Bluegrass AgTech Development Corp

What a couple of days in West Kentucky! 🚜

Last week we headed west for WAVE River Counties AG Initiative Ag Day 2026 at Columbus Belmont State Park and a future tech event the next day at the Ballard County Fairgrounds. Both brought the region's agricultural community together around one idea: honoring where we have been while building what comes next.

Antique tractors sat alongside autonomous equipment, precision ag tools, and AI-driven demos. Kentucky farmer Quint Pottinger, who planted a crop using a driverless tractor, shared a keynote that tied heritage to innovation. 🌱

West Kentucky is a powerhouse ag region, and the energy for new technology is real. Executive Director Jacob Ball spent both days connecting with producers, ag leaders, and partners from across the Commonwealth.

Thank you to everyone who made us feel welcome. These are the partnerships that move Kentucky agriculture forward. 🤝

Drones are becoming standard equipment on Kentucky farms, from crop scouting to checking livestock across large pastures. For most producers, the barrier is not the hardware. It is the FAA Part 107 certification required to fly commercially.

Kentucky Community & Technical College System Workforce Solutions is running a three-day Drone Licensing Prep for Farms course built to close that gap. Held August 5 to 7 at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, it pairs hands-on flight training with the instruction farmers need to pass the FAA Part 107 exam. The course also covers practical drone applications in livestock operations, study materials with a practice test, and help registering a personal drone and scheduling the exam.

This is the kind of applied, farmer-focused workforce development that turns AgTech from a concept into a working tool on Kentucky farms. We are glad to see it offered in the Commonwealth.

Details: August 5-7, 2026, 9am to 5pm ET. Kentucky State University, Frankfort. $375, lunch not included.

Register: https://bctcworkforce.kctcs.edu/products/drone-licensing-prep-course-bc27dlp101-bctc

Join us in congratulating the recipients of the third round of the Bluegrass AgTech Development Corp Challenge Grant!

Launched in 2024, the Challenge Grant program aims to attract and grow ag-tech and food-based businesses in Lexington and across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The first two funding rounds, announced in August 2024 and September 2025, awarded a combined $925,000 to 10 companies. That funding has helped generate more than $12 million in follow-on investments in those companies, which support 72 jobs and have facilitated nearly 100 farm engagements.

This year, the program received applications from more than 30 companies. Following a competitive review process, six were selected to receive a combined $550,000 in grant funding.

Meet the 2026 Challenge Grant recipients:

FarmSense is commercializing an affordable soil-moisture sensor developed in collaboration with Kentucky farmers. In field testing, the sensor led to improved crop quality and a 40–48% reduction in water use. At FarmSense, the Challenge Grant funds will support Kentucky-based manufacturing and optimization of the sensor's calibration, as well as the initiation of a 15- to 20-farm pilot program ahead of its commercial launch.

Lepidext is revolutionizing insect pest control by developing biopesticides that help manage populations of the corn earworm and other destructive lepidopteran pests. The company'ss biopesticides are designed to be safe, effective, species-specific and easy to use.

Need More Acres Farm is a Kentucky-based farm and regional food hub connecting locally grown food with healthcare systems, schools and community partners through Food is Medicine, Farm to School and home delivery programs. Additionally, the farm's Food is Medicine work integrates clinical referrals and participant data collection, allowing healthcare partners to prescribe local produce and track outcomes.

Pascal Tags is adapting its proven Barcode 2.0™ platform — already deployed with customers that include GE Appliances and the Defense Logistics Agency — for agricultural applications, replacing failure-prone paper records and traditional barcodes with durable, automated asset tracking for farm inputs, harvested products and reusable agricultural equipment.

Silver Fern is a software company based in Lexington, Kentucky, that helps greenhouse and nursery growers forecast demand, plan production and fulfill orders. Silver Fern will utilize the Challenge Grant funds to support RESTOCK, its AI demand-forecasting module, which uses machine learning to predict store-level plant demand and cut the losses that come from narrow, weather-dependent selling windows.

Sunnyside Egg Co. is scaling regenerative, mobile egg production to give Kentucky farmers a lower-cost path into pasture-raised eggs. These grant funds will support the expansion of the company’s packing facility, as well as increasing production to 45,000 hens and the development of carbon credit software.

