AgriNovus Indiana

Innovation in agbioscience has never been more critical. In today’s tough economy, farmers are looking for new ways to generate margin and with geopolitical instability around the world, food’s stabilizing force around the world is taking center stage. Former Army Colonel and Executive Vice President of The Directions Group (Aimpoint Research) joins today to talk forces of change in our food system, food security as national security and innovation for the farmer.&nbsp; Key Takeaways: &nbsp;<ul><li>The Directions Group’s recent Farmers of the Future research dives into how farmers are evolving, what they need and how his team sees this landscape changing in the future – including consolidation.&nbsp;</li><li>Agbioscience’s critical role in human health and its impact on our national security and military service.&nbsp;</li><li>Mark’s work with Indiana farmers to define the critical challenges facing their operations as the launch point for this year’s Producer-Led Innovation Challenge and The Directions Group’s methodology of tackling this feedback.&nbsp;</li><li>Labor management and administrative burden as huge hurdles for farmers to be successful – and why talking with a farmer will drive better outcomes for innovators.&nbsp;</li></ul> Read the study, Producer-Led Innovation Challenge Opportunity Identification, at agrinovusindiana.com/research.&nbsp;

Mark Purdy

EVP, The Directions Group

Innovation in agbioscience has never been more critical. In today’s tough economy, farmers are looking for new ways to generate margin and with geopolitical instability around the world, food’s stabilizing force around the world is taking center stage. Former Army Colonel and Executive Vice President of The Directions Group (Aimpoint Research) joins today to talk forces of change in our food system, food security as national security and innovation for the farmer. 

Key Takeaways:  

The Directions Group’s recent Farmers of the Future research dives into how farmers are evolving, what they need and how his team sees this landscape changing in the future – including consolidation. 

Agbioscience’s critical role in human health and its impact on our national security and military service.  

Mark’s work with Indiana farmers to define the critical challenges facing their operations as the launch point for this year’s Producer-Led Innovation Challenge and The Directions Group’s methodology of tackling this feedback. 

Labor management and administrative burden as huge hurdles for farmers to be successful – and why talking with a farmer will drive better outcomes for innovators. 

Read the study, Producer-Led Innovation Challenge Opportunity Identification, at agrinovusindiana.com/research. 

321. The Directions Group’s Mark Purdy on farmers of the future + their identified opportunities for innovation in agbioscience

This weekly podcast dives into the agbioscience sector, where agriculture, life sciences innovation and cutting-edge technology converge. Agbioscience is an in-depth conversation with leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs across food, animal health. plant science and agtech. Learn more about industry innovation and where it's heading from those leading the way.

Agbioscience

Sustainability in agbioscience requires two key inputs: environment and economics. Today we are joined by Rumin8’s head of research and development, Dr. Lucas Huntimer, to talk economic durability, sustainability and how his team aims to decarbonize 100 million cows by 2030. Lucas dives into the challenge at hand – methane – and Rumin8’s differentiated approach to innovating in this space. Rather than focusing on methane knockdown, their team is redirecting methane emission back into productivity, returning investment back to the producer. With an uptick in innovation happening in this space, we had to ask: why now? Lucas talks through the rise in focus surrounding cattle, their bold mission to decarbonize 100 million cows by 2030 and the hurdles they’ll face to get there, from regulatory to capital.

Lucas Huntimer

Head of Research and Development, Rumin8

Sustainability in agbioscience requires two key inputs: environment and economics. Today we are joined by Rumin8’s head of research and development, Dr. Lucas Huntimer, to talk economic durability, sustainability and how his team aims to decarbonize 100 million cows by 2030.  

Lucas dives into the challenge at hand – methane – and Rumin8’s differentiated approach to innovating in this space. Rather than focusing on methane knockdown, their team is redirecting methane emission back into productivity, returning investment back to the producer. 

With an uptick in innovation happening in this space, we had to ask: why now? Lucas talks through the rise in focus surrounding cattle, their bold mission to decarbonize 100 million cows by 2030 and the hurdles they’ll face to get there, from regulatory to capital. 

