Agbioscience comes to you from the first ever Indiana Farm Bureau Indiana Ag Threats and Security Summit hosted in partnership with Beck’s Hybrids, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. We had the opportunity to speak with Megan Ritter (Indiana Farm Bureau), Herb Stapleton (FBI) and Aaron Pierce (Pierce Aerospace) on the breadth, timeliness and criticality of keeping farming operations secure to maintain a safe, abundant food supply.  

We also cover:  

• A March Quadrant recap and a look ahead to our May 14 event. Register here: https://agrinovusindiana.com/quadrant/ 
• Big pre-seed funding news for startup Gripp. Listen to their recent episode of Agbioscience here: https://podcast.agrinovusindiana.com/public/215/Agbioscience-8a9a4381/f0137c47 
• ReproHealth Technologies as the winner of the first-ever Agbioscience Innovator Award at the TechPoint Mira Awards 

Gene editing in plants – it's been heralded as the next step-function change in the advancement of agriculture. One Indiana company is advancing the technology fresh off a $144 million venture capital raise. Claudia Nari, Chief Product Officer of Inari, joins today to talk through this historic time for gene editing and biotechnology at large. They get into:  

• From speed to precision, Claudia lays out the differentiation of gene editing to other types of plant breeding 
• Crops of focus for Inari right now and stresses they’re focused on to enable farmer success 
• The company’s recent venture capital raise, their value proposition and educating investors 
• Inari’s unique advantage (knowing what to do, having the tools to do it and being able to do those at the same time) 
• The status of field trials and what commercialization will look like for Inari 
• Biggest problems in-field to be solved through gene editing – from yield to resource efficiencies 
• Regulatory hurdles and Claudia’s perspective on the acceptance of gene editing as a technology 
• When will Inari technology be in customer fields? And what’s next? 

The Economic Policy Institute estimates there are 2.4 million employees in U.S. agriculture and Purdue finds that 40% of new ag jobs go unfilled. One entrepreneur is turning to computer vision, artificial intelligence and robotics – maybe a little autonomy – to try to address these challenges facing farmers. Mike Jacob, founder and CEO of TerraForce, joins to talk farmer-led innovation, solving for the labor gap and jobs to be done. We get into:  

• The overview of the farm labor market, its challenges and where TerraForce specifically focuses right now in the specialty melon crop market 
• What challenges face melon producers when it comes to harvest 
• How Mike sees this new era of AI and computer vision shaping precision in agbioscience innovation 
• What TerraForce does, solving labor challenges and how they plan to tackle a real problem facing farmers 
• Mike gets into seeing his first melon harvest, identifying the problem to be solved and innovating from there 
• The criticality of melons – yes melons – to make an impact on his community as an entrepreneur 
• Where the TerraForce product sits today and how regional producers are the critical testbed to the company’s success 
• TerraForce’s recent fundraise and what it will enable them to do 
• Mike’s take on the ag’s jobs to be done: ag becoming less optimized and finding ways to become more resilient to big changes 

Stage content at events like World AgriTech is always of highest quality but there are conversations happening behind the scenes that give a sense of what’s happening in the industry. Brook Cunningham, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Corteva Agriscience, and Rob Dongoski, Food and Agribusiness Leader at Kearney, joined us for a conversation at World AgriTech to get perspective on many topics, including:  

• A volatile market – and the reminder that it’s also cyclical 
• The tipping point for investors and the critical questions they have beyond just yield at this point in time 
• Corteva’s balanced approach between internal and external innovation and the company’s areas of focus when it comes to investment and partnership 
• How Kearney is advising companies seeking investment – of all sizes – in this volatile time (hint: don’t go it alone) 
• Areas of innovation that are seeing traction from investors 
• The importance of creating certainty around the noise – from regulatory to policy and beyond 
• How they both see this market cycle differently than past cycles 
• The role of food and consumers in this next evolution of food and agriculture 
• Crystal ball: what are the conversations at World AgriTech like five years from now? 

Identifying customer needs – jobs to be done – it's the core of innovation. But what are the jobs that need to be done? What are those things left undone as we head into the 2025 growing season? And what does the current economy, trade environment and overall farm sentiment mean for innovators and the farmers they serve? Brad Fruth, Director of Innovation at Beck’s Hybrids, joins this week to make sense of it all. We get into:  

• What’s on farmers minds given the current state of the ag economy 
• Big trends Brad is seeing aside from the macroeconomic headwinds and tailwinds 
• The role of biologicals and seed traits in this current economy 
• Beck’s approach to innovation and helping emerging companies bring new ideas to market 
• The differentiation of go-to market in ag versus other industries and the criticality of patient capital from VCs 
• Areas for great impact in agtech right now as Brad sees it 
• The importance of staying lean when you’re starting up and recalling really great technologies that didn’t hit the market because they ballooned and got too big, too fast 

Research estimates the global animal health market to be roughly $8 billion, a number analyst firm Grand View Research expects to grow at a 10% compounded annual growth rate through 2030. Much of that growth will be driven by biotechnology. Dr. Todd Zion, CEO and founder of Akston Biosciences, joins this week to help understand what is happening in the biotech markets, specifically as it relates to companion animal innovation. We get into:  

