Century-old Keystone Cooperative Joins Alloy Partners’ Venture Studio For Animal, Human And Planetary Health

Agricultural co-op Keystone Cooperative will have a direct hand in developing new agrifood offerings thanks to a new partnership with Indiana-based Alloy Partners. Keystone, also based in Indiana, has joined Alloy’s latest venture studio, the One Health Studio, in which is has also invested an undisclosed amount.

Alloy Partners launched the One Health Studio in 2025 in partnership with animal health giant Elanco, with the goal of creating and scaling companies at the intersection of animal, plant, and human health. The State of Indiana also supports the fund, which is located at Elanco’s headquarters.

The One Health Studio is one among several venture-building initiatives from Alloy that also include a university venture studio, a fintech studio with Huntington Bank, and a Midwest-focused studio backed by the Walton Family Foundation.

Bringing ‘the practical side of the farmer’ to venture

Keystone Cooperative will assume an advisory role in the creation and scaling process of the projects in One Health Studio, bringing expertise on what farmers need and what they can bring to these initiatives, says Keystone Cooperative CEO Scott Logue.

The farmer-owned cooperative has operated in the Midwest US for more than a century, providing agronomy supplies, grain, animal health services and energy to more than 20,000 farmers.

“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,” notes Logue.

Keystone, he adds, will bring “the real-world, practical side of the farmer” to the process of creating and scaling companies via the new venture studio.

He suggests that “a boom” in animal and human health innovation is on the way and could impact farmers positively in the same way ethanol did earlier this century.

“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.

“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.”

Eight concepts, many applications

Alloy has already moved eight concepts into incubation via the One Health Studio.

Specific details about those projects are largely under wraps at this point. A spokesperson for Alloy told AgFunderNews that of the eight currently in incubation, three are in animal health, two are in plant/soil health, and three are in human health.

“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 noted. “Many incubated projects start in one area, but have applications and impacts on those other areas as well.”

On a more general note, Logue says the biggest challenge farmers face is market access.

“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.”

Ultimately, he suggests, the goal is to make ag retailers part of the process of building agrifood solutions that can address this and other challenges, rather than just being the recipients of new technologies.

“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,” notes Loque. “When the farmer has these opportunities, they succeed.”

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