Keystone Cooperative, a farmer-owned co-op serving more than 20,000 growers across the Midwest, has invested an undisclosed amount in Alloy Partners' One Health Studio — betting that a coming wave of animal, plant and human health innovation can open new markets the way ethanol did two decades ago.

The partnership gives Keystone, headquartered in Indiana, a direct advisory role in creating and scaling startups emerging from the studio, which Indianapolis-based Alloy Partners launched in 2025 in partnership with animal health giant Elanco. The State of Indiana also backs the fund, which operates out of Elanco's headquarters.

The One Health Studio aims to build and scale companies at the intersection of animal, plant and human health. It sits among several Alloy venture-building initiatives, including a university venture studio, a fintech studio with Huntington Bank, and a Midwest-focused studio backed by the Walton Family Foundation.

'We didn't capture the ethanol opportunity'

For Keystone CEO Scott Logue, the calculus is straightforward: the co-op missed direct participation in the ethanol boom and does not intend to repeat that with the next demand driver.

"The ethanol boom created a lot of opportunity for our crop farmers, and we believe that there is opportunity coming with either animal or food or plant-based human health connections. We want to be there at the table," Logue said.

"We didn't get involved in ethanol very directly, didn't capture the opportunity for our farmers, and with our scale today, with our financial position, these are some risks we can take. It could be a tremendous opportunity for our growers."

Keystone has operated for more than a century, supplying agronomy inputs, grain, animal health services and energy to its member base. Logue argues that breadth is exactly what the studio needs.

"Having all those different variables of our farm-owned business, that's how the One Health Studio was very appealing to us, because we touched so many pieces of that," he said, adding that Keystone will bring "the real-world, practical side of the farmer" to the venture-building process.

Eight concepts in incubation

Alloy has already moved eight concepts into incubation through the studio. An Alloy spokesperson said three are in animal health, two in plant and soil health, and three in human health. Specific project details remain under wraps.

"The goal for One Health Studio is to pursue ideas at the convergence of at least two of those three — plant, animal, and human," the spokesperson said. "Many incubated projects start in one area, but have applications and impacts on those other areas as well."

For growers, the strategic question behind the investment is market access. Logue frames it as the defining challenge for farmer margins.

"The biggest issue for farmers over the last several decades is having market access. Is it ethanol? Is it exports? Is it other processing? Is it our feed business? How do we create more market opportunities for the farmer? There is no better way than for us to be directly involved in that channel connecting the farmer to the end use process. This could be another piece of that channel."

The move also signals a shift in how ag retailers position themselves in the innovation chain — as builders rather than simply adopters of new technology.

"I believe there are opportunities for more agriculture companies to get involved, and the more we can get a diversified group to support things like this, the better it is for the farmer," Logue said. "When the farmer has these opportunities, they succeed."

Neither Keystone nor Alloy disclosed the size of the investment or the timeline for spinning out the first companies from the eight incubating concepts, leaving growers watching for concrete results as the studio's pipeline develops.