320. Rumin8’s Dr. Lucas Huntimer on durability, sustainability + the decarbonization of 100 million cows by 2030 

Discover the journey of Salena Scardina, from her start at McDonald's Corporation to becoming the Chief Marketing Officer of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, and her mission to redefine Indiana's global brand. In this episode of Agbioscience, Salena shares her insights on the customer experience, the power of understanding your audience and the innovative promise of Indiana's economy looking toward the future. Dive into the discussion on how Indiana is boldly claiming its place on the world stage, thanks to strategic branding and a deep commitment to innovation in agriculture, technology and touting what we do best – work together to achieve big outcomes.&nbsp;

Salena Scardina

CMO, Indiana Economic Development Corporation

Salena Scardina, CMO of Indiana Economic Development Corp, shares insights on Indiana's underestimated Agbioscience sector and her journey from McDonald's to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) on Agbioscience with host Mitch Frazier.

319. IEDC’s Salena Scardina on For the Bold, the customer experience + knowing when to automate vs. innovate

AgriNovus CEO, Mitch Frazier, recaps August with highlights from the Rally Innovation Conference, the upcoming Producer-Led Innovation Challenge, Field Atlas hitting college campuses across Indiana and events coming up for you to join!

AgriNovus CEO, Mitch Frazier, recaps August with highlights from the Rally Innovation Conference, the upcoming Producer-Led Innovation Challenge, Field Atlas hitting college campuses across Indiana and events coming up for you to join!

318. Mitch Frazier recaps the Rally Innovation Conference, talks Producer-Led Innovation Challenge and more

Venture capital has become synonymous with innovation. And one firm is turning to an event featuring world renowned artists, actors, athletes and innovators (plus a multi-million-dollar pitch competition) to drive new creative collisions. Toph Day, CEO of Elevate Ventures and mastermind of the Rally Innovation Conference, joins today to talk the state of venture capital, false growth driving bad decisions and his optimism heading into the last quarter of 2024. Part of his optimism starts with a major event kicking off in Indianapolis this week – the 2nd Rally Innovation Conference. Toph stresses the value of other vertical perspectives, bringing a wide range of expertise together at Rally and what attendees can expect at the event this week (in one word: Toph says to expect magic). What’s so different about Rally, anyway? Toph acknowledges that innovation doesn’t happen 1 on 1 between investor and entrepreneur and introduces a critical figure to the process: the disparate stakeholder (the figure upon which the event was launched). Between the demo floor, nationally renowned keynote speakers and a multi-million-dollar pitch competition, Rally is designed to bring together leaders across multiple disciplines to drive new, creative waves of innovation. With over 3,000 attendees in year one, Toph has a big vision for Rally’s sophomore season. This includes keynotes from Tia White, Alex Rodriguez, Marcus Lemonis and Jann Mardenborough (think creative collisions) + fantastic breakout sessions across food and agtech (among other verticals). Learn more about Rally at rallyinnovation.com. Use code RALLYAgrinovus to get 40% off your ticket.

Toph Day

CEO, Elevate Ventures

Venture capital has become synonymous with innovation. And one firm is turning to an event featuring world renowned artists, actors, athletes and innovators (plus a multi-million-dollar pitch competition) to drive new creative collisions. Toph Day, CEO of Elevate Ventures and mastermind of the Rally Innovation Conference, joins today to talk the state of venture capital, false growth driving bad decisions and his optimism heading into the last quarter of 2024.  

Part of his optimism starts with a major event kicking off in Indianapolis this week – the 2nd Rally Innovation Conference. Toph stresses the value of other vertical perspectives, bringing a wide range of expertise together at Rally and what attendees can expect at the event this week (in one word: Toph says to expect magic). 

What’s so different about Rally, anyway? Toph acknowledges that innovation doesn’t happen 1 on 1 between investor and entrepreneur and introduces a critical figure to the process: the disparate stakeholder (the figure upon which the event was launched). Between the demo floor, nationally renowned keynote speakers and a multi-million-dollar pitch competition, Rally is designed to bring together leaders across multiple disciplines to drive new, creative waves of innovation.   

With over 3,000 attendees in year one, Toph has a big vision for Rally’s sophomore season. This includes keynotes from Tia White, Alex Rodriguez, Marcus Lemonis and Jann Mardenborough (think creative collisions) + fantastic breakout sessions across food and agtech (among other verticals).  

