AgriNovus Indiana

Biotech – everything from innovation in seeds and animal vaccines to new foods and human medicines – hold tremendous opportunity to transform the future. The science also represents significant opportunity to create new jobs and improve America’s national security. Those were just a few of the key theses outlined in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 and key reasons why the US Department of Commerce designated Indiana one of 31 federal tech hubs in October. Today we are joined by Dave Roberts and Andrew Kossack of The Applied Research Institute to share more about what this designation means.&nbsp; They talk about how the tech hub came to be, Indiana’s strengths on the balance sheet – from agbioscience to advanced manufacturing – and our ability to collaborate across industries in the application process. A question you might have: what exactly is a tech hub? Dave and Andrew get into what the Heartland Bioworks tech hub means&nbsp;for Indiana, our future potential and how see animal, plant and human science coming together to advance the state’s economy.&nbsp;

Biotech – everything from innovation in seeds and animal vaccines to new foods and human medicines – hold tremendous opportunity to transform the future. The science also represents significant opportunity to create new jobs and improve America’s national security. Those were just a few of the key theses outlined in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 and key reasons why the US Department of Commerce designated Indiana one of 31 federal tech hubs in October. Today we are joined by Dave Roberts and Andrew Kossack of The Applied Research Institute to share more about what this designation means. 

They talk about how the tech hub came to be, Indiana’s strengths on the balance sheet – from agbioscience to advanced manufacturing – and our ability to collaborate across industries in the application process. A question you might have: what exactly is a tech hub? Dave and Andrew get into what the Heartland Bioworks tech hub means for Indiana, our future potential and how see animal, plant and human science coming together to advance the state’s economy. 

264. The intersection of animal, plant and human science

Workforce development is a topic that tops the list of policymakers and business leaders across the country; but true change in workforce development requires more than policy or curriculum. Field Atlas is an online career exploration platform, coupled with the power of on-campus peer ambassadors, to connect the future workforce to careers across food, animal health, plant science, agtech and agriculture. Today we are joined by Ball State University student and Field Atlas Ambassador, Rilynne Puckett, to talk careers, discovering agbioscience and to answer a big question: what are young people looking for in their professional lives?&nbsp; Rilynne dives into her accidental discovery of agbiosciences via the Field Atlas Company Tours program and how she instantly saw herself applying a chemistry degree to the industry. She’s been connecting with her peers on campus to share the agbioscience story – and talks their reaction to the opportunities in front of them.&nbsp; What are college students looking for as the enter the workforce? Rilynne gets into striving for purpose, doing something you love and making an impact on our world. &nbsp;

Rilynne Puckett

Field Atlas Ambassador, Ball State University

Workforce development is a topic that tops the list of policymakers and business leaders across the country; but true change in workforce development requires more than policy or curriculum. Field Atlas is an online career exploration platform, coupled with the power of on-campus peer ambassadors, to connect the future workforce to careers across food, animal health, plant science, agtech and agriculture. Today we are joined by Ball State University student and Field Atlas Ambassador, Rilynne Puckett, to talk careers, discovering agbioscience and to answer a big question: what are young people looking for in their professional lives? 

Rilynne dives into her accidental discovery of agbiosciences via the Field Atlas Company Tours program and how she instantly saw herself applying a chemistry degree to the industry. She’s been connecting with her peers on campus to share the agbioscience story – and talks their reaction to the opportunities in front of them. 

What are college students looking for as the enter the workforce? Rilynne gets into striving for purpose, doing something you love and making an impact on our world.  

331. Field Atlas’ Rilynne Puckett on striving for purpose + the growing interest in agbioscience careers among college students

A new survey of agribusiness professionals found that more than 70% spend more than 11 hours a week collecting, collating and analyzing data. It’s a challenge being tackled by Brazilian company, Sensix, and CEO Carlos Ribeiro joins us today to talk data as a huge task on-farm and their role in optimizing decisions for farmers.&nbsp;&nbsp; Tremendous troves of data exist on the farm and, surprisingly, Carlos says the problems facing farmers in the U.S. are much the same as they are in Brazil. He gets into decision science and stresses the importance of mindset for tech adoption – despite the size of the farm.&nbsp;&nbsp; So how is Sensix uniquely solving this problem? A tech guy at heart, Carlos says he realized the amount of data needed to adequately manage farms. He tells the Sensix story, consolidating software and creating one interface for the farmer.&nbsp;&nbsp; In a time of tight farm margins, tech adoption is a tough sell. Carlos dives into their mission for a clear return on investment and putting money in farmers’ pockets in the short and long-term. On his recent visit to Indiana, he marvels at farmers’ data logs, appetite for decisions and looks ahead to what’s next for Sensix.&nbsp;

Carlos Ribeiro

CEO, Sensix

A new survey of agribusiness professionals found that more than 70% spend more than 11 hours a week collecting, collating and analyzing data. It’s a challenge being tackled by Brazilian company, Sensix, and CEO Carlos Ribeiro joins us today to talk data as a huge task on-farm and their role in optimizing decisions for farmers.  

