We told you the other day about the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge from AgriNovus Indiana and the $25,000 check that goes along with that challenge that looks for tech solutions to on-farm problems. When they announced mobile software startup Gripp as this year’s winner last week, they also announced some exciting news about next year’s challenge.
“We’ve heard time and time again from our partners that, what if we could do more? What if we could support at a higher level?”
Geoff Zentz, Senior Director of Innovation for AgriNovus discusses how the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge will transition into an accelerator program called Velocity beginning in early 2025.
“Velocity is that next evolution. It’s going to be a six-month program in which we support innovators in three different verticals that we believe are going to be key for the future of the Indiana agbioscience economy. Those three are on-farm innovation, food is health innovation, and bioinnovation as a whole. Those three are going to be the areas in which we focus to find problems that exist in the space, support innovators as they tackle those problems, and we’re fortunate enough to be able to now offer three $25,000 checks at the end of that rainbow to seed three different companies to drive forward into those ideas.”
And what does this ultimately mean for Indiana farmers?
“This means that Indiana farmers are going to have Indiana innovation making their lives better, making their checkbooks thicker, making their yields higher, and ultimately making their operation more sustainable, more revenue generating, and having a better quality of life in the long run.”
Companies, individuals and entrepreneurs who want to participate in Velocity can access more information and a registration link at the AgriNovus website. The deadline to register is January 12, 2025.
