Week 4: Benson Hill

Benson Hill is a plant science research center that primarily focuses on making soy and yellow pea plants more nutritious. The entire company operates around artificial intelligence which is called CropOs. All departments or “steps” in the plant transformation process use this AI. The seeds create oil, flour, and meal that is sold to a variety of manufacturing companies that create food, feed, and aquaculture feed.

This week I have been job shadowing Christine Althaber. She wears many hats for Benson Hill, but to put it plainly, she started out as a plant scientist that transformed plants then taught herself accounting and has worked her way up to managing a large majority of the budget for Benson Hill and basically fixes any problems that might occur within the departments. She has been able to explain to me what exactly Benson Hill is and how it was developed as a company. I have also been able to spend time with each of the departments to see firsthand how they operate individually as well as collaborate.

Below are samples of what they create through their gene editing.