What Summit Agricultural Group does

Summit Agricultural Group is a privately held, diversified agribusiness operator and investment manager founded in 1990 by Bruce Rastetter in Alden, Iowa. The company operates through two principal divisions: Summit Ag Investors, which manages over $5 billion in third-party assets across North and South America targeting institutional investors with exposure to agriculture and renewable energy, and Summit Farms, which conducts row-crop, pork, and beef production across more than 14,000 acres of US farmland with additional exposure through farmland investment funds covering 50,000+ acres in the US Midwest and 11,000 acres in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

The company's core operating businesses span ethanol, carbon capture, wheat protein, and sustainable aviation fuel. FS (Fueling Sustainability), Brazil's largest corn ethanol producer, operates three facilities in Mato Grosso with 600+ million gallons of annual low-carbon ethanol capacity and is pursuing BECCS to produce carbon-negative biofuel. Summit Carbon Solutions is developing the world's largest carbon capture and storage project, capturing 16+ million metric tons of CO2 annually from 57+ ethanol facilities including POET and Valero for permanent sequestration in North Dakota geology. Amber Wave, North America's largest wheat protein facility in Phillipsburg, Kansas, produces 65 million pounds of vital wheat gluten annually alongside ethanol and feed co-products. Summit Next Gen and JetBio are the company's emerging sustainable aviation fuel platforms using Honeywell UOP's ethanol-to-jet technology, with a $1.6B Texas Gulf Coast facility and a ~$2B Brazilian facility in Paulínia.

Summit generates revenue across four streams: investment management fees on $5B+ AUM, commodity sales of ethanol and co-products (DDG, corn oil, bioelectricity) from FS and Amber Wave, wheat protein and feed ingredient sales into baking, pet food, and aquafeed markets, and — prospectively — carbon capture service fees from Summit Carbon Solutions and SAF offtake from Summit Next Gen and JetBio. Distribution is B2B-direct to institutional investors, ethanol producers, industrial food and feed manufacturers, and — once operational — airlines and aviation fuel suppliers. The company is led by Founder and Executive Chairman Bruce Rastetter and CEO Justin Kirchhoff, and its portfolio has attracted marquee investors including TPG Rise Climate ($300M), Continental Resources ($250M), Tiger Infrastructure Partners, and Amaggi (40% of FS in 2026).

Name

Summit Agricultural Group

Legal name

Summit Agricultural Group

Website

https://summitag.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Summit Agricultural Group is a private agribusiness operator and investment manager managing $5B+ in third-party assets across North and South America, with operating platforms spanning Brazilian corn ethanol, US carbon capture, North American wheat protein, and emerging sustainable aviation fuel.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Investment Management

NAICS

Crop Production (111), Corn Farming (11115), All Other Crop Farming (11199)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700), Agricultural Production-Crops (100), Grain Mill Products (2040)

akta.pro primary industry

Carbon, Sustainability & Farm Certification Support (Agro-Environmental Advisory) (AFACABAL)

Keywords

• Agricultural investment management
• Carbon capture services
• Biofuels production
• Farm management services
• Renewable energy investments

Headquarters

HQ city

Alden

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Investment Management Fees: Summit Ag Investors manages over $5 billion in third party assets under management across North and South America, generating management and performance fees from institutional investors.
2. Biofuel Production and Sales: FS produces over 600 million gallons per year of low-carbon corn ethanol in Brazil. Revenue from ethanol sales and animal nutrition co-products including DDG, corn oil, and bioelectricity.
3. Wheat Protein and Ingredients: Amber Wave produces vital wheat gluten (65 million pounds annually) and feed products (250K tons annually) for baking, pet food, aquafeed, and specialty feed markets.
4. Carbon Capture Services: Summit Carbon Solutions charges ethanol producers for CO2 capture and sequestration services, enabling them to access low-carbon fuel markets.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Summit Agricultural Group is a diversified agribusiness operator and investment manager that combines third-party asset management ($5B+ AUM) with vertically integrated production operations across the agricultural and renewable energy supply chain. Through portfolio companies, it produces low-carbon corn ethanol (600M+ gallons/year), vital wheat gluten (65M lbs/year), sustainable aviation fuel, and operates the world's largest carbon capture and storage project serving Midwest ethanol plants.

