Penn State Collaborative Effort Aims to Accelerate the Future of Agriculture

Dec 03, 2025

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 opens today (Dec. 1) and closes on Feb. 1, 2026.

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.

Source : psu.edu

Video: Dicamba Returns for Georgia Farmers: What the New EPA Ruling Means for Cotton Growers

After being unavailable in 2024 due to registration issues, dicamba products are returning for Georgia farmers this growing season — but under strict new conditions.

In this report from Tifton, Extension Weed Specialist Stanley Culpepper explains the updated EPA ruling, including new application limits, mandatory training requirements, and the need for a restricted use pesticide license. Among the key changes: a cap of two ½-pound applications per year and the required use of an approved volatility reduction agent with every application.

For Georgia cotton producers, the ruling is significant. According to Taylor Sills with the Georgia Cotton Commission, the vast majority of cotton planted in the state carries the dicamba-tolerant trait — meaning farmers had been paying for technology they couldn’t use.

While environmental groups have expressed concerns over spray drift, Georgia growers have reduced off-target pesticide movement by more than 91% over the past decade. Still, this two-year registration period will come with increased scrutiny, making stewardship and compliance more important than ever.