Guest Blog by Kenneth Scott Zuckerberg, Wells Fargo Senior Vice President and Strategist

The expansion of the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) into agriculture technology ─ in partnership with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center ─ represents a unification of philanthropy and impact investing with innovation and economic development. And for the industry, this partnership actually does more than that. It provides opportunities for Wells Fargo Agribusiness customers to gain early exposure to next-generation scientific and information technology advancements. This is critical as farmers and the food supply chain adjust to the new reality that business models must change, from both an economic and environmental perspective, in order to ensure long-term sustainability. Onward!

The Innovation Incubator (IN2) program overview

I recently began working with Mary Wenzel, Wells Fargo’s head of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, as part of a six-month job rotation with an objective to contribute to the expansion of the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) program. Launched in 2014 as part of Wells Fargo’s 2020 Environment Commitment, this initiative provides annual funds typically to environmentally focused non-profits. IN2 is a unique collaboration platform to advance “smart” and “sustainable” clean technologies which often fail before going to market unless properly vetted, tested, and marketed with a strong customer value proposition.

By combining technical expertise with capital provided by the Wells Fargo foundation, IN2 strives to overcome these challenges, therefore accelerating the validation and commercialization of new, early-stage technologies. For CleanTech, the technical expertise comes from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a research organization operated by the U.S. Department of Energy, which has partnered with Wells Fargo on IN2 since the outset, and currently serves as co-administrator for the program.

Expansion beyond CleanTech

Earlier in 2018, the Advisory Board of IN2 made a conscious decision to expand the focus of IN2to agriculture and food production, an industry ripe for innovation particularly through technological advancements that can reduce the industry’s adverse impact on the environment. To aid in this expansion, Wells Fargo entered into a multi-year partnership with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in September 2018 whereby Danforth will provide the relevant, technical Ag expertise.

Bottom line, the partnership combines Danforth’s 20 years of independent plant science research expertise and world-class laboratory infrastructure with Wells Fargo’s and NREL’s experience in clean technology research, banking, and philanthropy. Together, the three partners are committed to funding, researching, validating, and commercializing technologies that can help reduce the agriculture industry’s carbon footprint, energy, and water consumption, which contribute to climate change. I believe that IN2 has the opportunity to make a major, positive impact on production agriculture, in particular managing and mitigating nutrient run-off in fresh water systems and agrochemical field drift caused by conventional applications of crop protection chemicals and traditional crop farming methods.

Why Agriculture?

Production agriculture (crop, livestock, and dairy farming) is a large, core area of lending for Wells Fargo Bank. Production agriculture occupies the upstream portion of the food industry value chain, and produces the raw materials acquired by midstream food processors and manufacturers that are subsequently distributed downstream to consumers. In recent years, agricultural production has attracted capital from a wide spectrum of investors (venture capitalists, private equity sponsors, family offices, endowments, and pension funds) seeking positive returns as the entire food supply chain embraced digital transformation. Wells Fargo believes that as farmers and agribusinesses adopt data intensive tools, the system will produce food more efficiently and thoughtfully with less waste and less environmental impact.

Why the Danforth Center as a partner?

I was first introduced to the Danforth Center in 2015 while attending the Ag Innovation Showcase, an annual September agriculture technology symposium that features emerging farming and food production technologies. Founded in 1998 and based in St. Louis, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is the world’s largest, nonprofit research institute dedicated to plant science, with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science. It operates with 193 scientists, of which 23 are principal investigators, and a total staff of 250 from more than 20 countries.

In my opinion, Danforth brings significant value to IN2 as it expands its focus to sustainable food production through the digitalization and modernization of agriculture. First, Danforth is a vertically integrated center of excellence, bringing together academic knowledge of science and applied research methods with environmental awareness and technology. It is the right kind of laboratory to test and validate new agricultural advancements. Second, Danforth’s efforts are independent of the businesses of its sponsors, therefore its conclusions are agnostic as the form of end product, rather than geared towards a particular product category.

The Danforth Center’s core technologies

My recent physical tour of Danforth’s laboratories provided greater insight into the Danforth Center’s scientific research capabilities. As described on the organization’s website, the Center focuses on six core technologies which seek to accelerate crop improvement.

How will the Wells Fargo IN2/Danforth collaboration work?