Purdue Agriculture in Focus Summer 2022

Purdue Agriculture’s faculty, staff and students are deeply embedded in the ideal of making an impact. The most obvious way the College does this is through training our students for their future careers, but our impact can be seen well beyond the classroom.

Through Extension, we support local communities with programs targeted at mental health and wellness, food safety, production agriculture, soil quality, cover crops and so much more. Through 4-H, we impact young lives by helping them develop important life skills and introducing them to a myriad of career opportunities.

We also make an impact through the cutting-edge research that truly touches almost every part of our daily lives. From new methods of insect detection to work with new feed additives that decrease carbon emissions, our faculty work to solve grand challenges facing the world today. We also develop new drugs to treat cancer and coronaviruses, such as COVID-19, and help to regenerate soils, improve water quality and manage forests.

Entrepreneurship is the newest avenue our College has to make an impact. With an investment from the Purdue President and Board of Trustees, we have launched a program called Digital Innovation in Agri-food Systems Lab, known as DIAL. This is part of the new Purdue Applied Research Institute and is a brand-new venture for us. The executive director is Allan Gray, Land O’Lakes Chair and professor of agricultural economics, whom many of you may know through the Center for Food and Ag Business. Allan has built DIAL into a venture studio model unlike any other in the nation.

The concept behind DIAL is unique. First, it utilizes a cohort of innovation fellows, who come from all walks of life but have a few key qualities – they want to learn, innovate and they want to be an entrepreneur. These individuals do not have to have an agricultural background but they have to be passionate about agriculture and food. The first applicant pool had 300 applicants which was narrowed to six fellows. Similar to what our Extension faculty and staff do, the fellows work with producers and industry to learn what problems in today’s food supply chain can be improved – or even solved – using innovative, digital solutions.

Then of course, they do research to figure out whether they can clearly identify the problem and build a digital solution. As they are located on campus, the DIAL fellows tap into the expertise of our faculty as well. The fellows work with High Alpha Innovation to hone their messages and begin to develop a digital solution. The ideas are pitched to a group of investors and if the idea is chosen, they work with High Alpha to develop a new company. While it will take quite a few years before we know how successful we have been, it is exciting to see us use the skills of teaching, research and Extension to develop digital solutions to global issues.

This new model represents another tool to keep Purdue University on the forefront of innovation. It will enable us to incubate, accelerate and use investors to capitalize new startups that will make an impact in agriculture and food systems here in Indiana and beyond.

While this may represent a new way of doing business, it is definitely a way to celebrate the ethos of the land grant mission and make an impact around the globe. We are excited about the future and the innovations that we will see as DIAL continues to develop.

Summer 2022

Purdue Ag People

Awards and Recognitions

Purdue Ag in the News

Purdue Next Moves: Plant Sciences 2.0

Dates and Deadlines

University News