Agribusiness Veteran Grant Aldridge Will Lead Company Growth and Accelerate Industry Adoption of Carbon Farming Practices
Locus Agricultural Solutions Brings on New CEO to Drive Climate-Smart Farming Initiatives
SOLON, Ohio (March 31, 2020) — Locus Agricultural Solutions® (Locus AG), an agtech start-up dedicated to leading the climate-smart agriculture trend, has hired Grant Aldridge to drive its sustainability initiatives as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Aldridge will take over from acting CEO Paul Zorner who will now focus exclusively on his role as the company’s Chief Agronomist.
Aldridge joined Locus AG’s advisory board in May 2019 and brings more than 30 years of biotech and agribusiness experience to the company. He is known for his expertise in helping startups commercialize new products and build high-performance teams that consistently deliver results.
“Grant is the right person to lead Locus AG given his proven ability to grow technology-driven companies,” said Andrew Lefkowitz, Locus AG’s Chairman and a 2019 EY Entrepreneur of the Year. “We’re seeing demand for our product increasing exponentially due in large part to launching our CarbonNOW™ program that compensates farmers for sequestering carbon. With Grant at the helm to harness this momentum, we expect our 2020 revenue to be more than 10 times what it was last year.”
The company recently pivoted to capitalize on its technology that provides non-GMO-based climate solutions. That shift—combined with its CarbonNOW program, international expansion plans and build-out of its award-winning Rhizolizer® line of customized soil amendments—drove the decision to hire an experienced agribusiness leader. The hire will allow Zorner to concentrate on product development and customer engagement.
“Locus AG is an extraordinary mission-driven company with a unique microbial technology platform,” said Aldridge. “Its first game-changing product line—Rhizolizer—is valued for its ability to optimize land and water resources so that food, feed and fiber can be grown in a way that minimizes environmental impacts. The company’s pipeline of bio-based innovations will be commercialized as products that enable growers to manage pests and diseases while reducing synthetic pesticide load on the environment.”
Locus AG is poised to dramatically change the face of agriculture for the better as part of its mission to help solve the interrelated challenges of climate change and food insecurity:
- The company’s crop “probiotics” are treating crops of all types and helping hundreds of American farmers boost yields and income while reducing their carbon footprints.
- Florida citrus growers are using Rhizolizer to recover lost productivity from the devastating Citrus Greening Disease.
- Farms that enroll in CarbonNOW this year will get credits valued at $15/ton/acre for farming carbon at levels that can be measured and verified.
- Its expanded managed turf and sod platform enables more efficient use of water and fertilizer, grows turf that is more robust and stress tolerant, and reduces the time needed to establish healthy and attractive turf.
Grant Aldridge is the Chief Executive Officer of Locus Agricultural Solutions (AG) where his near-term focus will include raising capital for commercial expansion, overseeing scale-up of the Rhizolizer and TERRADIGM® product lines, establishing strategic distribution networks and partnerships, expanding the CarbonNOW program across key row crop geographies, and accelerating the company’s pipeline innovations and productization of new bio-based grower tools. Aldridge was previously vice president of agricultural operations for Arcadia Biosciences where he led commercial production and operations across the company’s crop portfolios that included wheat, hemp and soy. He joined Arcadia in September 2018 where he leveraged 30 years of crop production experience with executing new market models for high-value traits and attributes in corn, soybeans, wheat, and specialty vegetable crops. Prior to joining Arcadia, Mr. Aldridge held senior leadership positions with several biotech startups that were developing and introducing novel industrial crops that delivered bio-based products and materials. He previously worked for Syngenta in the company’s crop protection and seeds divisions and held positions in brand and product management, commercial sales and marketing operations.Mr. Aldridge received an M.S. degree in plant genetics and breeding from Purdue University and a B.S. degree in crop science from Texas Tech University.
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About Locus Agricultural Solutions®
Locus Agricultural Solutions® (Locus AG) is an agtech start-up that is working to solve the interrelated challenges of climate change and food insecurity. Its innovative and award-winning microbial soil “probiotics” and CarbonNOW™ program give farmers a new way to boost yields, income and carbon sequestration while reducing their costs and environmental impact. Locus AG gets its core scientific capabilities from its parent company, Locus Fermentation Solutions (Locus FS), an Ohio-based green technology company. For more information, visit LocusAG.com.
Editor’s note: You can find the bio for Grant Aldridge at LinkedIn here.