Agbioscience

ClearLeaf CSO and Co-Founder Agustin Buchert shares the company's journey from medical products to agricultural innovation focusing on plant health solutions. He also discusses expansion into US markets and the exciting opportunity to join Indiana's thriving agbioscience ecosystem

Rachael Spiegel, Partner at Faegre Drinker, sits at the intersection of food, agriculture and law — a place where regulatory complexity, supply chain risk and the realities of feeding people all collide. She joins Agbioscience to unpack how companies are navigating an era of rising recalls, what drives the decisions made in the first hours of a crisis and how leaders can build resilience across th...

September marked the end of a new era and the beginning of new chapters for Indiana's agbioscience ecosystem. Christy Wright, president and CEO of AgriNovus, joins VP Libby Fritz in studio to highlight the big news of the month:  Corteva launches new era of innovation as standalone company -- alongside Vylor IBI Ag chooses Indiana for its North American HQ Givaudan adds Indiana facility that will...

Welcome to Directionally Speaking, a narrative series that highlights the innovators bringing solutions to market through AgriNovus' Velocity accelerator. This week, AgriNovus Senior Director of Innovation Tim Dixon sits down with Raha Saremi, founder and CEO of Ecoatex, and gets into how her company transforms agriculture byproducts into sustainable, bio-based materials for packaging, fibers and...

Farm management today looks very different than it did a decade ago, with rising complexity, shifting client expectations and new technology reshaping how decisions get made. In this episode, Howard Halderman, president of Halderman Farm Management, shares how his team is thinking about AI, where it is already improving operations and why human judgment still matters in managing one of agriculture...

Hoosier Ag Today's Eric Pfeiffer took the podcast on the road to the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network's (WHIN) Ag Summit to discuss farmer-led innovation, technology adoption and models for success with Jason Tennehouse and Josh Karshen.

Welcome to Directionally Speaking, a narrative series that highlights the innovators bringing solutions to market through AgriNovus' Velocity accelerator. This week, AgriNovus Senior Director of Innovation Tim Dixon sits down with Naveed Iqbal, CEO of Fallow Ag, to talk fintech, creating a data standard at the farm-level and what it's like to be a startup founder.  Learn more about Naveed and Fall...

Earlier this year, Etlas launched as a joint venture betrween Corteva and bp with the goal of helping strengthen the biofuels value chain. This week, CEO Nacho Conti shares how the company is working to connect growers, processors and biofuels producers around low-carbon feedstocks while creating new value opportunities across agbisocience and energy. Highlights include:   Defining Etlas' mission:...

What does the future of water and land restoration look like? Dr. Tyler Koschnick, CEO of SEPRO Scientific, joins us this week to share how the company is evolving through growth, innovation and a sharper scientific focus. The conversation highlights:  SEPRO's mission to create long-term solutions for environmental stewardship  The market needs emerging around water quality, restoration and infras...

What does the future of seed innovation look like - and how is Indiana helping shape it?  On this episode of the Agbioscience Podcast, host Eric Pfeiffer sits down with Craig Anderson, CEO of Ag Alumni Seed, for a conversation on seed development, Purdue-connected research, emerging technologies, and the global opportunities rooted right here in Indiana.  Episode highlights:  Craig’s path to CEO a...

August was a wet one! We kick this episode off by recapping Indiana's heavy rains and its impact on the state's agbioscience ecosystem. Highlights include:  Velocity's 12 startups, an accelerator update and AgriNovus' Senior Director of Innovation Tim Dixon's required reading list for innovators (plus one band recommendation). Books include:  Watch Tim's episode of Agbioscience and his preview of...

Alayne Johnson, Director of the National Pork Board, joins us this week to explore the priorities shaping pork demand, producer insights and research across the U.S. pork industry. Alayne shares her journey through agriculture, what led her to serve another term on the National Pork Board and how the organization approaches its role in research, promotion and consumer education on behalf of pork p...

