Studio Nouveau/Courtesy of Indigo Ag

Studio Nouveau/Courtesy of Indigo Ag

The latest issue of Harvard magazine includes a feature on agricultural innovation, and highlights the work of Indigo Ag CEO David Perry (MBA 1997)

The piece traces Perry’s background, from growing up on an Arkansas farm to working on at an oil refinery for Exxon to startup CEO. (Perry exhibited his entrepreneurial vision while at HBS, telling the Bulletin in 2001 that he wrote four business plans while earning his MBA.)

After running and selling two successful companies, the Harvard magazine article notes, Perry decided to pursue something “that would make a positive difference in the world.”

That’s when he found Indigo Ag, a company that is commercializing microorganisms that help plants grow. Indigo Ag’s scientists have identified microbes that confer resistance to drought, and are developing others that reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides in five important row crops: corn, rice, soybeans, cotton, and wheat. They coat seeds with these beneficial microbes to reduce the need for irrigation, increase resiliency in drought-stressed plants, and enhance their ability to extract nutrients from the soil. Perry sees an opportunity for Indigo Ag to lead or catalyze a change in the way industrialized agriculture is done.

Indigo Ag recently opened their expanded global headquarters in Charlestown, which features 65,000 square feet of space with “state-of-the-art research labs and open office space.”

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