Penn State effort focused on the future of agriculture

Source: Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An innovative interdisciplinary collaboration between Penn State’s Smeal College of Business and the College of Agricultural Sciences will focus on fostering innovation in food and agriculture.

The 2026 Land Grant Startup Launch Competition is the brainchild of Travis Lesser, the director of Smeal’s Center for the Business of Sustainability, and Mark Gagnon, the Harbaugh Entrepreneur and Innovation Faculty Scholar in the College of Agricultural Sciences.

The application window is now open and closes on Feb. 1, 2026.

The Land Grant Startup Launch Competition will further advance sustainable start-up solutions that provide food, fuel, and fiber for humanity. Image credit - Jeff Ishee

The competition will support early-stage startups focused on sustainable business practices. Early-stage companies with a clear vision and the potential to transform the food and agricultural landscape are encouraged to compete.

Winning startups will receive a $50,000 investment from the Garber Venture Capital Fund to accelerate their growth and impact. The investment is intended to support scaling the business, furthering research and development and contributing toward team expansion.

The Garber Fund is housed within Smeal’s Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Smeal’s Office of Impact Entrepreneurship is also supporting the competition.

“The Land Grant Startup Launch leverages Penn State resources in a way that not only furthers the land grant mission of the university by fostering innovation in agriculture but also elevates student ventures from across the country focused on sustainable business practices through direct investment from the Garber Venture Capital Fund,” Lesser said.

“This competition demonstrates the power of collaboration across multiple units at the University along with the generous contributions from our valued corporate partners, all of which are working to create a better future for us and our planet.”

This collaboration represents the latest in long line of partnerships between the two colleges and promises to unlock new, innovative ideas.

“We are looking forward to witnessing an array of agriculture focused start-up solutions that tackle the evolving challenges we currently experience,” Gagnon said.

“The College of Agricultural Sciences and the Smeal College of Business have maintained a longstanding collaboration that has fostered entrepreneurship and innovation in the agri-food space. The Land Grant Startup Launch Competition will further advance sustainable start-up solutions that provide food, fuel, and fiber for humanity.”

For more information, email landgrantlaunch@psu.edu.