The N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative has been tapped to play a critical role in a newly launched collaborative effort aimed at helping global startup companies bring promising agricultural innovations to the marketplace.

The N.C. PSI and University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources will serve as technical partners for the H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech program introduced at an event in Denver, Colorado, on Sept. 10.

H.A.R.V.E.S.T. is short for “Harnessing Agricultural Research and Venture Ecosystems for Sustainable Technology.” The program provides emerging ag technology companies with technical resources, including research collaborations and field testing, as well as direct funding opportunities.

“H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech will leverage our faculty’s research expertise and entrepreneurial leadership, creating a powerful opportunity to increase impact in the field.”

The Yield Lab Institute, an agrifood think tank headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, will administer the program. The institute is the non-profit affiliate of The Yield Lab Group, a family of global venture capital funds.

H.A.R.V.E.S.T. builds on a foundation laid by the agtech track of Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator, or IN2. IN2 is funded by Wells Fargo & Company and co-administered by NREL, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory. Since 2014, IN2 has supported 77 startups working across the built environment, agtech and infrastructure sectors. Companies in the agtech track worked with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to validate the technologies and minimize risk.

While H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech preserves IN2’s model for validating and scaling advanced agricultural technologies, having N.C. PSI and UC ANR as technical partners will open up new collaborative research opportunities and expand the breadth of expertise available to startups. 

N.C. PSI Executive Director Adrian Percy said that the collaboration “will leverage our faculty’s research expertise and entrepreneurial leadership, creating a powerful opportunity to increase impact in the field.”

For more details about H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech, read The Yield Lab Institute’s news release. And keep up with the program news www.harvestagtech.org.

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With over 100 faculty affiliates from nine North Carolina State University colleges, the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative brings together the brightest minds from academia, government and industry to solve complex agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary scientific discovery and innovation, extension and outreach, and education and workforce development. It is part of NC State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with ties to the Office of University Interdisciplinary Programs.

This post was originally published in Plant Sciences Initiative.