers’ doorsteps through qualified delivery programs with Amazon and others.
“We know the challenges in this space as food banks remain on a treadmill life cycle of funding to sustain and improve operational efficiencies and scale to meet demands,” said Josh Ross, KLaunch Co-Founder and CEO. “An extremely small percentage of food banks are enrolled to accept SNAP benefits, but they work diligently to help citizens gain access to them, only to witness those EBT benefits be spent at corporate retailers that do not provide the same quality of food or value to neighbors. Our solutions move beyond talk and provide world-class conversational AI and e-commerce solutions at no upfront costs to food banks.”
FoodBridge is now available to support food banks and can be implemented in three to six months with the help of the FoodBridge expert team. FoodBridge investment will provide food bank partners reliable, economic stability, separate from donations, and ensure SNAP benefits are used toward healthy selections and have more impact.
“FoodBridge’s digital ecosystem lends today’s most powerful technologies to organizations that need them most and, often can least afford to implement them,” said Kevin Lyons, BlueSky Chief Strategy Officer. “We are lucky to have worked alongside KLaunch to help engineer an e-commerce and AI-powered engine that presents such potential for direct and immediate community impact.”
For more information on FoodBridge, please visit myfoodbridge.com. For more information on KLaunch and BlueSky Commerce, visit klaunch.io and blueskycommerce.io.
The power of technology to transform how America serves its hungry is the focus of the HungerTech Innovation Challenge. Presented by Elevance Health and supported byShipt, TechPoint and AT&T, this year’s winners join us today to share how they are harnessing the power of innovation and technology to connect food supply with food demand.
GreenBasket developed CropSpots, a click-and-collect model that delivers farmer’s market goods to areas of frequent community engagement instead of homes. With delivery costs not being covered by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), participants can opt-in for group deliveries that allow that cost to be divided and much more manageable. GreenBasket’s team is comprised of IUPUI students Shreyas Patel, Drishti Dinesh Jogadia, Nisarg Hiteshkumar Rajpura and Aditya Suresh Nair.
South Bend, Ind.-based Cultivate Food Rescue received a runner-up prize of $5,000 co-sponsored by AT&T and TechPoint. Their platform, ShelfLife, is a customer-facing software solution intended to connect the upstream food supplier and donor in the value chain with a Food Hub central organizer that can easily connect to downstream distribution centers (food pantries) and ultimately the pantry end-user. The company’s model is already in use and has helped to expand the amount of food rescued and distributed to over 2 million pounds per month. Cultivate Food Rescue’s team includes Jim Conklin and Maxxamillion Hamm.
Learn more about AgriNovus Indiana’s HungerTech Innovation Challenge here.
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AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the state’s agbioscience economy, today announced Indianapolis-based GreenBasket has won the HungerTech Innovation Challenge, securing the company $25,000 to help advance its tech-enabled food security product.
Presented by Elevance Health, the HungerTech Innovation Challenge is a four-week accelerator supporting entrepreneurs to create tech-enabled businesses that connect food-insecure populations to for-profit and not-for-profit food networks.
“HungerTech is a powerful experience for innovators that unites entrepreneurship and business to inspire the creation of technologies to serve those in need,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “We look forward to working with the GreenBasket team to realize their vision of using technology to connect food supply with those that need it most.”
GreenBasket developed CropSpots, a click-and-collect model that delivers farmer’s market goods to areas of frequent community engagement instead of homes. With delivery costs not being covered by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), participants can opt-in for group deliveries that allow that cost to be divided and much more manageable. GreenBasket’s team is comprised of IUPUI students Shreyas Patel, Drishti Dinesh Jogadia, Nisarg Hiteshkumar Rajpura and Aditya Suresh Nair.
“Food insecurity is one of the most pressing issues of our time,” said Drishti Dinesh from Team GreenBasket. “Working on the HungerTech Innovation Challenge to create a technology that can create positive change in this space is rewarding, and we look forward to working with AgriNovus to continue accelerating our solution.”
South Bend, Ind.-based Cultivate Food Rescue received a runner-up prize of $5,000 co-sponsored by AT&T and TechPoint. Their platform, ShelfLife, is a customer-facing software solution intended to connect the upstream food supplier and donor in the value chain with a Food Hub central organizer that can easily connect to downstream distribution centers (food pantries) and ultimately the pantry end-user. The company’s model is already in use and has helped to expand the amount of food rescued and distributed to over 2 million pounds per month. Cultivate Food Rescue’s team includes Jim Conklin and Maxxamillion Hamm.
Food Box, a student-led team from IUPUI, received an honorable mention for their solution. Comprised of students Sreemayi Reddy Rapolu, Ritu Harish Salian, Kshitij Patil and Ikshitha Reddy, the Food Box team developed a smart dispenser with healthy meals and snacks placed in food deserts to provide access to food and better nutrition. Items can be ordered on-site or pre-ordered via mobile app and picked up at any Food Box location.
In addition to Elevance Health, leaders from AT&T, Gleaners, Parkview Mirro Center for Research and Innovation, Shipt 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. Tackling and Solving Food Insecurity with Private Sector Innovations identified the need for new technologies to drive connectivity between food access and populations experiencing food insecurity. Learn more about AgriNovus Indiana’s work on combatting food insecurity here.