CHS Inc. has hired Megan Rock, who will lead the Inver Grove Heights-based agribusiness giant’s efforts at the intersection of sustainability and innovation.
Rock took over CHS’s newly created role of chief sustainability officer while also having the title of vice president of sustainability and innovation. In her position, announced mid-November, Rock will also lead CHS’s $50 million venture capital fund.
The Cooperative Ventures fund, co-founded by CHS and Bloomington, Ill.-based Growmark Inc. last year, focuses on early-stage companies within the agribusiness sector. So far, the fund has invested in one company, Chicago-based Sabanto, which retrofits 60- to 200-horsepower tractors to run autonomously, Minne Inno reported in November.
Minne Inno chatted with Rock to discuss her new position, plans for the fund and the future of sustainability. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What are you most excited about in the new role?
Being closer to the producers – everything starts at the farm gate. This whole sustainability area, this whole journey, everything starts with them. I'm really excited to be closer to them being part of CHS.
What kinds of innovations are you hoping to see in the agriculture space in overseeing Cooperative Ventures?
The fund itself is really focused on those widespread challenges and finding solutions for those challenges within agriculture. There are four fields of play: We look at innovations, startups, platforms, technologies within sustainability; crop protection; supply-chain last mile – so from the farm gate on – and farm business enablement.
The first investment so far coming out of Cooperative Ventures was made. Is there anything else we can expect in the near future?
This is such an exciting space. Innovation is really exciting. I'm really happy that I have the opportunity to lead it for CHS. There's so many good things out there and particularly around sustainability. The fund manager that we work with, the investment committee and the liaison who's on my team, they're constantly looking at new startups and putting them through a due-diligence process. So there is definitely more to come, hopefully, in the near future.
Your role has the two aspects: sustainability and innovation. Does this mean sustainability is a major driver for new innovations within CHS?
I think so. I see this as the where the industry is going. I see in the food-agriculture supply chain that so many of the new innovations are focused on sustainability and the varying aspects of sustainability, such as carbon or soil health, regenerative agriculture, or somehow working to reduce emissions. Sustainability is a driver of innovation, but it's still all rooted in efficiencies and profitability; doing more with less, which is really that definition of sustainability.
