Impact
Guiding Indiana’s “Agbioscience” Economy Through Farmer, Food, and Bio Innovation
Objective
To understand future opportunities to bolster Indiana’s growing agriculture, biology, and science economy
Approach
We worked with AgriNovus, a nonprofit organization, to characterize the current state of Indiana’s “agbioscience” economy and assess future trends influencing its agrifood landscape, delivering:
- A repeatable methodology for benchmarking the relative size of Indiana’s agbioscience economy against other states
- A report for Indiana’s agbioscience economy
- Three priority ecosystem opportunities that can bolster Indiana’s agbioscience ecosystem
Impact
Our work aligned and energized AgriNovus’s stakeholders—leaders of industry, universities, farmer cooperatives, state agencies, and more—to adapt solutions to grow Indiana’s agbioscience economy.
Nicknamed the “Crossroads of America,” Indiana is known for its love of basketball, connected highways, vast farmland, automotive industry, steel mines, and technology hub. Its rich soil is ideal for agriculture, meaning Indiana contributes to food systems transformation across the country. It is ranked the 9th largest farming state and the 5th largest corn producer in the United States.
Defining Indiana’s “Agbioscience” Industry
The state’s potential to further advance the agricultural industry caught the attention of advocacy groups and organizations. AgriNovus, a nonprofit organization, seeks to promote the future of Indiana’s “agbioscience” economy – a term coined to describe the unique intersection of food production, agriculture, science, and technology within the state of Indiana.
Key agbioscience platforms include:
- Agricultural production
- Plant science and crop protection
- Animal health and nutrition
- Value-added food
- Agricultural technology and equipment
Assessing Agbioscience Opportunities with AgriNovus
AgriNovus sought RTI’s expertise co-create and facilitate a future-oriented strategic planning process “Accelerate 2050” that leveraged participatory engagement, futures foresight best practices, and economic analysis. Our team benchmarked Indiana’s agbioscience economy against peers, revealing that Indiana has earned a position of global leadership in agricultural production, plant science and crop protection, animal health and nutrition. Indiana’s agbioscience sector contributes $69.6 billion to the state’s economy, generates $22.7 billion in gross domestic product (GDP), and employs 147,075 people. Indiana’s agriculture economy now has a similar economic impact to the state’s automotive industry, which is ranked 2nd largest in the nation.
We found Indiana’s agbioscience industry on the cusp of transition with innovation and opportunity being led by scientific advances in gene editing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, novel bio inputs (e.g., biofertilizers), and soil health innovations. Shifts in consumer preferences and corporate sustainability commitments are reshaping the agbioscience industry. Continued fluctuations in global commodity markets, geopolitical and international trade dynamics, extreme weather events, and other uncertainties are putting increased pressure on the global agbioscience industry to support sector-wide efforts to produce more sustainable food for a growing population.
“Agbioscience is a critical contributor to economic growth and is connected to every person on the planet given it centers on food,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “This new research not only defines the present economic strength in Indiana, but it creates a framework to measure comparative growth and establishes focus to inspire the next chapter of innovation across food, animal health, plant science, agtech and agriculture.”
Priorities for growing Indiana’s agbioscience economy
As described in our report, three opportunities emerged as particularly high-potential given their alignment with Indiana’s existing strengths and the future trends shaping the global agbioscience economy:
Farmer-Focused Innovation – develop a relationship among Indiana farmers and agbioscience companies, creating a network of innovation and collaboration.
Food is Health – increase innovation in animal, plant, human, and environmental health, including by diversifying crops with a focus on nutrient-dense foods.
Bio Innovation – establish Indiana as a premier destination for bio-innovators and manufacturers to research, commercialize, and scale biotechnology processes, platforms and products.
Indiana's Agbioscience Future: Strategic Investment and Resource Mobilization
Indiana’s future success in the agbioscience economy depends on how creatively—and quickly—Indiana can mobilize available resources, make strategic investments, take calculated risks, and build a compelling brand aligned with the prioritized opportunities and developed vision.
“The global agbioscience economy is on the precipice of significant change and while the future cannot be predicted, it can be created by ecosystem actors working together.” said Amanda Rose, agri-food systems lead at RTI International. “This report reflects the energized commitment of AgriNovus’ diverse stakeholders to mobilize available resources and seize new opportunities aligned with their shared vision of the future."
Learn more about RTI Innovation Advisors and RTI Center for Applied Economic Strategy.
