Pennsylvania is reopening a funding opportunity for local agricultural technology companies, presenting another chance for startups in the space to level up their products.

“It’s this marriage of [agriculture] and technology that you’re not going to find in a lot of [places].” 

Tom Parsons, Penn School of Veterinary Medicine

Back for its second round of applications, the Agriculture Innovation Grant Program provides $10 million in funding to farmers and other agriculture-related businesses to implement new tech and innovation-focused projects. 

The funding not only helps farmers try out new technology. It also supports collaborations between tech and agriculture, such as Tom Parsons, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, who received funding in the program’s first round.

“We’ve got this rich academic and university landscape here in Pennsylvania, so there’s lots and lots of additional expertise that supports these activities,” Parsons told Technical.ly. “It’s this marriage of [agriculture] and technology that you’re not going to find in a lot of [places].” 

The Department of Agriculture and Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office first announced the program as part of Pennsylvania’s FY 2024-2025 budget. The state government went on to distribute $10 million in grants last year. 

In total, 88 projects received funding, including startups, farms and individual researchers. Parsons used the grant to implement new technology and found a private sector partner to build a research lab. 

Innovation fuels collaboration

The Agriculture Innovation Grant Program provided Parsons with $31,000 to implement a computerized feeding system for pigs. 

The money also helped him to turn Penn Vet’s Swine Teaching and Research Center into a demonstration site for this technology. Local farmers can check out the tools to see how they work before deciding whether to buy, Parsons said. 

AgriGates founder Daniel Foy also received a grant to advance his company’s work. The Philly-based startup won $31,000 last year to develop hardware and software that collect animal data and use AI to analyze it. 

Both based locally, there was also a chance to work together.

Parsons and Foy collaborated on the Data, Analytics and Technology for AI in Livestock Animal Behavior (DAT-AI-LAB) research lab, which is focused on developing agricultural technology, sensors and AI tools for researchers and farmers.

Ultimately, the Agriculture Innovation Grant Program helps Pennsylvania farmers keep up with the technology in the industry and gives them a competitive edge, Foy said. It also allows agtech to be developed in Pennsylvania, as is the case with the DAT-AI-LAB. 

Since then, AgriGates won a $90,500 grant from the Center for Poultry and Livestock Excellence to scale DAT-AI-LAB’s work. The lab is now focused on expanding collaborations and turning research into actual tools farmers can use, Foy said. 

Apply by April 2026

Pennsylvania’s FY 2025–26 $50 billion budget allocated the same amount to the Agriculture Innovation Grant Program as the year prior. It will be accepting applications from Feb. 2 until April 18. 

This time around, the agency isn’t changing much about the program. The number of grantees and individual project totals depend on how much interest it gets, Shannon Powers, spokesperson for the PA Department of Agriculture, said. 

The department seeks out projects that make a significant impact, Powers added. Applicants should show how they’d spend the funding to adopt new technologies, expand production, protect natural resources, improve energy efficiency or generate more clean, renewable energy. 

During the first round, the Department of Agriculture received $68 million in requests before selecting the final grantees, Powers said. The Department of Agriculture also recently announced $2.2 million in research grants for agriculture, technology and sustainability-focused projects across the commonwealth. 

“The funding is an investment that is on target,” Powers said, “giving agriculture companies support to make the investments they see as necessary to grow and sustain their businesses.”

Source - https://technical.ly