Henry Markarian, Co-Founder and CEO of Integrated Dynamics, joins us this week to explore a technology platform aimed at unlocking new value from existing ethanol infrastructure. Henry shares the founding story behind the company, the problem Integrated Dynamics set out to solve and why its approach to repurposing operating, underused and idle assets could matter in the next phase of the bioeconom...

On this episode of Agbioscience Dr. Robert Pepper, President of Huntington University, joins us to explore how their team is building talent for the future of agriculture. Just months into his presidency, Rob shares what drew him to Huntington, how the university is positioning itself inside Indiana’s agbioscience innovation economy and why hands-on, industry-connected learning matters more than e...

Heartland BioWorks was formed to help the Midwest advance its position of leadership in the next era of bioscience innovation. By uniting industry, academia, workforce leaders, and public partners, the organization was created to accelerate discovery, grow talent and build a stronger, more connected bioeconomy across the region. We are joined this week by Michelle Dennis, Regional Innovation Offic...

We switch chairs this week and our interview host, Hoosier Ag Today's Eric Pfeiffer, joins us to talk through the state of production agriculture, its impact on innovation, surprising findings out of Purdue on farmer adoption of AI and how innovators/producers can meet in the middle to drive greater impact for both sides.  Eric also gets into Hoosier Ag Today's new partnership with Circle City Bro...

Last week, AgriNovus announced that 12 startups will participate in its 2026 Velocity accelerator, a five-month program that awards entrepreneurs a total of $75,000 in cash prizes for their technology solutions divided equally between the strategic categories: bioinnovation, farmer-focused innovation and food is health.  Behind this year’s cohort magic is the organization’s Senior Director of Inno...

Sustainability. It’s a big word that carries several meanings – particularly across the agbioscience value chain. From conservation practices on the farm to technologies that create a more efficient use of the land, innovators in agbioscience are always seeking to do more with less. Underpinned in that effort is economic sustainability and how different practices create fluctuations in margin for...

From Indiana’s rich agricultural story to the cross-sector innovation taking place in BioHeartland, the state’s economy tells more than one story about what it does well; the growing story, however, is how its innovation domains come together to share an identity with much more power. This week, Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) Don Lamb joins the show to talk about th...

  Since its inception, Purdue DIAL Ventures has run six studio cycles and built an impressive portfolio of companies – including Gripp, Croft, Oaken, FIeldist and Aerton – now valued at over $30 million. This week, Executive Director Allan Gray joins us to talk the launch of their Fund II (which is now underway) and how his team’s model uniquely supports company creation.   Highlights include:   A...

AgriNovus’ plans to align with those opportunities and be aAt the midpoint of 2026, there is a lot to reflect on across Indiana’s agbioscience economy and the sector at large. AgriNovus President and CEO, Christy Wright, joins today for an economic checkup. She highlights big wins for Indiana in 2026 – from hubs to headquarters – and looks ahead to AgriNovus’ moves to impact the state long-term. ...

Convergence research: the idea of taking major agricultural themes and breaking them down into simple, digestible insights for various audiences. Necessary? Absolutely. And it’s the work that Dr. Trey Malone, Boehlje Chair in Managerial Economics for Agribusiness at Purdue University, has been doing with his team for awhile now. He brings his expertise in the studio today to dive into the intersec...

From volatile markets to high input costs, farmers are facing a number of challenges that could be offset by additional markets and revenue streams. Today, we're joined by Fiber X CEO Dave Skibinski who's working to give producers exactly that: a new opportunity rooted in the growing demand for natural fiber. Fresh off of a big win at TechPoint’s Mira Awards, Dave shares how FiberX is helping farm...

From styrofoam to concrete, the Student Soybean Innovation Competition at Purdue University has transformed a renewable resource into several industrial products over the last three decades. More than products, though, it has turned students into aspiring creators and entrepreneurs. Elizabeth Heckaman and Jocelyn Erickson from this year’s winning competition join us in studio this week to recap So...