Bluegrass AgTech Development Corp

Great event with the The Food Connection First Friday. 🌾

What Chefs Want, led by 2026 Bill Best Award winner Anna Haas, is connecting Kentucky farmers with new market opportunities through institutional procurement partnerships. Schools, hospitals, restaurants, and community organizations are sourcing local foods, and farmers are accessing reliable, sustainable demand.

This is what a thriving food system looks like: farmers, chefs, researchers, and community advocates in one room, sharing a locally-sourced breakfast, and solving real problems together.

If you're interested in supporting Kentucky agriculture, strengthening local food systems, or learning more about farm-to-table opportunities, the First Friday series is worth joining. Monthly through fall and spring at The Food Connection Learning Kitchen.

Great work, Anna and team. 🍃

✨ From the Executive Director's Desk – August Highlights ✨

August positioned BADC at the center of Kentucky's agricultural and innovation ecosystem. Here's what happened.

🏆 Challenge Grant visibility amplified. Media coverage in Morning Ag Clips and Agronews established BADC as a credible funding partner for agtech founders statewide.

🤝 State Fair period delivered leadership access. Direct engagement with the Kentucky Agricultural Council, commodity organizations, and elected officials strengthened BADC's platform in the state's agricultural establishment.

💰 Capital infrastructure exploration. Discussions with venture firms, growth equity networks, and innovation hubs positioned our portfolio companies to access funding and mentorship beyond what we can provide as a nonprofit accelerator.

🔗 Tech ecosystem engagement deepened. Startup community participation and featured partnership status at Tech at the Track (October) amplifies BADC visibility to Lexington's innovation community.

📊 Metrics that matter: 16 stakeholder meetings, 2 media mentions, 10 public events, 3,086 social followers (3.6% increase), 9,580 impressions (44.2% increase).

This month reflected strategic positioning. When BADC shows up for agricultural leadership and venture ecosystems simultaneously, we expand what's possible for Kentucky agtech founders.

Two funding announcements from the past few weeks are worth reading together.

On August 21, the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board approved $2,583,685 for agricultural diversification and rural development projects across the Commonwealth. Commissioner of Agriculture Jonathan Shell framed the awards around diversification as a source of strength for farming communities.

In late August, the University of Kentucky's agricultural research facility secured an additional $26.7 million in federal funding, directed toward a USDA Agricultural Research Service building focused on forage and animal production.

Read separately, these are two line items. Read together, they describe a strategy.

State dollars are moving toward diversification at the operation level, helping individual farms add enterprises and reduce their exposure to any single commodity cycle. Federal dollars are building the research capacity that determines what those new enterprises can be five and ten years out. Forage and animal production research matters enormously in a state where livestock now drives the majority of agricultural cash receipts.

What neither stream funds well is the commercialization gap. A research finding does not become a farm tool on its own, and a diversification grant does not build the company that supplies the technology. That is where private and philanthropic capital has to show up, and it is the specific gap Bluegrass AgTech was built to close.

To our board, funders, and partners: the public investment environment in Kentucky is favorable right now. The question in front of us is whether we build the translation capacity to match it.

Read More:
https://www.kyagr.com/Ky-agriculture/PressRelease/2026/KADB-approves-more-than-2.5-million-for-projects-across-the-Commonwealth
https://www.lanereport.com/189084/2026/08/uk-agricultural-research-facility-26-million-federal-funding/

We're grateful for the invitation from Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council to attend their Council Agriculture Day to support Kentucky agriculture with local officials. 🌾

The LFUCG Council toured three incredible operations showcasing what's possible when agriculture meets innovation:

🥬 FoodChain : Using aquaponics and community partnerships to address food insecurity
🐄 Clark Family Farm: Innovating in grass-fed beef production to stay competitive
🐎 Kentucky Horse Park: Celebrating the equine industry that's central to Kentucky's economy

Our Board President Mayor Linda Gorton welcomed the council and underscored why these partnerships matter. When local leadership understands agriculture beyond tradition—as active innovation creating jobs and opportunity—it changes what's possible.

Thanks to our hosts FoodChain Lex, Clark Family Farms, and Kentucky Horse Park for opening your doors. Thanks to LFUCG for the invitation. And thanks to Central Kentucky Ag Credit for sponsoring lunch.

The UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment announced The Bill Gatton Foundation 2026 Grand Challenges last Friday. The number that matters: $5.6 million invested across five interdisciplinary projects.

