Benson Hill, Inc.

with the presentation portion of the call, with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end. If you want to ask the question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. I want to pass the conference to your host, Reuben Mayer, Senior Director of Investor Relations with Benson Hill. Reuben, please go ahead.

Thank you, Lauren, and good morning. We appreciate you joining us to review our third quarter financial results and outlook. With me today are Dini Elsner, Benson Hill's chief executive officer, and Dean Freeman, our chief financial officer. Earlier this morning, we filed our earnings release in Form 8K. These documents and an investor presentation we will reference during the prepared remarks are available in the investor section of the Benson Hill website. Comments today from management will contain forward-looking statements, including Benson Hill's expectation of future financial and business performance and industry outlook, and current guidance for 2023, and preliminary directional outlook for 2024. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and are not guarantees of performance. We caution you to consider the risk factors that can materially cause results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include those referenced in the cautionary notes included in our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, press release, and investor presentation, and other filings with the SEC. Also during this presentation, we will discuss specific non-GAAP financial measures, a reconciliation of GAAP is available, and our earnings release and presentation. I will now turn the call over to Dini.

Thanks, Ruben, and good morning, everyone. The past few months have been an intense and pivotal time in the evolution of Benson Hill. On October 31st, we shared a plan to realize our vision as a leading food and feed technology company across multiple protein and markets. The need for protein and nutrition security continues to grow, and unlocking the natural genetic diversity in plants is a way to address it. That's the power of genomics to change the food system. Our innovations have a multiplier effect across various end-use applications. We plan to direct the value-added attributes of our ultra-high protein low-ligosaccharide, or UHPLO, seed varieties as we successfully launch for the aquaculture market into the serve the established and growing poultry and swine markets. To establish this, Benson Hill is divesting its processing assets and evolving to an asset-light model with robust partnership and licensing agreements to access a 28 million acre addressable market and supply our novel soy meal to customers at scale. What excites us about this opportunity is our first mover advantage. We have confirmed through multiple feeding trials that UHPLO is a game changer for animal producers. Our innovation available today meets the nutritional quality trait specifications they desire. Higher protein, low glycosaccharides, and enhanced amino acids. Additional innovations in our product pipeline with further increased protein, enhanced amino acids, and herbicide tolerance will be launched in 2027. Competitors have announced partnerships in this space that underscore the exciting opportunities in these markets and Benson Hill's first mover position. By the end of the decade, others intend to launch first-generation seed varieties with defined specifications that our UHPLO varieties meet or exceed today. By the end of the decade, Benson Hill plans to launch our Gen 3 seed varieties into this attractive market. That's the Benson Hill advantage. Our proprietary high-protein germplasm represents decades of breeding to optimize nutritional traits. Our strategic data layers represent extensive mapping and understanding of nutritional genetic markers. And our CropOS innovation engine and crop accelerator provide an industry-leading, AI-driven seed innovation platform to execute our quality trait breeding program. Our crop OS technology platform is distinct and highly complimentary to the capabilities of other seed companies. The ultimate advantage is an accelerated speed to market in a business that involves biology and implementation across millions of acres. Time is priceless. We have defined a clear path forward, focusing on our core strengths. Here's what you should expect from us in the coming months. First, we're executing the divestitures of our processing assets. Specifically, we completed the sale of the Soy Crush assets at our Seymour facility for approximately $36 million, subject to working capital adjustments. And we're currently exploring opportunities to divest the Creston and Dakota facilities. Second, we're executing the transition of our business. We expect the divestitures, cost realignment, working capital savings, and efficient capital structure to enable an asset-light model with a 12-month liquidity runway. Finally, we're focused on securing strategic partnerships and licensing agreements to expand into the poultry, swine, and pet food markets, while also positioning Benson Hill for gross margin expansion and higher returns on capital. The 2023 harvest is nearly complete for both our commercial and pre-commercial soybean varieties. Our field teams report protein levels in our proprietary soybean portfolio consistent with what we've seen historically, with some varieties delivering a slight year-over-year increase. Notably, one of our new UHPLO soybeans showcased protein levels that outperformed our widely planted variety currently in use in aquaculture. Protein levels in ultra-high protein varieties destined for human food applications showed a modest year-over-year improvement. Approximately 10% of the harvested bushels have already been delivered to our processing facilities and partners, and we're establishing tolling agreements to process grains. The 2022 class products within our UHP and UHPLO categories continue to show stronger yield performance, surpassing the current portfolio. Looking ahead, we anticipate a 5 percentage point year-over-year improvement in the yield performance of our 2024 commercial portfolio. We remain firmly on track to transition our first UHP herbicide tolerance varieties to seed production for the upcoming 2024 crop year. We plan to share an update with you on what will advance through the R&D pipeline by the end of the first quarter. We will continue to support our existing engagements with farmers, current customers, and partnerships as we convert our business model to enter animal feed. In our view, the long-term opportunities for food, aquaculture, and specialty oils remain positive. These markets will be challenged in the near term, but they will return to growth, and we have proven our ability to scale our innovation to meet the needs of those end markets. the hard work is underway to realize the evolution of Benson Hill. Next year will be different as we begin the shift towards 100% proprietary products through an asset-light model. Accessing the animal feed markets requires an acre acquisition strategy. As our acre acquisition targets grow in the coming years towards an estimated 6.5 million acres by 2030, we expect broad acre licensing of our germplasm to be the catalyst to get us there. Other sources of future revenues and margins will include direct seed sales and technology access fees from soy ingredient processors and customers. We expect to share the estimated $100 to $230 per acre of value creation from our genetics with those partners. One of the benefits of this approach is that we can monetize our innovation at least two years sooner than under the current closed-loop model. By securing value further upstream, we can generate more sustainable earnings at much higher gross margins. I want to quickly shift to how the transition plan will affect 2024. Fiscal 2024 is a transition year for us as we move to the asset-light, proprietary-only revenue model. Several factors will impact our results for 2024, depending on the timing of our execution. Specifically, a disposition of manufacturing assets will reduce our non-proprietary revenue and operating costs versus 2023. Our gross profit is still expected to be positive in 2024, and we will deliver our operating run rate reductions as promised, but we will continue to experience net operating losses for the year. As we've announced, we intend to pay off our high-cost debt by March 1, 2024. We expect our operating cash burn to be significantly lower than 2023 levels. We will update you on 2024 expectations in regular cadence of our year-end earnings call. We have a lot to look forward to as we execute this plan and realize the tremendous opportunity for Benson Hill by leveraging our enduring competitive advantages. We will keep you apprised of our progress. I will now turn the call over to Dean to discuss third quarter results and outlook for the fourth quarter. Dean?