Bion Environmental Technologies Inc (OTCMKTS: BNET) was incorporated in 1987 in the State of Colorado. Bion’s mission is to create extraordinary value for our shareholders and employees (all of whom own securities in the Company) while delivering premium, sustainable products to our customers (and other stakeholders) through ventures developing profitable, transparent, and sustainable solutions for livestock agriculture.
The Company’s patented and proprietary technology provides advanced waste treatment and resource recovery for large-scale livestock production facilities (also known as “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations” or “CAFOs”). Livestock production and its waste, particularly from CAFOs, has been identified as one of the greatest soil, air, and water quality problems in the U.S. today. Application of our third generation technology and business/technology platform (“Gen3Tech”) can largely mitigate these environmental problems, while simultaneously improving operational/ resource efficiencies by recovering high-value co-products from the CAFOs’ waste stream. These waste stream ‘assets’ – including primarily nutrients and methane – have traditionally been wasted or underutilized and are the same ‘pollutants’ that today fuel harmful algae blooms, contaminate groundwater, and exacerbate climate change.
During the first half of 2022 Bion began marketing our sustainable beef opportunity to retailers, food service distributors and the meat industry in the U.S. In general, the response has been favorable. During July 2023, Bion announced a letter of intent (“Ribbonwire LOI”) to develop its first large-scale commercial project, a 15,000-head sustainable beef cattle feeding operation together with the Ribbonwire Ranch, in Dalhart, Texas (with a provision to expand to 60,000 head) (“Dalhart Project”). The Dalhart Project will be developed to produce blockchain-verified, sustainable beef (with reduced the stress on cattle caused by extreme weather and temperatures and resulting higher feed/weight gain efficiency) while remediating the environmental impacts associated usually associated with cattle CAFOs. Bion’s patented technology will treat the waste stream and recover/refine valuable coproducts that include clean water, renewable natural gas (RNG), photovoltaic solar electricity, organic fertilizer and potentially other products. We anticipate converting the Ribbonwire LOI into a definitive agreement with Ribbonwire Ranch and creating distribution agreements with key retailers and food service distributors during the current fiscal year.
Earlier this year BNET and Olson Farms/TD Angus announced a letter of intent to develop a 45,000-head sustainable beef cattle feeding operation near North Platte, Nebraska. The project will consist of three of Bion’s 15,000-head modules that will include barns with solar panels, manure collection and conditioning, biogas recovery and upgrading, ammonia capture and production of organic fertilizer products, and clean water recovery. All processes and performance will be third-party verified, USDA-certified, and recorded on blockchain, that will support a transparent and sustainable-branded premium product, with dramatic reductions in impacts to air, water, and soil.
In January Bill Rupp joined Bion’s Board of Directors, effective February 15, 2023. In September of 2022, Mr. Rupp was named to Bion’s Advisory Group. Bill brings 37 years of experience, including 18 years in senior leadership roles with Cargill and JBS, two of the world’s largest meat packers. His operating expertise and industry relationships will be invaluable in his role, where he will work directly with Bill O’Neill, Bion’s CEO, to build a team and strategy to commercialize Bion’s technology and product line.
Mr. Rupp spent 25 years with Cargill, the last ten as President of Cargill Beef. He oversaw Cargill’s global beef business operations that did over $25 billion in annual sales in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, and Australia. Mr. Rupp also served five years as President of JBS Beef, where he led JBS’s North American beef business that did approximately $20 billion in sales. In 2021, Mr. Rupp was inducted into the National Provisioners’ Meat Packer Hall of Fame. He is a senior advisor at Sustainable Beef, LLC, a rancher-owned packing plant being developed in western Nebraska, that has attracted an equity investment by Walmart (NYSE: WMT). Bion recently announced an LOI with Olson Farms/TD Angus, a cattle breeding and feeder oper
Also on feburary 7 BNET added Salvatore Zizza to its BOD. As a Board member, Mr. Zizza brings decades of experience in institutional finance, commerce, and public company practices. In addition to serving as an independent Board Member, Mr. Zizza will help implement governance procedures that include establishing and chairing the Audit Committee (and other committees) that will be set up during the next 30-60 days so that Bion meets the requirements of a listing on a national exchange. Mr. Zizza is currently a Director of 19 funds in the Gabelli Asset Management and GAMCO Investors, Inc. fund families, including several that trade on the NYSE.