Product overview

Summit Agricultural Group is a diversified agribusiness operator and investment manager operating two main divisions: Summit Ag Investors (asset management) and Summit Farms (production). The company's portfolio includes five active portfolio companies: Summit Carbon Solutions (carbon capture and storage), Amber Wave (wheat protein ingredients), FS (Brazilian corn ethanol), Summit Next Gen (North American SAF), and JetBio (Brazilian SAF). Summit Ag Investors manages over $5 billion in third-party assets across North and South America, while Summit Farms operates row crop and livestock production across more than 14,000 acres. The company also maintains exited investments in beef processing (Iowa Premium), US ethanol (Hawkeye Renewables), wind energy (Iowa Winds), and pork production (Heartland Pork).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Summit Carbon Solutions: Carbon capture and storage platform developing the world's largest CCS project for ethanol and industrial facilities across the Midwest.
• Amber Wave
• FS - Fueling Sustainability
• Summit Next Gen
• JetBio
• Heartland Pork
• Iowa Premium
• Hawkeye Renewables

Products and services

• Summit Carbon Solutions Carbon capture and storage platform that captures CO2 emissions from ethanol plants across the upper Midwest and permanently stores them in North Dakota geological formations. The world's largest CCS project, designed to capture 16+ million tons of CO2 annually from 57+ ethanol facilities across nearly 2,000 miles of pipeline.
• Amber Wave North America's largest wheat protein ingredients production facility producing vital wheat gluten (65 million pounds annually), animal feed products (250,000 tons DDG annually), and wheat-based ethanol. Processes 20 million bushels of locally grown wheat annually at the Phillipsburg, Kansas facility.
• FS - Fueling Sustainability Brazilian corn ethanol producer operating three facilities in Mato Grosso with over 600 million gallons per year of low-carbon ethanol production capacity. Developing carbon capture and storage to become the world's first carbon-negative liquid fuel producer at scale through BECCS technology.
• Summit Next Gen Sustainable aviation fuel production platform developing the world's largest ethanol-to-jet SAF facility on the Houston Ship Channel in Texas. Uses Honeywell UOP's Ethanol to Jet processing technology to convert ethanol into SAF, with expected production of over 250 million gallons of SAF annually.
• JetBio Sustainable aviation fuel production platform developing the world's largest ethanol-to-jet SAF facility in Paulínia, São Paulo, Brazil. Expected to utilize 250 million gallons of ethanol annually to produce 86 million gallons of SAF and renewable diesel.
• Summit Ag Investors Third-party asset management division linking institutional investors with agricultural and renewable energy investment opportunities. Manages over $5 billion in third-party assets under management across North and South America through farmland funds, pork facility funds, and renewable energy investments.
• Summit Farms Row crop and livestock production operations including corn and soybean cultivation, pork production, and beef cattle feeding. Manages over 14,000 acres of farmland and livestock facilities across North America.
• US Farmland Investment Funds Farmland investment funds acquiring and managing high-quality Midwest farmland. Six funds have acquired more than 50,000 acres of farmland since 2010 across multiple US states.
• Brazilian Farmland Investments Farmland investments in Mato Grosso, Brazil, including Rio Norte farm with 11,000 acres (5,500 tillable), providing institutional investors with exposure to the rapidly expanding Brazilian agricultural region.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces ethanol carbon intensity by 32 points through CO2 sequestration
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• Burns & McDonnellcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 16 September 2024Burns & McDonnell serves as EPC provider for JetBio's ethanol-to-jet SAF facility. The company has vast experience in renewables and is collaborating with Honeywell for project development. Summit Next Gen selected Burns & McDonnell for final phase of engineering and project design.
• Honeywell UOPcoreTechnology or Integration · 15 May 2023JetBio has partnered with Honeywell UOP for ethanol-to-jet process technology. The partnership includes licensing & engineering agreements, with catalyst supply in process. Honeywell provides process guarantees with liquidated damages for key performance metrics. JetBio will utilize Honeywell's leading Ethanol to Jet (ETJ) process technology.
• Minnkota Power CooperativecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 28 April 2022Joint development of CO2 storage facilities near Center, North Dakota. The partnership provides Summit access to Minnkota's already permitted 100-million-ton capacity CO2 storage site (largest of only three permitted sites in US). Together, projects have aggregate storage exceeding 200 million tons. Minnkota leads Project Tundra for carbon capture at Milton R. Young Station.
• SchlumbergercoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021Schlumberger was hired as a key partner for geological and injection studies for FS's BECCS (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage) project at the Lucas do Rio Verde plant. The project aims to make FS the first globally to produce negative carbon liquid biofuel at scale.
• POETflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor partnership connecting the world's largest biofuel producer with Summit Carbon Solutions. POET's 17 bioprocessing facilities (12 in Iowa, 5 in South Dakota) will capture 4.7 million metric tons CO2 annually. POET is the world's largest bioethanol producer operating 34 facilities across eight states.
• ValerocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerValero, the world's second-largest corn ethanol producer, is a shipper on Summit's pipeline. Eight Valero ethanol facilities across Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota will capture 3.1 million metric tons of CO2 annually, adding 1.1 billion gallons of ethanol per year to the project.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• POET: World's largest bioethanol producer with 34 facilities across eight states. POET is a direct peer in corn ethanol production and a flagship partner/shipper in Summit Carbon Solutions' CCS pipeline (17 facilities capturing 4.7M tons CO2/yr).
• Green Plains: US corn ethanol producer with carbon capture strategy (Project 60). Closely comparable to Summit's ethanol + CCS thesis, with overlapping end markets and similar regulatory/carbon-credit exposures.
• Aemetis: Integrated renewable fuels and CCS platform combining corn ethanol, SAF, and carbon capture. Aemetis is the closest US comparable to Summit Next Gen/JetBio/Summit Carbon Solutions in combining SAF production with agricultural carbon sequestration.
• Gladstone Land: Public farmland REIT acquiring US farmland for institutional investors. Closest public-market comparable to Summit Ag Investors' farmland fund strategy and 50,000+ acre US portfolio.

