Agricultural Business Innovation Center
The Agriculture Business Innovation Center uses the educational and outreach capacity of HBCUs to develop a pipeline of resilient, but resource-challenged, farms, firms and individuals and enhance their domestic and international competitiveness within the agribusiness and food industries. Based at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the center’s partners include Alabama A&M University, Kentucky State University, and West Virginia State University.
Nationwide, agriculture, food and related industries contributed $1.055 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nationally, about 9 percent of farms were operated by limited-resource producers from 2017 to 2020, the USDA found.
We seek to resolve
- The lack of minority and socially disadvantaged farms and firms included in U.S. agriculture-based business structures.
- The limited number of agriculture-related community development programs in urban and rural communities.
- The lack of hands-on, agriculture-based, entrepreneurial training for current and prospective students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
We offer education and technical resources to increase opportunities for agriculture-based businesses, with an emphasis on socially disadvantaged populations and historically underserved communities. We support regional and national partnerships and facilitate outreach so these businesses can access private venture capital, data tracking and analysis.
Our Mission
The Agriculture Business Innovation Center aims to increase the number of successful agricultural businesses by providing technical assistance through collaborative efforts. Our focus is to enhance the ability of agricultural business owners to plan, create, develop and fund ventures.Our Objective
Undergraduate Research Scholar Alice Mukunzi says that the hands-on experience with data that she received in Dr. Kenrett Jefferson-Moore's lab ignited her career in agribusiness.
The Agribusiness Innovation Center (ABIC) will provide assistance by:
- providing real-time data sharing via a user’s portal – an online resource that will be linked with partnering institutional program sites.
- training and offering business consulting services to agriculturally based business enterprises through collaborative efforts, thus developing interdisciplinary cross-institutional consulting teams.
- cultivating a nature of multidisciplinary research, teaching, outreach, and event collaboration by hosting a monthly virtual colloquium for national reach.
- hosting virtual speaker series that will involve industry, government, faculty and student exchange opportunities.
- sponsoring a publication venue (e.g., white/working paper series, blogs, and other media) to stimulate public/private partnerships and showcase best practices associated with agriculture business issues (start-up, funding, planning, etc.).
Our Collaborators
- Center of Post-Harvest Technologies
- International Trade Center
- Cooperative Extension 1890 Universities Center of Excellence
- Regional Rural Development Centers
- The Ohio State University-South Centers
- North Carolina A&T State University
- Small Farms Innovation Center
- National Market Maker
- NC Farm Credit
Contact
Principal Investigator
Agribusiness Innovation Center (ABIC)
(336) 285-4829
jykenret@ncat.edu
Managing Director
Agribusiness Innovation Center (ABIC)
(336) 285-4823
ameredith@ncat.edu
