To the services available to assist business and industry in southeast Missouri, The Economic and Business Engagement Center at Southeast Missouri State University announces the addition of an Agriculture Technology Virtual Incubation program.

On 1st February as an agriculture technology coordinator, Andy Chronister joined the Engagement Center team. Engagement Center Director Crystal Jones said, “The central purpose of this initiative is to find new opportunities to encourage innovation and offer support to the agriculture industry, a sector that is vitally important to the regional economy. The incorporation and use of technological advancements in agriculture operations are playing a larger role in the region’s agriculture industry. We want to assist small businesses, including those in the agriculture industry, with capitalizing on these opportunities by providing additional services and expertise.”

As an agriculture technology coordinator, Andy Chronister will provide agriculture entrepreneurs assistance with incorporating new technologies into their operations and business development and consultation services. To agriculture technology consultation and support, the Agriculture Technology Virtual Incubation program provides agriculture producers and innovators in the region with location-independent access.

Chronister graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science in mass communications, corporate video production emphasis and a minor in zoology. He worked as a video producer for 18 years at Red Letter Communications advertising agency and another seven years as owner of Andrew Chronister Video Productions. Four years ago, he began using unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in video and film production and shortly thereafter began investigating the applications for UAS in agriculture.

An entrepreneur himself, Chronister and his business partners started AeroVictus, LLC, a company that flight tests and perfects the use of drones to acquire Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) images of crops for use in precision agriculture operations. By applying UAS and other technologies, Chronister hopes to assist agriculture producers with improving efficiency and yields in farming operations as well as attract agriculture technology-related businesses to the southeast Missouri region through his new role at the University.