Kentucky, meet the future of agtech. 🌱

We're proud to introduce the six companies named as our Round 3 Challenge Grant awardees:

🌾 FarmSense (Lexington): affordable soil moisture sensors built with Kentucky farmers, cutting water use 40 to 48 percent.
🐛 Lepidext (Lexington): species-specific biopesticides that control the corn earworm and other pests, made in Kentucky.
🍎 Need More Acres Farm (Scottsville): a regional food hub linking Kentucky-grown food to healthcare, schools, and families.
🏷️ Pascal Tags (Louisville): durable tracking that replaces paper farm records with automated data.
🌿 Silver Fern (Lexington): software that helps greenhouse and nursery growers forecast demand and cut losses.
🥚 Sunnyside Egg Co. (Hopkinsville): mobile, regenerative egg production and an affordable path into pasture-raised eggs.

With this new cohort, the BADC Challenge Grant program has now awarded $1.475 million to 16 companies to build an agtech ecosystem across the Commonwealth. Be on the look out for more information about our newest awardees in the coming days!

Thank you to our founding partners: the City of Lexington, Ky - Government, Kentucky Department of Agriculture, UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, and Alltech for the support and vision to create this program.

Also, a special thanks to UK MG-CAFE for hosting a great event at the new Martin-Gatton Agricultural Sciences Building!

Tomorrow is the day! 🎉

We announce our newest Challenge Grant awardees on Wednesday, July 29. A new class of Kentucky ag innovators, backed by a program that has leveraged more than $10 million and reached nearly 100 farms across the state.

Last chance to RSVP 👉 https://bit.ly/4hpsKk2

See you tomorrow! 🌱

3 days to go. ⏳

On Wednesday, July 29, we introduce the newest Challenge Grant awardees, Kentucky companies working on everything from animal protein to food as health to tools that help mid-sized farms compete.

None of this happens alone. Our founding partners, LFUCG, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, UK Martin-Gatton, and Alltech, help make Kentucky a place where ag innovation grows. 🌱

There is still time to RSVP 👉 https://bit.ly/4hpsKk2

BADC Executive Director Jacob Ball spent last week in Eastern Kentucky with Class 15 of the Kentucky Agricultural Leadership Program, and came away with a fuller picture of where agricultural innovation is already taking root across the Commonwealth.

The seminar centered on rural resources and the industries built around them. The class saw a region that keeps evolving: forestry research at UK Robinson Center Forest, wood utilization at Harold White Lumber and Millworks, Inc., value-added food and drink at AppleAtcha and Sawstone Brewing Co, aquaculture at Minor Clark Fish Hatchery, agritourism through the Red River Gorge, and workforce and manufacturing at the Kentucky Welding Institute LLC and Hinton Mills.

The through line was clear. Innovation is not confined to a lab or a coastal startup. It shows up on a family farm opening new markets at Holly Creek Farms, in a lumber operation adding value to timber, in a brewery turning local inputs into products with reach. The group's discussion of Simon Sinek's The Infinite Game brought it into focus. The point is not to win, it is to keep the game going for the next generation.

At BADC, our mission to make Kentucky the agricultural technology capital of the country belongs to every region, not just the counties near Lexington. Eastern Kentucky's producers, processors, and entrepreneurs are exactly who agtech should serve, and this week showed where we can be useful.

Thanks to the KALP team and every host who opened their doors.

The countdown is on. 🌱

One week from today, on July 29, we announce our newest class of Challenge Grant awardees, and we want you there to meet them.

Here is why it matters: the Challenge Grant portfolio has now leveraged more than $10 million in outside capital, roughly $12 for every $1 in BADC grant funding. That is real capital reaching real farms, nearly 100 of them, and more than $1.5 million paid directly to Kentucky farmers.

Round 3 adds to that story. 🚜

Save your spot for the July 29 announcement 👉 https://bit.ly/4hpsKk2

Kentucky agriculture is a multibillion dollar economy built by farm families in all 120 counties. Our job is making sure the next generation of ag technology gets built for them, and here.

Bluegrass AgTech Development Corp accelerates startups and early-stage companies that strengthen Kentucky farms.

Building something? Let's connect!

The countdown is on! Join us July 24 at Transylvania University for the 2026 Green Business Innovation Forum 🌿

Explore innovative sustainability solutions, connect with industry leaders, and discover how businesses across Kentucky are driving positive environmental and economic impact. Whether you're a business leader, sustainability professional, student, or simply passionate about green innovation, there's something for everyone!

Event highlights:
• Exhibitor Showcase featuring local sustainability leaders
• Expert panel discussion with Alltech, Bisig Impact Group, and J.M. Smucker
• Fast-paced Pecha Kucha presentations from innovative organizations and businesses
• Networking opportunities with professionals, entrepreneurs, and community changemakers

Don't miss your chance to be part of the conversation. Register today at bggreensource.org/what-we-do/green-business-innovation-forum/ 🌎