Tremendous troves of data exist on the farm and, surprisingly, Carlos says the problems facing farmers in the U.S. are much the same as they are in Brazil. He gets into decision science and stresses the importance of mindset for tech adoption – despite the size of the farm.  

So how is Sensix uniquely solving this problem? A tech guy at heart, Carlos says he realized the amount of data needed to adequately manage farms. He tells the Sensix story, consolidating software and creating one interface for the farmer.  

In a time of tight farm margins, tech adoption is a tough sell. Carlos dives into their mission for a clear return on investment and putting money in farmers’ pockets in the short and long-term. On his recent visit to Indiana, he marvels at farmers’ data logs, appetite for decisions and looks ahead to what’s next for Sensix. 

330. Decision science, optimizing data + uniquely solving problems with Sensix Ag’s Carlos Ribeiro

From the grand opening of BioBond's new Indiana location to the announcement of Sustainea and Primient's $400 million announcement, it's been a massive month for bioinnovation news. Mitch Frazier and Cayla Chiddister recap the month and look ahead to the rest of 2024 -- including AgriNovus' last QUADRANT of the year.

From the grand opening of BioBond's new Indiana location to the announcement of Sustainea and Primient's $400 million announcement, it's been a massive month for bioinnovation news. Mitch Frazier and Cayla Chiddister recap the month and look ahead to the rest of 2024 -- including AgriNovus' last QUADRANT of the year.

329. Mitch Frazier recaps a gigantic October for bioinnovation + long-term implications for farmers

The total healthcare spend relating to poor diet is quickly approaching $4 trillion annually&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001182" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to the American Heart Association</a>. This doesn't even include lost worker productivity.&nbsp; One of the key contributing factors to that is access to healthy foods. Scott Massey, founder and CEO of Anu, is an entrepreneur that unites the power of technology and health to bring a new category of innovation to agbioscience. He joins us to talk the access gap to nutrition in our country and Anu’s approach to nutrition – right at the point of consumption.&nbsp; From perishability to socioeconomics and beyond, nutrition access has many challenges to overcome. Scott gets into how Anu has brought their innovation to market – from homes to larger community-based organizations such as hospitals, churches, schools and beyond. He talks balance between developing top-notch hardtech and building a business for scale – and emphasizing their mission to not build the biggest tech system for indoor farming, but one that is most distributed.&nbsp; As the recent winner of AgriNovus’ HungerTech Challenge, a grant from the National Science Foundation and beyond, there is wind in Anu’s sails. Scott dives into what’s next, staying strategic and his advice to entrepreneurs who aspire to get started.&nbsp;

Scott Massey

Co-Founder + CEO, Anu 

The total healthcare spend relating to poor diet is quickly approaching $4 trillion annually according to the American Heart Association. This doesn't even include lost worker productivity.  One of the key contributing factors to that is access to healthy foods. Scott Massey, founder and CEO of Anu, is an entrepreneur that unites the power of technology and health to bring a new category of innovation to agbioscience. He joins us to talk the access gap to nutrition in our country and Anu’s approach to nutrition – right at the point of consumption. 

From perishability to socioeconomics and beyond, nutrition access has many challenges to overcome. Scott gets into how Anu has brought their innovation to market – from homes to larger community-based organizations such as hospitals, churches, schools and beyond. He talks balance between developing top-notch hardtech and building a business for scale – and emphasizing their mission to not build the biggest tech system for indoor farming, but one that is most distributed. 

As the recent winner of AgriNovus’ HungerTech Challenge, a grant from the National Science Foundation and beyond, there is wind in Anu’s sails. Scott dives into what’s next, staying strategic and his advice to entrepreneurs who aspire to get started. 

328.  Anu’s Scott Massey on uniting technology + health, closing the gap on nutrition access

Company culture is often referred to in business books and board rooms, but is hard to define. Beck’s Hybrids’ Bethany Gremel, Director of Brand Experience and Culture, joins today to answer a few big questions: what is company culture? How do you define it for impact?&nbsp; Bethany gets into culture as a living organism that needs fed and its foundation being a series of behaviors rather than words. She also talks about culture and brand working together, how their team fosters culture at Beck’s and getting new people&nbsp;integrated into the company successfully – starting with their interview process. &nbsp; How does culture keep going as employees age with the company? Bethany stresses the importance of loving and caring in the workplace and how what happens inside the company shows up on the outside of the company. Beck’s has expanded significantly over the last several years and as they’ve scaled, Bethany gets into the notion of “you cannot create culture, you have to catch it.” &nbsp;

Bethany Gremel

Director of Culture + Brand Experience, Beck's Hybrids

Company culture is often referred to in business books and board rooms, but is hard to define. Beck’s Hybrids’ Bethany Gremel, Director of Brand Experience and Culture, joins today to answer a few big questions: what is company culture? How do you define it for impact? 