• Where the market sits today and how it is evolving 
• Akston Biosciences’ 2024 partnership announcement with Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine focused on a therapeutic for canine oncology 
• His approach to animal health innovation through precision proteins creating affordable, effective treatments for companion animals 
• What sits in the Akston Biosciences pipeline currently and the company’s approach to cost-effectiveness while also staying innovative 
• Todd’s past work in human health, how he sees two sides – animal and human health – coming together to push innovation further, faster 
• The regulatory hurdles faced by both human and animal health innovators that delay getting safe, effective treatments to market 
• A big need for more risk capital coming into the animal health innovation market  

Pitchbook reports that of venture capital deals in 2024, roughly 30% of them were down rounds or flat, meaning their valuation of the companies either went backwards or were the same round to round. It’s a trend that will continue, so how can entrepreneurs break the cycle? Matt Tyner, managing partner of America’s most active venture capital firm – Elevate Ventures, joins today to make sense of what’s ahead and how innovators can succeed. He gets into:  

• The current state of venture capital – and the criticality of taking a step back to understand where things sit today 
• Investors’ increased focus on profitability and not being able to cut your way to growth 
• Artificial intelligence as an enabler – not a vertical  
• Does the future include a shift to debt versus venture 
• The cost of innovation and the role of an investor in this era of venture capital 
• What the current conversation with portfolio companies looks like for Elevate Ventures 
• What Matt sees as emerging trends in agbioscience 
• The most important jobs to be done in the industry 

Mitch Frazier and Cayla Chiddister recap February by reviewing his three big trends in agbioscience for 2025, big investment news for Ingredion, Liberation Labs, Corteva Catalyst and TerraForce and look ahead to big events in March - including Quadrant on March 12. Register here: https://agrinovusindiana.com/quadrant/

Learn more about the Indiana Ag Threats and Security Summit: https://agrinovusindiana.com/2025/02/11/indiana-ag-threats-security-summit/

Agbioscience is the only economy that touches every person on the planet. Over the past four decades, we’ve seen massive transformation, innovation and acceleration of output in this economy. Today we are joined by a leader who has had a front row seat to it all. Jay Hulbert, CEO of Ag Alumni Seed, joins us ahead of his retirement to talk:  

• Seeing the world and the globalization of agriculture in his career 
• Biotechnology as a step-function change to revolutionizing the row crop world through improved genetics 
• His perspective on the future of gene editing in agriculture and what’s on the horizon 
• Jay’s support of entrepreneurs and the importance of their flexibility to make business models work long-term 
• His extensive background in specialty crop and some of the market intelligence that has paved the way for new products we see in produce today 
• The job that needs to be done as he sees it – or more like, the resources that likely need to be shifted toward climate resilient crops 

New data from USDA shares that net cash farm income decreased roughly 3.5% from 2023 into 2024 and we’re looking at inflation adjusted numbers. But here’s the piece of the silver lining that may be untold: that number – net cash farm income – is still above average when we look at the last 20 years from USDA data. This week, Natasha Cox, Senior Vice President of Farm Credit Mid-America, joins us to help make sense of the numbers, what it means to producers and to the broader agbioscience economy. We get into:  

• The macro perspective on the health of farm balance sheets across the Midwest 
• Big trends that she’s looking at from a financial health standpoint of farms and agribusinesses 
• Consolidation – from both the farmer and innovator perspective – as a factor in the economic system of agriculture in the US 
• New investments being made on farm or within agribusinesses to better connect to the end market of food is health 
• Natasha’s perspective as a farmer and how she prioritizes where to place her bets for her operations 
• The criticality of surrounding yourself with good partners, knowing your options when it comes to strategic planning and investments and asking the right questions for your operations or business 
• The innovation she’s most excited about in 2025 

The year 2025 is poised to be an interesting one for agbioscience. Venture capital inflows from 2023 to 2024 are roughly flat according to Crop Life, the production cost of corn and soybeans remains roughly in line or slightly below market price and the turbulence around global trade and what tariffs could mean leave an uncertain operating market for what could be ahead. Joining us today is Hoosier Ag Today president, Eric Pfeiffer, to make sense of what’s ahead. We get into:  

• The current perspective of the farmer, their natural optimism and knowing the challenges that lie ahead for 2025. 
• Trends he’s noticing that are operational changes to drive net farm income – particularly biologicals – and why that’s challenging. 
• Property tax reform as a major topic in the Indiana General Assembly and making this issue relatable to the general public – because it does impact them at the end of the day. 
• The biofuels tax credit bill in the Indiana General Assembly and its potential economic impact and jobs to the state of Indiana (not to mention better burning, more sustainable fuel). 
• On a federal level – trade wars – and tariffs potential impact, good or bad, on farmers. 
• Farmers needing certainty on The Farm Bill to make plans for the future – it does not appear to be a priority at the moment.  
• Reason for optimism from farmers moving forward.