Ag-Tech Incubator, GreenStone Farm Credit help startups grow

GreenStone Farm Credit Services has made a $25,000 contribution to the Great Lakes Ag-Tech Business Incubator. The Incubator is a non-profit organization focused on helping farmers and entrepreneurs commercialize their ag-technology machinery, equipment or software ideas and inventions.

The contribution from the Michigan-based agricultural lender will be utilized by the Incubator to provide business startup services to clients. In addition to a financial sponsorship of the Incubator, GreenStone will offer its expertise to Incubator clients in areas such as financial counseling, lending to qualified clients and business finance training to clients and ag-tech entrepreneurs.

The types of hands-on, customized business startup services provided by the Incubator team include, but are not limited to:

• validating business concepts
• assessing intellectual property
• confirming product engineering
• preparing business plans and financial pro forma documents
• developing markets and distribution channels for products
• helping to obtain business financing, and
• connecting clients with manufacturing and agri-business experts to assist with prototyping and product testing.

Farmers, entrepreneurs and business owners who have an ag-technology idea or invention and would like more information about the business services offered by the Incubator can contact the Incubator team by email at info@agtechincubator.com, by phone at 616-738-4852. For more information, visit the Great Lakes Ag-Tech Business Incubator website.

Additionally, any farmer interested in helping to review and/or test new agriculture technologies being developed by Incubator clients should also contact the Incubator team.