MURRAY, Ky. – Memphis, Tenn.-based non-profit AgLaunch recently signed an agreement with the West Kentucky Alliance for a Vibrant Economy (WAVE) AG Initiative to support agricultural technology innovation and entrepreneurship in the state.

“I’m extremely excited to ‘connect the dots’ between the initiatives of AgLaunch and WAVE AG,” said Tony Brannon, WAVE AG regional facilitator. He retired in January as dean of Murray State University’s Hutson School of Agriculture.

“AgLaunch’s farmer centric innovation model fits like a glove with our WAVE AG Initiative effort to further engage regional farmers in agricultural and economic development,” he added.

Under the new agreement, which AgLaunch signed at the Sept. 11 WAVE meeting, WAVE AG will serve as a ‘boots on the ground’ partner to recruit Kentucky farmers into the AgLaunch Farmer Network to support ag technology-based economic development.

“We plan to pair the farmer network with a new Young/Adult Farmer Program we are beginning in WAVE AG,” Brannon told Farm World. “We will have an open invitation to a meeting to explain Ag Launch, and invite farmers to apply.

“We may develop our own WAVE AG Farmer Network that feeds into the Ag Launch Farmer Network,” he added. “However, we are organized, we will encourage farmers to invest in the technologies as they feel appropriate.”

He said AgLaunch has a commitment to recruit a highly diverse group of farmers, including those considered historically underserved, to leverage diversified farming and logistics assets within the four counties served by WAVE AG.

Farmers will assist in supporting ag tech startup companies and value-added enterprises by providing screening, field trials, data and expertise to scale investable ag tech companies.

When asked how the idea for this venture was conceived with AgLaunch, and how will it be funded, Brannon told Farm World, “As a farmer and university dean, I have been involved with AgLaunch for a good number of years. Upon my retirement as dean, I took a position as regional facilitator with the WAVE AG Initiative.

“This area has some of the most innovative farmers in Kentucky,” he added. “Wishing to enhance the farmer involvement in WAVE AG, we felt this partnership made sense. We have started with a memorandum of agreement (which spells out the details of their partnership), and are working on some potential funding sources beginning with farm trials.”

AgLaunch’s ALaunch365 Accelerator programming, while also deploying a group of WAVE AG farmers into the AgLaunch Farmer Network, which facilitates farm trials of ag-related startups to both assist the startup in fine-tuning their product, will simultaneously allow farmers access to cutting-edge technology, said Pete Nelson, president of AgLaunch.

In addition to the new partnership in West Kentucky, AgLaunch operates Small Business Administration-recognized regional innovation clusters (networks of businesses and other organizations that work together to maximize their strengths and resources, allowing them to compete on a larger scale) in the Mid-South and Southern Appalachia, as well as regional initiatives in the Midwest and Southern Plains.

“This partnership will allow us to expand AgLaunch’s farmer-led, open innovation model in a way that leverages the unique attributes of food and ag production in Kentucky,” Nelson said.