Learn more about Rally at rallyinnovation.com. Use code RALLYAgrinovus to get 40% off your ticket.

317. Toph Day on the Rally Innovation Conference + the disparate stakeholder driving creative collisions

The animal health market – estimated by many sources to be $60 billion globally – spans everything from pet health to livestock and holds applications for innovations in feeds, vaccines, therapeutics and beyond. Joining us this week to talk about this evolving market is Tim Bettington, EVP of Corporate Strategy and Market Development at Elanco, to share his front row view on the evolution of animal health and the driving forces behind its growth. &nbsp; Tim talks Elanco’s bifurcation between pet and livestock health, the dynamic challenge of bringing innovation to market in both categories and their unique individual challenges and opportunities. He also gets into investment dollars flowing heavily into the pet space – and how to balance that against innovation in livestock as potential to transform our food system and planet. &nbsp; Innovation in livestock has been focused largely on methane reduction in cattle and Tim shares Elanco’s approach to creating products for the animal health space while also giving farmers a pathway to economic and environmental sustainability. Tim talks their partnership with Athian, the launch of Bovaer in the U.S. market and Elanco’s role in the future of the agricultural industry. &nbsp; How does Elanco view their balance between internal R&amp;D and external partnerships? Tim dives into the critical role of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize solutions to problems more quickly and what emerging trends will create a bigger footprint moving forward. He also talks the OneHealth Innovation District coming to Indianapolis, innovating for overall health and what’s ahead. &nbsp;

Tim Bettington

EVP Corporate Strategy + Market Development, Elanco

The animal health market – estimated by many sources to be $60 billion globally – spans everything from pet health to livestock and holds applications for innovations in feeds, vaccines, therapeutics and beyond. Joining us this week to talk about this evolving market is Tim Bettington, EVP of Corporate Strategy and Market Development at Elanco, to share his front row view on the evolution of animal health and the driving forces behind its growth.  

Tim talks Elanco’s bifurcation between pet and livestock health, the dynamic challenge of bringing innovation to market in both categories and their unique individual challenges and opportunities. He also gets into investment dollars flowing heavily into the pet space – and how to balance that against innovation in livestock as potential to transform our food system and planet.  

Innovation in livestock has been focused largely on methane reduction in cattle and Tim shares Elanco’s approach to creating products for the animal health space while also giving farmers a pathway to economic and environmental sustainability. Tim talks their partnership with Athian, the launch of Bovaer in the U.S. market and Elanco’s role in the future of the agricultural industry.  

How does Elanco view their balance between internal R&amp;D and external partnerships? Tim dives into the critical role of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize solutions to problems more quickly and what emerging trends will create a bigger footprint moving forward. He also talks the OneHealth Innovation District coming to Indianapolis, innovating for overall health and what’s ahead.  

316. Elanco’s Tim Bettington on the evolution of animal health, the barriers of bringing innovation to market

The animal health market – estimated by many sources to be $60 billion globally – spans everything from pet health to livestock and holds applications for innovations in feeds, vaccines, therapeutics and beyond. Joining us this week to talk about this evolving market is Tim Bettington, EVP of Corporate Strategy and Market Development at Elanco, to share his front row view on the evolution of animal health and the driving forces behind its growth.  

Tim talks Elanco’s bifurcation between pet and livestock health, the dynamic challenge of bringing innovation to market in both categories and their unique individual challenges and opportunities. He also gets into investment dollars flowing heavily into the pet space – and how to balance that against innovation in livestock as potential to transform our food system and planet.  

Innovation in livestock has been focused largely on methane reduction in cattle and Tim shares Elanco’s approach to creating products for the animal health space while also giving farmers a pathway to economic and environmental sustainability. Tim talks their partnership with Athian, the launch of Bovaer in the U.S. market and Elanco’s role in the future of the agricultural industry.  

How does Elanco view their balance between internal R∓D and external partnerships? Tim dives into the critical role of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize solutions to problems more quickly and what emerging trends will create a bigger footprint moving forward. He also talks the OneHealth Innovation District coming to Indianapolis, innovating for overall health and what’s ahead.

