We Grow Ideas in Food and Agriculture Into Opportunity

Changing The Field™

The Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) has been a trusted partner in food and agriculture innovation since 1989. Farmers grow more than food. We help them — and the entrepreneurs alongside them — find new uses, new markets, and new value for everything agriculture produces. 

Through collaboration with strategic partners across industries, regions, and international networks, we turn ideas into impact. We offer hands-on scientific research, technical expertise, and business development. From local fields and communities to global markets, AURI uncovers opportunities and connects the dots to build a stronger, more resilient food and ag economy.

We promote sustainable practices, support rural communities, and generate research, novel product development, and process improvements that deliver positive economic, environmental, and community impacts.

Who We Serve and What We Offer 

Technology developers and early-stage or small companies — We provide integrated technical validation and market pathway development, ensuring that proof-of-concept and pilot-scale work is designed from the outset with scale-up economics, supply chain realities, and market fit in mind. We help translate information to prevent the common failures of proving technical feasibility without commercial viability, or vice versa. 

More established companies exploring new opportunities in value-added ag — We offer applied R&D that is aligned with commercialization thinking. Pilot programs and feasibility studies are structured to produce not just technical data, but actionable business intelligence on market entry, product positioning, and operational integration. 

Investors, public funders, and economic development entities— We provide derisking at the stage where risk is hard to evaluate. Our professional experiences and regular engagement with industry leaders enable us to speak credibly to both technical performance and commercial viability. We offer a more complete picture of a technology’s or project’s readiness than either a purely technical or purely market assessment can provide. 

Advantages of Working with AURI 

We offer unique connectivity within our region — to industry, to agricultural producers, and to service providers — that allows us to broker relationships and accelerate pathways that clients could not easily — or as rapidly — build on their own. 

Our intellectual property policy is focused on the client and stays with the client when developed through a shared project.  

What Makes AURI Different 

AURI serves as a unique partner that focuses on scalability, as well as commercial and technical feasibility, through a blended approach not often available from other institutions. 

We are a small, multidisciplinary organization with two tightly integrated capabilities: an applied research team with deep technical and scientific expertise, and a business development team focused on client support and technology and product commercialization. These are not separate service lines operating in parallel. They function as a single, integrated capability, with technical validation and commercial pathway development informing each other continuously throughout an engagement. 

This integration is our core differentiator. 

Our model compresses commercial and technical feedback; a technology or client engagement is worked on from both the technical and commercial angles concurrently and iteratively, which reduces time to deliver actionable answers that achieve viable commercial outcomes.  

Vision, Values, Mission

At AURI, our core values fuel innovation and impact:

VISION

We are relentless in our focus to generate impact for the Minnesota agricultural economy. We collaborate globally, act regionally, and are known as an economic catalyst. This will enable us to deliver $500 million in economic activity for Minnesota by 2026.

MISSION

Accelerate the agricultural economy by empowering expanded uses and markets of agriculturally derived products. 

VALUES

Collaborative
Bringing unique views and capabilities, internally and externally, and collectively generating open and transparent relationships to synergistically create greater outcomes.

Committed
The resilience and passion to safely deliver results that advance our mission and vision.

Ingenuity
An innovative, resourceful, and enthusiastic approach, internally and externally with stakeholders, to overcome innovation obstacles and accelerate impactful opportunities.

Integrity
A professional, trustworthy, and transparent approach in everything we do.

We promote sustainable practices, support rural communities, and generate research, novel product development, and process improvements that deliver positive economic, environmental, and community impacts.

Bylaws

AURI is governed by a set of bylaws, which are regularly reviewed by the Board of Directors and periodically updated. 

Click to view the AURI Bylaws

Careers

AURI is always interested in individuals with a demonstrated interest in agriculture and a commitment to facilitating the advancement of value-added agriculture projects.