Agbioscience AgriNovus Indiana

It’s the end of the month, so you know what that means. AgriNovus CEO, Mitch Frazier, sits down with Cayla Chiddister to recap Indiana’s agbioscience trip to Brazil and Mexico with Governor Holcomb, creating new opportunities and driving economies forward.  

He also gets into big announcements and items on the move as it relates to bioinnovation, including an investment announcement from Liberation Labs and conversations with BioMADE.  

Innovators also made big moves this month and Mitch gets into students winning big at the Indiana Soybean Alliance’s Annual Soybean Innovation Competition. And oh yeah, we’ve got details on this year’s HungerTech Innovation Challenge winner, Anu, and their unique value and potential to deliver nutrition to homes across the world.     
Also, an invitation for college students over the age of 18. Join us for upcoming Field Atlas Company Tours coming up in May and June. Learn more and register here: https://agrinovusindiana.com/2024/04/09/field-atlas-agbioscience-company-tours/  

Delegates from Indiana’s agbioscience sector traveled to Brazil and Mexico this month alongside Governor Eric Holcomb as the minutes tick away on his leadership of the state. Courtney Kingery, CEO of Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, joins Mitch for this episode from Mexico City to discuss the trip, its findings and Indiana’s unique advantage on a global stage. 

Courtney talks Brazilian companies seeking to understand the U.S. market, and the shared opportunities and challenges for farmers selling commodities in Mexico. There may be a cameo in this episode – shout out to Governor Holcomb – and Courtney talks through how trips like this one shape the future of our state’s economy.  

Planting season is nearing in North America and as farmers head to the fields, they’re doing so in a tough global market for agricultural commodities. Those markets have an impact on nearly every facet of our daily lives. Today we are joined by Dr. Scott Irwin, author and Laurence J. Norton Chair of Agricultural Marketing at the University of Illinois, to share his market perspective (it’s on the side of bearish) and what he sees ahead.  

How low for how long? That’s a big question for the markets and one Scott dives into during the discussion. He also talks about his book, Back to the Futures, looking at the ag markets as an implication on the broader economy and educating a widespread audience using stories from his childhood on an Iowa farm.  

We are living in a time of innovation crisis where most innovation isn’t driven by large corporations despite them being managed better than ever before, says High Alpha Innovation CEO Elliott Parker. One day ahead of his new book release, The Illusion of Innovation, he joins us to get into how corporations equipped for efficiency losing their resilience and why it’s dangerous to advancing innovation. 

Now this isn’t a hot take: Elliott believes in efficiency, but not as a lone strategy. He talks about controlled chaos, a systematic approach to experimentation and uncovering ideas to challenge things we think we know. 

So what do companies do? Elliott talks new funding mechanisms, finding the best home for innovations to grow and being contrarian to win over the long-term. 
The Illusion of Innovation comes out tomorrow, April 16. Learn more here. 

Agbioscience is the only economy in the world that touches every person on planet, every day, given that it centers on food. Today we are joined by Lorelei Begin, Vice President of North American Retail for NielsenIQ  to talk trends shaping food and what’s ahead for grocery store shelves in 2024. 

From ingredient labels being more closely examined by savvy shoppers to the uptick of wellness-related products gaining more traction, Lorelei lays out what is driving consumer behavior and purchase patterns. She also gets into data creating insights for food companies to get the ultimate in-store commodity: shelf space.  

Mitch and Lorelei take time to walk through consumers’ increased focus on health, GLP-1 drugs, how it’s shaping what goes in grocery carts and the food system’s response. How does a focus on health function in a tightening economy? Lorelei says food is first and a “better for you” lifestyle is staying resilient in these times. She also looks ahead to trends we could see impacting the food space and how that impacts consumers – no matter their budget.  

As we head into the spring planting season, there is much focus on technologies and innovations that will enable producers to drive returns in a tightening farm economy. Andrew Sunderman, Join Venture Transition Lead for AGCO, joins today to talk about their new JV with Trimble and having an innovation ecosystem ready to serve the farmer – no matter how or what they’re investing in for their operations during any given year.  

In a time where it could be easy to say no to new tech or innovation, how does AGCO differentiate? Andrew talks control and accuracy, usability and optimizing outcomes. From their retrofit tech approach that helps to leverage smaller bets on-farm to improved performance of current equipment, he gets into solving problems that have never been met before and how the joint venture with Trimble will add continuation to their work.