James Schnable’s Conflict of Interest Disclosure:

I have equity interests in two startup companies: Data2Bio (provides genotyping services and breeding decision support) and Dryland Genetics (using genomic selection to breed higher yielding varieties of naturally water use efficient crops). I previously held equity in EnGeniousAg, which was sold to CropX in 2024.

I have served as an external advisor to the scientific advisory boards of Syngenta AG and Indigo Agriculture, and in both cases was compensated for my time. I have participated in GeneSeek scientific advisory council meetings (GeneSeek is owned by Neogen) and was again compensated for my time. I have provided advice and feedback to both Heritable Agriculture and The Traits Company. In 2015 I gave a talk to scientists at Monsanto in St. Louis and received an honorarium for doing so. I’ve also received honorariums for giving talks at public and private universities both in the USA and outside of the USA.

Research in my lab is supported primarily by federal and state funds. However, at various points, I have also received research support from both commodity boards (Iowa and Nebraska Corn Growers Associations), and from private industry (most notably a research contract with ConAgra, now expired). In addition my lab received an in kind donation of microbiome data generation from Indigo Agriculture as part of our role in the Genomes to Fields Consortium. This paragraph and the previous one should not be considered an exhaustive list of all my interactions with industry.

Through index funds I own stock in essentially every publicly listed major agricultural company.

-James C. Schnable

Conflict of interest disclosure up to date as of January 2026