Bethany gets into culture as a living organism that needs fed and its foundation being a series of behaviors rather than words. She also talks about culture and brand working together, how their team fosters culture at Beck’s and getting new people integrated into the company successfully – starting with their interview process.  

How does culture keep going as employees age with the company? Bethany stresses the importance of loving and caring in the workplace and how what happens inside the company shows up on the outside of the company. Beck’s has expanded significantly over the last several years and as they’ve scaled, Bethany gets into the notion of “you cannot create culture, you have to catch it.”  

327. Beck's Hybrids' Bethany Gremel on defining company culture + its critical link to brand

About 1.6 million barrels per day of petroleum jet fuel were consumed in the United States in 2023.&nbsp; That number is expected to increase to nearly 2 million barrels daily by 2050. Southwest Airlines is taking a bold move, migrating away from petroleum to sustainable fuels. Anthony Gregory, COO of Southwest Airlines Renewable Ventures, joins today to talk about its impact on agbioscience innovation, farmers and airline travelers in the future.&nbsp; As one of the world’s largest airlines, Anthony gets into Southwest’s proactive approach to sustainable aviation fuel, their investment arm aiding new companies in this space and seeing agriculture and aviation industries come together. He also talks about sustainable aviation fuel as a new market for ethanol producers and the critical role of the Midwest economy – farmers, universities, large-scale airline hubs and more – to lead in this space.&nbsp;&nbsp; So what will it take for sustainable aviation fuel to become a reality? Anthony talks economic and environmental sustainability, the current challenges facing SAF consumption and how ethanol producers can begin the process of increasing demand. He also talks alternative feedstocks and other byproducts in SAF production – and the Southwest Airlines investment approach to new technologies that that help bring innovation in this space to market.&nbsp; Anthony talks through this journey with Southwest Airlines and their stance of being “one of many.” Airlines are trying to make a big leap in this space and he’s optimistic that small steps forward in this space will create long-term lasting impact.&nbsp;

Anthony Gregory

COO, Southwest Airlines Renewable Ventures

About 1.6 million barrels per day of petroleum jet fuel were consumed in the United States in 2023.  That number is expected to increase to nearly 2 million barrels daily by 2050. Southwest Airlines is taking a bold move, migrating away from petroleum to sustainable fuels. Anthony Gregory, COO of Southwest Airlines Renewable Ventures, joins today to talk about its impact on agbioscience innovation, farmers and airline travelers in the future. 

As one of the world’s largest airlines, Anthony gets into Southwest’s proactive approach to sustainable aviation fuel, their investment arm aiding new companies in this space and seeing agriculture and aviation industries come together. He also talks about sustainable aviation fuel as a new market for ethanol producers and the critical role of the Midwest economy – farmers, universities, large-scale airline hubs and more – to lead in this space.  

So what will it take for sustainable aviation fuel to become a reality? Anthony talks economic and environmental sustainability, the current challenges facing SAF consumption and how ethanol producers can begin the process of increasing demand. He also talks alternative feedstocks and other byproducts in SAF production – and the Southwest Airlines investment approach to new technologies that that help bring innovation in this space to market. 

Anthony talks through this journey with Southwest Airlines and their stance of being “one of many.” Airlines are trying to make a big leap in this space and he’s optimistic that small steps forward in this space will create long-term lasting impact. 

326. Southwest Airlines Renewable Ventures’ Anthony Gregory on growing + scaling the sustainable aviation fuel market

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.

Workforce development is a topic that tops the list of policymakers and business leaders across the country; but true change in workforce development requires more than policy or curriculum. Field Atlas is an online career exploration platform, coupled with the power of on-campus peer ambassadors, to connect the future workforce to careers across food, animal health, plant science, agtech and agriculture. Today we are joined by Ball State University student and Field Atlas Ambassador, Rilynne Puckett, to talk careers, discovering agbioscience and to answer a big question: what are young people looking for in their professional lives?&nbsp;Rilynne dives into her accidental discovery of agbiosciences via the Field Atlas Company Tours program and how she instantly saw herself applying a chemistry degree to the industry. She’s been connecting with her peers on campus to share the agbioscience story – and talks their reaction to the opportunities in front of them.&nbsp;What are college students looking for as the enter the workforce? Rilynne gets into striving for purpose, doing something you love and making an impact on our world.

264. The intersection of animal, plant and human science

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Mitch Frazier

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