Woodland-based agricultural startup incubator AgStart won a $50,000 cash award in a Small Business Administration competition to develop innovative ideas to support businesses in food, agriculture, health or nutrition.
AgStart's application was for its AgriFood Innovation Network, which ties together agricultural innovations across regions of California and other states, said Amanda Portier, program director for AgStart.
"Our vision is to create the most fertile and productive innovation ecosystem for entrepreneurs tackling the biggest issues in agriculture, food and health,” Portier said.
AgStart will use the money to build out its AgriFood Innovation Network, which then could possibly be eligible for an additional award of $50,000 to $150,000 later this year.
AgStart is the nonprofit that operates The Lab@AgStart in downtown Woodland, which is a wet-lab incubator for startup companies.
The SBA received 355 applications for the cash awards, and AgStart is one of 40 winners across the country, she said. The SBA's award was part of its 2023 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition run out of its Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs.
The idea for the AgriFood Innovation Network was borne of the pandemic, when AgStart in Woodland worked on some online seminars with other nonprofit groups in agricultural technology including AgLaunch in Memphis, Tennessee and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park.
The idea of the larger network is to share ag innovations and potential partnerships with other regions. It will also bring together potential investors to work on complementary projects.
"It will be beneficial to build even if we don't get the stage-two award," Portier said.
AgStart is in the heart of California's Central Valley, which grows many kinds of fruits and vegetables, as well as some crops that only grow here, and in the Mediterranean and Australia, such as almonds, olives and pistachios. Other regions have their own expertise that can be shared and connections made through the network, Portier said.
