InnerPlant launches InnerCircle - a farmer collaborative - to build the FBN of seeds

Date:08-24-2021

InnerPlant, the company pioneering the development of living plant sensors, has announced InnerCircle - a network of highly experienced, highly successful farmers collaborating to influence the future of seed technology. Members of the InnerCircle will contribute their knowledge in selecting important features for InnerPlant’s new seed offering - InnerSoy™ - including, germplasm, stress factors, detection methodology and frequency, and retail channels. Members will also enjoy early access to this ground-breaking seed technology, discounts, exclusive access to events, industry insights, and fun swag.

A one-year InnerCircle membership is $500. Farmers interested in applying for membership should visit: innerplant.com

“The current model of developing seed traits is focused on maximizing profits. The result is soybean seed costs increasing by 305% over the past 25 years, when crop value only went up by 30%,” explains Shely Aronov, InnerPlant’s CEO and co-founder. “We’re flipping that model on its head by putting farmers at the center of our seed research to develop a new trait that will increase yields while reducing the need for expensive chemicals.”

InnerCircle launches with an initial group of 50 Founding Members - farming innovators who will provide hands-on guidance of InnerPlant’s sensing technology live in the field. These pioneers are among the first slated to trial the company’s InnerSoy™ sentinel plants.

The inaugural group of Founding Members includes: Steve Pitstick, fifth-generation Illinois farmer, Ben Riensche, sixth-generation Iowa Farmer, Kasey Bryant Bamberger, third-generation Ohio farmer, and Mike Clemens, third-generation North Dakota farmer.

“There’s no shortage of companies claiming to ‘put farmers first’ but InnerPlant is actually walking the walk with InnerCircle,” says Brandon Hunnicutt, a fifth-generation Nebraska farmer. “This is the most exciting trait to come along in decades and including farmers in its development is a refreshing approach that puts our needs at the center of the effort to boost yields and reduce blanket chemical application.”

Even with blanket chemical application, farmers routinely see up to 20% of their harvests destroyed by pathogens that could have been controlled with earlier detection and more responsive, plant-specific interventions. The good news is that plants themselves hold all the knowledge needed to halt that yield loss because they’ve evolved over millions of years to protect themselves from environmental stresses with sophisticated defense mechanisms.

When plants are thirsty, short of nutrients, or under attack by pests or fungi, they generate different signals. InnerPlant’s patented seed-based technology piggybacks on those signals by adding a safe protein, long studied for human consumption, so that they can be detected by devices ranging from drones and tractors to satellites.

This new approach to creating living plant sensors will free farmers from the need to apply blanket topical solutions by addressing the root of the problem and opens the door to increased yields and profits without compromise.

About Inner Plant

InnerPlant is a team of agronomists, scientists, and entrepreneurs creating living plant sensors that alert farmers to crop stresses, like pathogens and a lack of water or nutrients - allowing farmers to mitigate problems weeks before they affect an entire field. Founded in 2018 by Shely Aronov and Rod Kumimoto, their team of seasoned food entrepreneurs and scientists uses millions of years of Mother Nature’s R&D and a protein extensively studied for safety as a food additive to help plants send signals that farmers can use to boost yields, increase profits, and preserve the environment. For more information visit: innerplant.com