Impello Biosciences Joins Forces with Colorado State University on Biologicals Research
March 29, 2024 
Impello Biosciences, an agricultural biostimulant company, has signed a cooperative research agreement with and is transitioning internal trials to the Horticulture Center at Colorado State University (CSU). Through the agreement, horticulture students will have an ongoing opportunity to gain valuable experiences through cooperation on Impello projects and increase trial data available to growers.
“Biostimulants have a history of being labeled as ‘snake oil’, which makes it understandably difficult for growers to accept the data many companies generate in-house. In collaboration with students and experienced investigators at CSU, we can begin to offer all growers a credible repository of data, evidence, and support they deserve,” says Mike Key, founder and CEO of Impello. “Our goal is to provide information growers can trust, interpret, and apply in a way that benefits their own operations, which they know better than anyone else. We hope this university cooperation will enable more growers to better access and utilize the incredible biological technologies we’re already working with and give them confidence in the next generations of these products as well.”
CSU has been, from its inception, an agricultural school and the mission of the land grant university Extension programs has always been to provide practical and trustworthy information to people, like farmers, who face the complex challenges of raising crops in the modern world. Impello shares this core mission.
“Grower trust is critical if biological products are going to make the impact they are capable of, and so are hands-on plant-growing experiences and agricultural education for our students so it seems like the perfect fit,” says Mike Hazlett, Research Associate at CSU. “We are incredibly excited to combine university efforts and expertise with Impello to move the science of biological products forward to this new era and ensure that our students have solid knowledge in this realm.”
Impello also recently hired Megan Foley as its new Pacific Northwest Coast Account Manager for controlled and open field agriculture.
“Megan’s hire embodies our commitment to listening to and understanding the nuanced needs of our clients, as well as cultivating lasting relationships in new markets on the West Coast,” said Adam DeRosa, Co-Founder and CRO. “Her expertise will also support our base and help deepen customer engagement so we can continue to be a leader among agricultural providers. This is a difficult industry and Megan understands exactly why novel products and modes of action are so important for growers to come out ahead.”
Megan comes to Impello most recently from the biosolutions unit at global agricultural giant, UPL, and brings a wide range of horticultural and agricultural experience to the team. She has been the head of a farm, worked as a certifier of organic farms for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and is an expert in controlled environmental agricultural systems. She brings to the team scientific, regulatory, and practical horticultural and agronomic knowledge to help support Impello’s ongoing expansion into all sectors of agriculture.
“Each stop along the path of my career has been with sustainable agriculture in mind,” Foley said, “and the uniqueness of what Impello offers has me really excited to share our innovative biological products and technologies with growers.”
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