Broad incumbents

• Valero: One of the largest US refiners and the world's second-largest corn ethanol producer. Valero is both a CCS pipeline partner (8 facilities, 3.1M tons/yr) and a broad incumbent in renewable fuels comparable to Summit's ethanol operations.
• Archer Daniels Midland (ADM): Global agribusiness giant with significant ethanol, grain processing, and ingredient operations comparable to Summit's diversified platform. ADM's decarbonization roadmap and renewable fuels strategy intersect with Summit Carbon Solutions' customer base.
• Cargill: World's largest privately held agribusiness with grain origination, ethanol, and animal nutrition businesses. Comparable to Summit's vertically integrated agricultural production and investment approach.
• Bunge: Global agribusiness and grain origination major with strong Brazilian footprint. Comparable to Summit's commodity exposure across US/Mato Grosso and to FS's downstream ethanol distribution dynamics.

Emerging players

• Gevo: Emerging SAF and renewable diesel producer using alcohol-to-jet pathways. Gevo overlaps with Summit Next Gen's ethanol-to-jet thesis and competes for the same aviation fuel offtake contracts and IRA SAF credits.
• LanzaTech: Carbon capture technology company converting industrial emissions into fuels and chemicals. LanzaTech's carbon-to-fuels platform competes conceptually with Summit Carbon Solutions + ETJ for low-carbon fuel offtake and 45Q monetization.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/SummitAgGroup
• Facebookfacebook.com/176632939102882
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/summit-agricultural-group
• Instagraminstagram.com/summitaggroup

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments3 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Summit Agricultural Group