Jeff van Kalker, a tested operations and supply chain innovator, has joined Agricen as Director of Operations. In his new role, Jeff is responsible for overseeing safety, quality, capacity planning and logistics at the facilities where Agricen's biological and biochemical products are manufactured. 

Prior to joining Agricen, Jeff was director of operations at Ecolab, a global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services, where he developed multiple new products and product lines that significantly increased revenue and profitability.

We are happy to welcome Smrithi Rajagopal as Agricen's Solutions Innovation Manager. 

Smrithi will focus on determining the feasibility of commercializing new and emerging technologies, working with different stakeholders to identify customer needs and validate business and technical requirements for targeted plant health solutions. She will also manage and lead multidisciplinary project teams to advance the development and market introduction of new plant health products and technologies. 

With plant health innovation at the core of our business, we are pleased to announce that John Wolf has been appointed as Senior Director of Innovation. In this role, John will define, identify, and lead new innovation initiatives and strategies, with a focus on developing new technologies to improve plant health in agriculture and related industries.

This year, Agricen celebrates 20 years of agricultural technology research, discovery and innovation aimed at sustainably improving crop yields. Two decades is no small feat in the agribusiness industry, and it's an even bigger achievement in our sector, focused on agricultural biostimulants and biologicals.

This sector has made huge strides since we were founded in 1998 in Pilot Point, Texas. When we began, there was a general skepticism about biological solutions for agriculture. This was driven in part by a lack of knowledge about how the science had begun to advance—moving beyond "bathtub brews" to advanced, quality controlled products with claims that could be supported by field and university data.

We're happy to announce the hiring of Scott Lay as director of business development at Agricen. In his new role, Scott will focus on developing plant health technology partnerships and collaborations in emerging market segments and regions. 

Agricen and Taranis, a precision agriculture company, have received a grant from the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation to collaborate on a project to advance and commercialize a new precision agriculture system for abiotic stress detection and prevention in row crops. 

Abiotic stresses are environmental or physical impacts on a plant (e.g., drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, nutrient deficiency), and result in billions of dollars of lost crop value each year. The Agricen/Taranis collaboration will address this agricultural challenge by creating a solution that merges the Taranis platform—which incorporates field imaging technology and a deep learning algorithm—with Agricen’s proven biostimulant technologies.

By Brian Cornelious, PhD

According to the most recent Ag Census data published in 2012, the U.S. has just over half a million beginning farmers. That may sound like a big number, but it’s actually 20 percent fewer than was reported in the 2007 census. Developing the next generation of American farmers is critical to ensuring that we are prepared to meet all of our agricultural needs in the decades ahead.

To encourage the next generation to make farming their career, we need to make sure that rural America remains economically viable so that it is not only an attractive place to raise crops, but also a desirable place to raise families.

We are happy to announce today that Agricen now has operations on two continents: North America, with headquarters and a manufacturing plant in Texas, and Australia, with a new manufacturing facility in Dandenong, Victoria.

Agricen Australia is producing sustainable fertilizer biocatalyst products under the names of Basis® and Foundation™ LM for distribution in the Australian market through Loveland Agri Products and Landmark. The products are manufactured using natural, locally sourced base ingredients in our recently constructed Australian plant.

Today, we're happy to officially welcome Jeff Novak as Agricen's new Director of Business Development. In this role, Jeff will be working to expand Agricen's existing – and future – biological and biocatalyst technologies into new products and applications. His initial focus will be on turf and ornamental fertility programs.

“Jeff steps into his new role with the right mix of management and industry experience to help advance our commercialization goals in the years ahead. It’s fantastic to have such an experienced leader on board to grow an important segment of our business,” says Michael Totora, President and CEO, Agricen.

We are proud to share the news that “Prove It to Me,” our film that documents the experiences of five farmers during the 2015 growing season, has won two Telly Awards: one for videography and one in the green/eco-friendly category.

Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards are the premier awards honoring outstanding TV and web commercials, videos and films. Winners of this highly respected national and international competition are selected from among over 12,000 entries submitted annually from across the U.S. and abroad.