INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — As oxen used to be harnessed to break Midwest earth to provide the region with food, a number of Indiana agricultural representatives are pulling together under the newly named AgriNovus brand to promote the state’s agricultural assets nationally and, they hope, around the world.
In late 2013, the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) created the Indiana Food and Agriculture Innovation Initiative after examining the state’s ag sector with BioCrossroads. Last week, CICP debuted the shorter, more memory-friendly name "AgriNovus" to encompass that effort to grow and market all facets of the state’s ag industry.
The initiative’s first step of acquainting the public with the new name brand and logo came with a downtown Indy reception and presentation, a website at www.agrinovusindiana.com and a Twitter handle (@AgriNovusIN) – and an 88-page study commissioned from Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, to assess the state’s agricultural assets and provide recommendations for growing them.
Battelle’s report noted the number of farms, acres covered, income generated, but didn’t stop there. While "these are critically important things for our state" and a cornerstone of Hoosier economy, AgriNovus Executive Director Beth Bechdol also noted contributions from the agbiosciences and other technology are sometimes overlooked for their role in food production.
Only about half of the nearly 134,000 Hoosiers employed in agbiosciences are involved in farming; Battelle characterizes the others as part of "a well-established agbioscience and agricultural technology ecosystem … that provides the know-how, technologies and processes needed to keep Indiana agriculture at the forefront of modern agricultural practice."
This includes research, patents (more than 800 from Indiana in just five years, 80 percent of which Bechdol said have come from the plant sciences and crop technology sector), equipment advances, advanced mapping technology and such.
There are some heavy hitters listed as AgriNovus stakeholders – besides state government and the Indiana State Fair, there’s Purdue University, the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Soybean Alliance, Beck’s, Clabber Girl, Dow AgroSciences, JBS United, Elanco, Whiteshire Hamroc and the National FFA.
By 2030, AGCO Vice President Brand Management Doug Griffin told those at the AgriNovus unveiling on Nov. 5, it is estimated the world will demand 60 percent more food and protein than in 2012. "As we do this, the enabler to all of it is going to be data," he said – and how to collect it, crunch it, use it and put it to work in the soil and in livestock. And it’s not just data and technology. Indiana is full of small businesses like Whiteshire Hamroc that are good at innovation and ingenuity, said CEO Mike Lemmon, that could use better access to marketing help in order to grow and advance even further.
National FFA CEO Dwight Armstrong pointed out his organization brings to AgriNovus the future talent to carry out the specific goals its stakeholders will eventually suggest. Broader than his childhood FFA’s focus on "cows, plows and sows," the current FFA spotlights for its members a playing field with more than 300 careers in agriculture.
"This is exactly what our strategic plan calls for" – finding markets for the state’s two major row crops, said Indiana Corn & Soy CEO Jane Ade Stevens, who oversees those two checkoffs.
One way Indiana Soy has been doing this is to sponsor the annual Soybean Product Innovation Competition for Purdue students. Jay Akridge, Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture at Purdue, said perhaps this contest – and its results – can be leveraged by the new initiative in some way.
"I think it’s an example of the kind of thing AgriNovus could grab and turn into something more," he noted.
In nearly a year spent studying and hammering out the AgriNovus idea, Bechdol said the steering committee looked to similar efforts in a few other places – such as the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina; Kansas City’s Animal Health Corridor; and even the smaller Monsanto/Danforth scientific complex in St. Louis. "Not any one of those models is exactly the right copied version for us," she explained.
AgriNovus’ grand goal, she said, is to promote Indiana as a center for all elements of agriculture: "We want to be viewed by the world as a center where the solutions to these questions are being worked on."
"With AgriNovus, I now have a new agricultural product to promote," enthused Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, who is also the state’s commissioner of agriculture. She pointed out helping ensure the world’s food security is a key to increasing Indiana’s already strong farm and ag-related economy.
Dollars for the initiative, so far, have come from the state (its Department of Agriculture and Economic Development Corp.) as well as business, academic and philanthropic sources. Bechdol acknowledged future funding is something AgriNovus stakeholders will need to address with specific plans.
Akridge added this kind of initiative could also be attractive to foundations and other entities that award competitive research grants.
As for the agribusiness owner or farmer who wants to be part of AgriNovus in some fashion, Bechdol encourages them to contact the office by emailing agrinovus@cicpindiana.com or calling 317-638-2440. Or, visit the website to learn more, and to read a summary of Battelle’s report, Innovative Agbioscience in Indiana: A Baseline Assessment.
