Iowa AgriTech Accelerator Hosts First-Ever AgTech Day

Agrellus (Lubbock, TX) — An online and mobile marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers of agricultural inputs and services.

ExpresSeed LLC (Indianola, IA) — A point-of-use device that affordably and quickly detects and quantifies the presence of specific genes.

Krobel Corp (St. Clair, MN) — A device that tracks the respiratory patterns of an individual hog and notifies farmers of a potentially sick animal via an LED.

Terva (dba FarmlandFinder) (Des Moines, IA) — A search engine for farmland information and an online marketplace for agricultural real estate.

The FarmElement (Jefferson, IA) — A website that connects farmers looking for competitive offers on inputs with agribusinesses looking to compete for their business. 

U.S. Design Consultants (Osceola, IA) — An innovative approach for dispensing granular products.

AgTech Day connected these early-stage AgTech companies with The Accelerator’s community of mentors and supporters during an industry-wide holiday celebrating everything agriculture. The day’s schedule was filled with one-on-one mentor meetings, remarks from two startup veterans — Casey Neimann, founder of AgriSync, and Amos Petersen, co-founder and CEO of FarrPro and Accelerator Class of 2017 graduate — and concluded with a networking reception.

With the success from AgTech Day, The Accelerator hopes to build on that momentum as they continue to support innovative AgTech startups through their organization’s 2018 program, which is slated to begin May 29. The Accelerator’s 2018 program has support from some of the largest and well-known AgTech companies in Iowa, including DuPont Pioneer, Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company, Grinnell Mutual, Kent Corporation, John Deere, Peoples Company and Sukup Manufacturing, in addition to more than 100 mentors. Applications for the 94-day program are open through April 2. Interested startups can apply at agiowa.com.

About the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator

The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator, based in Des Moines, Iowa, is a mentor-led accelerator focused on AgTech innovations. Led by innovators and leaders in several areas of agriculture, The Accelerator seeks startups ready to change the status quo. For more information about the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator, visit AgIowa.com.