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Ag innovators showcase their products in St. Louis
Huan Ung traveled 30 hours from his home in Malaysia to make a 10-minute presentation at the Ag Innovation Showcase held May 23 and 24 in St. Louis, Mo., at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Ung representing GS Biotech S/B, was one of 16 companies from around the world selected to be part of the Showcase this year. Ag Innovation Showcase is a tight two-day event that brings people together so they can network and move on to the next step. The attendees are entrepreneurs and innovators that are needed to create the technologies and companies of the future along with the critical partners they need to bring their innovations to the marketplace. At one end is the big industry strategic like Syngenta, Monsanto, Bayer, and DuPont and at the other end are venture capitalists and equity fund managers. Sam Fiorello, COO of Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and president of BRDG Park, said they put out a global call for business plans. The first year they received 50 plans and selected 15 for the showcase. The second year they received nearly 100 plans and selected 17. This year they picked 16 plans from over 100 business plans submitted to the committee. "The first year we had too many very early companies," Fiorello said. "The second year the companies were further along and more attractive to investors but we want a mix of plays. We want plays that could be home runs but take 10 years to develop as well as low-hanging fruit that have low risk and lower regulatory hurdles with liquidity in three to five years rather than 10 years." Dan Hodgson, marketing director for Linn Grove Ventures from Fargo, N.D., was one of the people there to listen to Ung and other make their presentations. Hodgson said his company sees a real opportunity in the market as well as a need to create companies and value around the foods we eat. "As the world needs more food and needs it dramatically, the Midwest is becoming extremely important," Hodgson said. Linn Grove Ventures has been successful in the area of medical technologies. Hodgson said they are interested in bringing their medical expertise over to the food side. "In a world where health care is more than we can afford as a country and the difficulty in bringing new innovations to life is exacerbated because the capital required is so great and the regulations are almost impossible to get through, it is time to stop treating disease and start preventing disease," Hodgson said. Several of the 16 presenting companies are developing new products that could have direct applications for producers in the High Plains. First on this list is GrowSafe, a company from Airdrie, Alberta, Canada. The engineers and scientists at GrowSafe have developed an intelligent system that automatically measures biometric and environmental inputs in livestock production, which continuously monitors individual animal health and performance status. Alison Sunstrum, co-chief executive officer at GrowSafe, said the system uses predictive algorithms to identify sick and market ready animals triggering mechanisms that visually identify and treat the animals without human intervention. RFID tags are used to continuously collect data from multiple biometric and environmental sensors. The measurements taken include animal weight, water intake and behavior. Sunstrum said the system could identify sick cattle four days faster than traditional visual identification and 24 hours ahead of temperature changes in the cattle. GrowSafe was looking for partnering opportunities at the Showcase. Another presenter, Sensor Development Corporation, has developed a novel way to protect stored grain. The product is called BinGuardian. This sensor uses nanoparticle technology to detect mold in stored grain and protect it from aflatoxin. SDC discovered a market gas that comes off mold days before aflatoxin production starts. Nicholas Smilanich, president and CEO, said by sensing these gases, SDC's device provides early warning for the grain storage manager. The sensor in the bin transmits the aflatoxin information wirelessly to the control room. The storage manager can then decide to ventilate the corn or move the corn ahead in the sale schedule before it exceeds mandated toxin levels. SDC is working on a second device that will also detect insects such as the lesser grain borer. A third potential product will be a portable detector and one for detecting fusarium molds associated with the production of vomitoxin. Michael Preiner made the presentation for Solum, a California company founded in 2009 by a team of Stanford graduates to provide faster, better, and higher density oil nutrient information for precision agriculture. Solum's first product is a real-time nitrate measurement tool that allows agronomists to determine soil nitrate levels in the field with laboratory quality accuracy. Potential customers for this new technology are farmer cooperatives, fertilizer retailers, and independent service providers. Preiner said his company was at the showcase looking for development partners such as seed companies and chemical companies who could benefit from unmatched soil measurement data. Veris Technologies from Salina, Kan., has developed on-the-go soil sensors for creating precise soil maps for precision agriculture applications. Their equipment can be used to map soil pH, texture, salinity, and organic matter. Eric Lund, president of Veris Technologies, Inc., said their equipment allows growers and crop consultants to precisely map important, stable soil properties. Lund said the current market for commercial soil mapping is $10,000,000 annually and the potential annual market is $1 billion. Vestaron Corporation from Kalamazoo, Mich., is developing a new generation of insecticides based on the natural peptides spiders use to kill insects. John Sorenson, interim chief executive officer, said they have discovered three novel modes of action in a market that has seen only two novel modes of action in the last forty years. Sorenson referred to the new peptide insecticides as "CleanTech" knowledge based products that can reduce environmental impacts. Vestaron has thee spider peptide products under development that are highly effective against insects and related pests. Sorenson said because this new generation of insecticides work through active sites that are different from current insecticides they bypass current problems with insect resistance and cross-reactivity. AgTechnix has a technology called IntelliSeed that can reduce incidents of counterfeiting of seeds for planting, packaging, and agricultural inputs. IntelliSeed enables an intellectual property owner to securely identify their property/seed. Neil Mulcahy, managing director for AgTechnix, said the company came to showcase to network with global industry players who they seed as potential users of this technology. Sam Fiorello will follow up with the presenters twice after the event to see if it was worthwhile for them. Last year 16 of the 17 presenters had made some kind of deal, a partnership, investor, or a merging of two companies with similar interests, by the time he contacted them the second time. Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com.
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