Food: it’s the only economy that touches every person the planet and ideally, we have a relationship with it three times a day. Despite that, many don’t know where their food comes from or its connection to the farm. Christy Wright, Director of Global Food at Corteva Agriscience, joins us today to connect the farmgate to the dinnerplate, the global challenge of food security and what dynamics play into the food economy.&nbsp;&nbsp; Christy dives into what unites farmers and consumers: the desire for a safe, affordable food supply created sustainably. She also gets into the convergence of food and health, Corteva’s role in optimizing nutrition across the globe through farmer inputs and linking arms with food companies to optimize ingredients.&nbsp;&nbsp; As food continues to optimize for health, what emerging trends excite Christy? She talks biologicals, regenerative agriculture and other “leveling up” solutions that create healthy crops that meet the needs of a growing population.&nbsp;&nbsp; As for how the needs of farmers are being met on the other end of the value chain, Christy also gets into Corteva Catalyst, bringing innovation to market and what she sees as the next chapter of our food system.&nbsp;

Christy Wright

Director, Global Food Systems, Corteva Agriscience

Food: it’s the only economy that touches every person the planet and ideally, we have a relationship with it three times a day. Despite that, many don’t know where their food comes from or its connection to the farm. Christy Wright, Director of Global Food at Corteva Agriscience, joins us today to connect the farmgate to the dinnerplate, the global challenge of food security and what dynamics play into the food economy.  

Christy dives into what unites farmers and consumers: the desire for a safe, affordable food supply created sustainably. She also gets into the convergence of food and health, Corteva’s role in optimizing nutrition across the globe through farmer inputs and linking arms with food companies to optimize ingredients.  

As food continues to optimize for health, what emerging trends excite Christy? She talks biologicals, regenerative agriculture and other “leveling up” solutions that create healthy crops that meet the needs of a growing population.  

As for how the needs of farmers are being met on the other end of the value chain, Christy also gets into Corteva Catalyst, bringing innovation to market and what she sees as the next chapter of our food system. 

315. Corteva Agriscience’s Christy Wright on the convergence of ag, food and health + bringing innovation to market

Cooperatives and retailers have been critical infrastructure for agriculture for generations. Keystone Cooperative CEO, Kevin Still, joins today to discuss their key role on farming operations and how ag retail has evolved since its inception.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As on-farm technologies continue to advance so does its role in cooperatives’ product portfolio. Kevin dives into Keystone Cooperative’s approach to being a trusted advisor on products and solutions that create value for their farmers – from data management to labor.&nbsp;&nbsp; Keystone Cooperative is just a few months old and Kevin gives an update on their people, processes and bringing synergies together. Looking ahead, he talks investing in new technologies at scale and being a conduit between emerging technologies and the farmer. He also gets into the next four decades of agriculture and a new evolution of the farmer.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Kevin Still

CEO, Keystone Cooperative

Cooperatives and retailers have been critical infrastructure for agriculture for generations. Keystone Cooperative CEO, Kevin Still, joins today to discuss their key role on farming operations and how ag retail has evolved since its inception.   

As on-farm technologies continue to advance so does its role in cooperatives’ product portfolio. Kevin dives into Keystone Cooperative’s approach to being a trusted advisor on products and solutions that create value for their farmers – from data management to labor.  

Keystone Cooperative is just a few months old and Kevin gives an update on their people, processes and bringing synergies together. Looking ahead, he talks investing in new technologies at scale and being a conduit between emerging technologies and the farmer. He also gets into the next four decades of agriculture and a new evolution of the farmer.  

Recent Episodes

SEASON 7

320. Rumin8’s Dr. Lucas Huntimer on durability, sustainability + the decarbonization of 100 million cows by 2030

319. IEDC’s Salena Scardina on For the Bold, the customer experience + knowing when to automate vs. innovate

318. Mitch Frazier recaps the Rally Innovation Conference, talks Producer-Led Innovation Challenge and more

317. Toph Day on the Rally Innovation Conference + the disparate stakeholder driving creative collisions

316. Elanco’s Tim Bettington on the evolution of animal health, the barriers of bringing innovation to market

315. Corteva Agriscience’s Christy Wright on the convergence of ag, food and health + bringing innovation to market

314. Kevin Still on a hot start for Keystone Cooperative, being a conduit between tech + the farmer amidst a new speed of change

About The Show

Agbioscience

Mitch Frazier

CEO, AgriNovus Indiana