Look at what got funded. Three of the five projects put artificial intelligence directly to work on Kentucky agriculture:

An AI-enabled self-driving laboratory for chemical discovery in Kentucky's agriculture and food systems, led by Michael Montross in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering with the Pigman College of Engineering.

A Cross-Campus Center on Epigenetic Biomarkers, led by Carlos Rodríguez López, combining epigenetics and AI to build diagnostic and decision-support tools for crop productivity and livestock health.

KY-WAP, an AI-powered woodland analysis platform led by Jian Yang, translating LiDAR, satellite imagery, and forest inventories into parcel-level information for Kentucky landowners.

This is the research pipeline that agtech companies commercialize five and ten years out. Kentucky is not waiting for that capability to arrive from somewhere else. We are building it here, at a land-grant institution that is also one of BADC's founding partners.

The Grand Challenges get introduced at The Bill Gatton Foundation Annual Symposium at UK on September 2.

For our partners and funders: the research base is strengthening.

Link: https://news.mgcafe.uky.edu/article/bill-gatton-foundation-2026-grand-challenges-announced-advance-kentucky

We were at the University of Kentucky Economic Development Collaborative August convening last week—a great reminder of why we built BADC as a partnership, not a standalone nonprofit. 🤝

The event brought UK AI researchers together with industry partners to talk about what Kentucky companies need and what the university can offer. Pretty straightforward idea: ask questions, listen, then build partnerships that work.

For our agricultural technology companies, this kind of collaboration is everything. Access to university research. Connections with other innovators. Resources and expertise that help them solve real problems for Kentucky farmers.

That's the work—showing up, connecting people, and building the infrastructure that lets innovation happen.

📍 Thanks to the UK EDC team for creating a space where that kind of conversation can happen.

BADC at the Kentucky State Fair, the state's premier agriculture gathering. 🚜

We were there for three important events:

Commissioner's Farm to Fork Dinner: Supporting Kentucky CASA and the work they do building stronger rural communities. Agriculture is about community, not just economics.

Commodity Breakfast: Agriculture organizations across Kentucky gathered to talk about their sector's role in the state's economy. Agriculture is an economic driver—69,000+ farms, $8.3 billion economic impact. That matters. 💪

Kentucky Agricultural Council: Heard from Commissioner Jonathan Shell on KDA policy initiatives, and from Dr. Ryan Quarles (KCTCS president) on the role of education in agriculture. KCTCS is reimagining adult agricultural education to help farmers access training when and where they need it.

Three events, one consistent message: agriculture is central to Kentucky's future. Policy, education, innovation, partnerships—they all matter. They all work together.

We're honored to be part of this ecosystem and to support the entrepreneurs and innovations making Kentucky agriculture stronger. 🌱

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Great opportunity last week connecting with Lexington's startup community. Started the day at the Startup Breakfast, then joined the Tech Association of the Bluegrass All Community meeting to learn about upcoming events and resources. 🤝

One thing stood out: growing a strong tech ecosystem isn't just about funding or buildings. It's about people. It's about connecting entrepreneurs with talent, established businesses with emerging innovators, and communities with opportunities.

We heard from Erica Rogers about the Tech Internship Pilot Program, LFUCG's new initiative to help local tech companies connect with college students and build the talent pipeline our region needs.

If you're working in tech or startups in Kentucky, TAB is a great resource for staying connected, learning about what's coming, and building relationships in the community.

Check out TAB and get involved: https://tabky.org/ 🚀

Building an agtech ecosystem requires more than a grant program.

Over BADC's founding years, we engaged more than 50 external organizations across state government, higher education, capital markets, and national agtech networks, including the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, Farm Credit Mid-America, and AgLaunch.

More than 81,500 social media impressions placed BADC in front of audiences ranging from national economic development publications to Kentucky's agricultural leadership community.

That network doesn't show up in a grant ledger, but it's what makes the grant program work.

Round 3 is in the books.

Six Kentucky agtech companies. $550,000 awarded. More than 30 applications reviewed. Winners recognized at the University of Kentucky's new Martin-Gatton Agricultural Sciences Building on July 29.

The 2026 cohort spans all five of our focus areas: Future-Proof Animal Protein, Food is Health, Sustainable Food Systems, Solutions for Mid-Size Farming, and Kentucky Traditions.

Meet them: FarmSense, Lepidext, Need More Acres Farm, Pascal Tags, Silver Fern, and Sunnyside Egg Co.

Full announcement here: https://bluegrassagtech.org/bluegrass-agtech-development-corp-awards-challenge-grants-to-6-agtech-innovators/

Bluegrass AgTech is a partnership of Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, and Alltech.