Commercialization

Interpreting the landscape of pre-commercial and early commercial activity, identifying windows of opportunity, articulating Continuous Living Cover (CLC) innovation packages, co-developing CLC commercialization narratives and roadmaps.

Identifying adoption and scaling pathways, and barriers to such pathways, for CLC on the landscape and in the market.

Advancing regional CLC adoption and scaling goals with numerous partners, surmounting barriers, shifting course, and making headway.

The same way researchers steward their labs and growers steward their fields, we steward the innovation process with best practices and integrity to create iterative feedback loops between researchers, growers, industry, and entrepreneurs to help Continuous Living Cover (CLC) crops and cropping systems take root and thrive.

Providing foundational support for CLC research and development teams, pilot projects, emerging businesses, and partnerships to foster and accelerate a robust, interconnected innovation network.
Example: Forever Green-MBOLD Winter Camelina Pilot Project

Supporting actors across CLC innovation networks to “make the case” in their business, organization, community, to customers and investors, and with stakeholders to frame CLC opportunities. 
Example: USDA VAPG Elderberry Processing Hub Feasibility Study

Boosting capacity and leadership for advancing CLC by catalyzing entrepreneurship and leadership on novel CLC crops among growers, entrepreneurs, and established industry partners.
Example: Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative, Perennial Pantry

Timely opportunities to develop new business relationships, source products, services, and expertise, and develop new partnerships.

Pre-commercial sample material, intellectual property (PMTAs and licensing), start-up and pilot-scale volumes of product, know-how of academic and industry experts, and financial support.

Convening and connecting actors across innovation networks to forge business and cross-sector partnerships.

Generating and disseminating high-quality information on Continuous Living Cover (CLC) agronomy, economics, environmental benefits, ingredient specifications, supply, demand, and more.

As collaboration is essential to systems change, we operate in a model of “continuous living partnership” with growers, industry, state agencies,  funders, peer sustainability transition “intermediaries,” and communities.

We utilize “pilot supply chain projects” as levers for proof-of-concept, building legitimacy of novel Continuous Living Cover (CLC) crops and systems, de-risking early commercial CLC activity, and building cross-sector momentum.
Example: Environmental and Economic Clusters of Opportunity (EECO) Implementation Program

Policy is the “soil health of systems” that shapes whether novel CLC crops, systems, and complimentary innovations wither or thrive. We work with advocates, policymakers, and peers to identify policy mechanisms that can hinder or hasten CLC scaling, generate novel policy solutions, and shepherd them forward with stakeholders.
Example: CLC Value Chain Development Fund

The classic “chicken-and-egg” problem is endemic to the commercialization, adoption, and scaling of alternatives in path dependent systems such as agriculture. Will it be a technology “push” or market “pull” that drives success? Our work has found that a third path of an all-hands-on-deck societal lift of new systems through cross-sector collaboration and support is a key ingredient in the secret sauce of systems change. We are one of several critical actors weaving a web for diverse actors to grab onto and lift CLC in the Upper Midwest.