A Bootcamp for Ag Entrepreneurs

“It’s difficult to articulate how much I learned from this week.”

AgLaunch, ASU, and the Arkansas Department of Agriculture partner to host entrepreneurial bootcamp

The Mid-South Delta region is gaining in popularity and visibility for its opportunities to advance innovation in agriculture, and Arkansas stands to be a major force in that progress. As a hotbed of innovation for years through biotech, water management, and crop varieties, Arkansas has typically been the beneficiary of new technology but not always part of the development of innovation. With fertile farmland, plentiful water, river, rail, and major interstates, Arkansas farmers have a chance to lead the region in adopting and growing new ag-tech startups.

Agriculture is at a flection point, and many farmers and businesses are charting new territory – a landscape driven by consumer demand, sustainability concerns, labor shortages, volatile weather patterns, and increased market pressure. Farmers are looking to new technology to address some of these pain points. Ag-tech has become a big business. According to AgFunder, investment into agri-food tech companies reached more than $17 billion in 2018, five times the amount invested in 2012. Despite increased investment, very little of this technology has made its way to the farm because new technology is not always compatible with the needs of farmers. So how do farmers get involved in these early stages of technology?

One option for involvement is through the farm-centric innovation at AgLaunch, a Memphis-based nonprofit operating in the Mid-South Delta Region. AgLaunch is committed to making sure farmers are included in the development of agricultural technology every step of the way. The organization is recruiting and expanding its farmer network, a group of farmers from across the region who are testing innovation and creating new marketing approaches. The AgLaunch Farmer Network boasts more than 20 growers farming more than 100,000 acres across the Delta region. One of AgLaunch’s leading Farmer Network partners is Ritter Agribusiness, a farm based in the eastern Arkansas town of Marked Tree. Ritter Agribusiness provides a diverse landscape where tech startup companies can test their innovations like precision agriculture, robotics, biologic-based pest control, and supply chain integrity in the field.

AgLaunch recruits ag-tech entrepreneurs from all over the world to come to the Delta and partner with farmers to build and advance their companies. These entrepreneurial partners can also seek investment from Innova, Memphis’s Ag Innovation Fund, a $31 million investment fund backed by Farm Credit banks.

AgLaunch was recently named one of the Small Business Administration’s Regional Innovation Clusters, which means it is tasked with leading innovation efforts in production agriculture for the Delta region. As part of that work, AgLaunch partnered with Arkansas State University’s Delta Center for Economic Development and Department of Agriculture, as well as the Arkansas Department of Agriculture to host a week-long entrepreneurial bootcamp in Jonesboro in the summer of 2019. Arkansas State University and the Arkansas Department of Agriculture were natural partners given their commitment and agricultural experience, research, and expertise.

AgLaunch sees this continued work with Arkansas State and the Arkansas Department of Agriculture as vital to support early-stage companies in the Mid-South region. The 2019 bootcamp program included farm tours and sessions focused on marketing, venture

capital, working with land-grant universities, field design and research. These sessions complemented the existing AgLaunch programming through AgLaunch365 and the AgLaunch Farmer Network. Teams also received instruction from partners like Arkansas State University’s College of Agriculture, the Delta Center, A-State Innovate, Agricenter International, Archer Malmo, Innova Memphis, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the University of Arkansas, and others.

This year’s teams hailed from four states and included companies representing the full life cycle of agriculture from soil health to human health:

Animal Health Analytics, St. Louis, Missouri; monitors livestock biometrics and uses big data to provide solutions that improve the wellness of the animal, provides cost savings for farm operations and increases confidence for consumers in the U.S. food supply.

Cobbler Technologies, Inc., Carlisle, Arkansas; developed and deployed software as a service platform for agricultural companies that easily integrates multiple data sources and allows users to customize dashboards to help them make better decisions and share reports securely.

Sprout Urban Farms, Little Rock, Arkansas; is an online grocery store with an emphasis on local products and same-day delivery.

GSS Group, Fayetteville, Arkansas; developed a vertical hydroponic tower that increases production capacity of greenhouse “dead-space.”

Lepidext, Lexington, Kentucky; is a proprietary sterilizing virus to organically eradicate corn earworm.

Smart Farm Systems, Nicholasville, Kentucky; created remote, wireless monitoring and control for wells and irrigation.

SymSoil, Solano County, California; is scaling indigenous microorganisms to bring the soil food web to market.

“It's difficult to articulate how much I learned from this week,” said one of the bootcamp participants. Several of the startups have applied to be part of the AgLaunch365 program, a more robust acceleration process that begins the field trial process with farmers. Three startups were featured at the AgLaunch “Future of Agriculture” Field Day held at Agricenter International that hosted nearly 200 people and showcased cutting-edge technology and new value-added crop trials.

AgLaunch is planning other events like field days, innovation workshops, and opportunities to engage with field trials in partnership with the Department of Agriculture and A-State for 2020. To learn more about AgLaunch and its farmer network, please visit aglaunch.com.

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