Rantizo, an Iowa City-based startup providing drone crop spraying equipment and services, is the first U.S. company to receive approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to use the DJI Agras T-30 drone for agricultural applications. The drone launched earlier in 2021 but required approval from the FAA because it weighs more than 55 pounds. “This […]
America’s Cultivation Corridor launched its second iteration of Cultivo Virtual Academy Tuesday with a cohort of six startups from around the world. The six-week virtual program connects the participating companies with mentors and Iowa’s agricultural leaders and provides a curriculum focused on entering the U.S. market and navigating regulatory and finance systems. “It is exciting to welcome a […]
A day after John Deere announced its acquisition of Bear Flag Robotics on Aug. 5, two of Deere’s autonomous agriculture leaders fielded questions via a conference call with reporters across the country about what the new partnership means for the agriculture industry and for Deere, whose Intelligent Solutions Group operates an expansive research and testing […]
Researchers at Iowa State University received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study how manure management systems in livestock production affect the development of bacteria capable of resisting antibiotics, ISU announced this week. The majority of antibiotics used today are in animal production; the researchers […]
Australian entrepreneurs will join the inaugural 2020 cohort of the Cultivo Global Ag Innovation Program hosted by America’s Cultivation Corridor, a partnership program announced in October to host startups from a single targeted country each year. The names of participating companies have not yet been announced. Cohort members will travel to Iowa for a 10-day […]
Jim Towey, president of Onset, will join the board of directors of the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator, the organization announced this week. Towey most recently served as a mentor for the accelerator, helping past participants develop their business ideas and build their storytelling skills to gain support for innovations. Based in Cape Cod, Mass., Onset is […]
The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator opens its application process on Monday to global agtech startups for the 2020 cohort. The accelerator, which hosts office space in the East Village, selects up to six global ag startups to spend 100 days of networking and mentoring in Des Moines. Applications will be closed on March 30, and the […]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture recently granted a three-year, $499,845 grant to a multidisciplinary team of Iowa State University scientists studying soybean stressors. The team, led by adjunct assistant professor of agronomy Arti Singh, is developing machine learning technology that could automate the ability of farmers to diagnose a […]
The threat of a deadly hog disease is prompting state officials to tighten security at swine events during the Iowa State Fair, reports Iowa Public Radio. For nearly a year, U.S. pork producers have watched African swine fever decimate China’s pig herd and they fear it could arrive here. So this year, a veterinarian has […]
Tillable, a Chicago-based startup building a farmland rental marketplace, is launching its Hassle-Free Lease program in Iowa. Under the Hassle-Free Lease, Tillable provides Iowa landowners a one- or three-year rental offer for their land, pays the landowner in full up front, and finds a farmer to operate their land for the duration of the lease […]