AgTech Startups
Ag-Tech Startups are Blossoming in the triangle
The Triangle in particular and North Carolina, has quietly blossomed into a hotbed of start-ups that are applying cutting-edge technology to agriculture.
According to data compiled by the non-profit Council for Entrepreneurial Development, to at least 50 entrepreneurial agricultural technology companies the state is home, with 28 of those companies based in the Triangle.
Vice president of agricultural biotechnology at the state-funded N.C. Biotechnology Center, Scott Johnson said “I think when people think about Ag biotech and Ag biotech startups, they think about really three geographies: here in North Carolina, St. Louis, Mo., and UC-Davis near Sacramento, Calif.”
“Because everybody talks about ag biotech with a little bit different definition,” Johnson added, while comparing the size of these startup clusters.
Indeed, CED talks about Ag tech companies while the Biotech Center focuses on ag biotech companies, which it defines as applying the tools of biotechnology “to crops, livestock, forestry and marine life to produce more food, fuels, fibre and goods.”
Whichever way you cut it, the Triangle’s crop of entrepreneurial companies in this sector runs the gamut from AgBiome to Zoion Pharma.