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OpenTug, through its BargeOS AI-native platform, strives to enhance visibility, reduce delays and drive value for farmers and cooperatives, including CHS
SAINT PAUL, Minn. (July 23, 2026) – Cooperative Ventures has announced an investment in OpenTug, an AI-native logistics technology company transforming inland and coastal marine transportation. Cooperative Ventures, a joint venture between CHS Inc. and GROWMARK, focuses on investing in agtech startups and developing mutually beneficial commercial relationships between startups and cooperative partners that deliver long-term value for farmers, cooperatives and the broader agricultural supply chain. In addition to Cooperative Ventures investment in OpenTug, CHS is working to implement the barge management system to build additional efficiency in the company’s supply chain.
OpenTug BargeOS optimizes marine logistics by streamlining commercial planning, voyage management, invoice reconciliation and powerful reporting in one unified platform. This technology enables shippers and carriers to create the most value by reducing idle barge days, improving ETA prediction accuracy and minimizing demurrage charges. By combining integrated barge GPS monitoring with BargeOS Autopilot's automated ingestion of traffic reports and operational emails, users gain a comprehensive, real-time view of barge movements and voyage activity. Together, these capabilities are helping OpenTug drive stronger customer ROI and optimize the overall grain supply chain through KPI-led visibility and insights.
“Partnering with CHS and GROWMARK allows us to accelerate digital transformation across one of America’s most critical supply chains,” said Jason Aristides, CEO of OpenTug. “With BargeOS, we’re turning data into actionable insights that help cooperatives and farmers move product more efficiently, reduce waste, and strengthen return on investment. This collaboration represents a shared commitment to innovation that benefits every link in the agricultural ecosystem.”
“Cooperatives rely on resilient, cost-effective transportation to move grain, fertilizer and other key products efficiently through the supply chain,” said David Black, executive vice president and chief information officer of CHS Inc. “OpenTug’s platform offers a digital bridge to improve visibility and coordination across marine freight networks, and this investment will ultimately help our supply chain and the cooperative system become more efficient so we can deliver more value to our farmer-owners.”
With better visibility and coordination, partners using OpenTug’s digital tools can move more cargo with fewer barges. This added transparency also helps cooperatives respond more quickly to disruptions, ensuring continuity in the movement of agricultural goods.
“OpenTug's platform has the potential to revolutionize how products move through the river system,” says Heather Thompson, enterprise marketing executive director at GROWMARK. “This investment will help strengthen the supply chains that depend on barges to move product to the right place at the right time, ultimately enabling us to better serve our farmer customers.”
OpenTug joins the growing portfolio of innovative companies within Cooperative Ventures, delivering solutions that improve productivity, sustainability and profitability across the agricultural value chain.
About OpenTug
OpenTug is the company behind BargeOS, an AI-native software platform for marine logistics. BargeOS helps customers improve productivity, increase visibility, and support better margin outcomes by connecting data, automating workflows, and streamlining decision-making across commercial planning, voyage management, invoice intelligence, and performance management. For more information, visit www.opentug.com
About Cooperative Ventures
Cooperative Ventures is a venture capital fund founded in late 2021 as a joint venture between CHS and GROWMARK, two of the largest farmer-owned agricultural supply cooperatives in North America. The fund focuses on innovative solutions and emerging technologies that positively impact farming. In addition to providing capital, Cooperative Ventures is committed to developing mutually beneficial commercial relationships between startups and is comprised of teams based out of Bloomington, Illinois, and St. Paul, Minnesota with management assistance from Touchdown Ventures. More information is available at CooperativeVenturesLLC.com.
About CHS
CHS Inc. (www.chsinc.com) creates connections to empower agriculture. As a leading global agribusiness and the largest farmer-owned cooperative in the United States, CHS serves customers in 65 countries and employs approximately 10,000 people worldwide. We provide critical crop inputs, market access and risk management services that help farmers feed the world. Our diversified agronomy, grains, foods and energy businesses recorded revenues of $35.5 billion in fiscal year 2025. CHS is committed to reducing our impact on the planet, finding and developing new solutions in agriculture and energy, and investing in ways to build a better future for our owners, customers, employees and communities.
About GROWMARK
GROWMARK is an agricultural cooperative serving almost 400,000 customers across North America, providing agronomy, energy, facility engineering and construction, and logistics products and services, as well as grain marketing and risk management services. Headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois, GROWMARK owns the FS trademark, which is used by its member cooperatives. More information is available at GROWMARK.com.
