Twice each year, students in the Start Something College of Agriculture and Life Sciences program embark on a full-day journey throughout Iowa to visit unique agricultural startups. At each destination, students learn about the business firsthand through tours, asking questions, and listening to entrepreneurs share their stories for “why” they started their own businesses. On Thursday, March 5, a collaborative group of 44 undergraduate students traveled to southeast Iowa to visit several unique businesses that likely wouldn’t be the first things that come to mind when thinking of Iowa agriculture. 

When have you seen something that you can’t unsee?

Earlier this year, I sent a text message to my sons, Jackson and Nathan, on a Saturday morning.

I had built a computer server, installed open-source software, and installed Bitcoin Core software and began downloading the blockchain data that is Bitcoin. I had direct visibility into the Bitcoin network itself. I could view every block from the Genesis Block (block 0) onward. I could inspect every transaction, the sender and receiver addresses, the transaction amounts, the input and output scripts (UTXOs), fees paid, and confirmation status. And I had a Bitcoin wallet on my computer to store, send, and receive bitcoin.

I saw digital gold. And this I cannot unsee. 

Over the course of a semester, students in ECON 3340/Entrepreneurship in Agriculture explore entrepreneurial opportunities, develop two ideas for startup businesses or farms, and develop a startup business plan. 

Rather than a final exam, there's a final presentation. Think Shark Tank, except no Mark Cuban. 

Business plan presentations happened last week in nine rooms at the Student Innovation Center. Fifty startups. One day. One class.

Haley Holverson (Agricultural Communications) developed a startup, NutriTransplant, that aims to provide meal kits to those who've had organ transplants. The inspiraton arose from supporting a relative through a transplant journey.

Jackson Kimle (Agricultural Business, 2016) recently gave a tour of a Hampton-based indoor shrimp farm to a group from the Start Something CALS Student Incubator. The dialogue between Kimle and the ISU students touched in issues ranging from water treatment,  shrimp health, business model, market development, feed, and more. Kimle's business, Midland Seafood, is working to launch multiple contract shrimp production farms in Iowa in coming years.

What are the significant problems Midland needs to solve?

I need to turn on my WayBack Machine to recall my first exposure to the production potential of agriculture in Brazil. It was 1993, and I was an analyst/economist for a global agricultural business. The question I worked to answer for the executive team was what a more free-trade oriented world would look like ten years in the future. NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and GATT (General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade) were being negotiated and the company wanted to understand how the reduction in trade barriers and tariffs would impact shifts in crop production. Imagine a time of political leaders advocating for lower tariffs and more free trade!

The Start Something College of Agriculture and Life Sciences program experimented in January with a new experiential program for Iowa State University students, Winternships (winter+internships). A Winternship is five-day work experience for ISU students in January, after the holidays but before Spring semester classes start. Students execute an innovative project for an agricultural entrepreneur at their place of work. Projects can range from desktop/office work to building projects, with the only request that they have an entrepreneurial/innovation element at their core and that the students can reasonably make progress with five days of hard work.

Dr. Michael Castellano recalls the start of the entrepreneurial journey in 2018. “I had to look myself in the mirror and be clear that the odds of failure with a startup business commercializing a new technology were close to 99 percent. But I also asked myself if there was an opportunity to learn. And I thought there was much to learn. So, that outweighed the risks.”

Thus began Dr. Castellano’s work with agricultural technology startup, EnGeniousAg. The startup aimed to commercialize nitrogen sensing technology to enable precision nitrogen fertilizer management. 

On October 23rd, students engaged in various programs and classes through Start Something CALS attended an inspiring dinner and discussion featuring successful local entrepreneurs. The event provided an invaluable opportunity to hear from keynote speaker Bj Brugman, founder and owner of Distynct, alongside Steve Goodhue, owner of Knapp Tedesco Insurance, and Adam Schonert, owner of Schonert’s Corporate Catering. 

On October 29, 2024, students from Change-Maker Academy had the opportunity to tour Red Granite Farm, a diverse agricultural operation located in rural Boone County, Iowa. Owned and operated by Steve and Nicole Jonas, the farm spans over five acres and features a variety of vegetables, pumpkins, 800 laying hens, and more than 300 varieties of perennials. 

On October 15, 2024, students involved in the various programs and classes through Start Something CALS embarked on the annual Startup Tour, visiting entrepreneurial businesses and startups around the Central and South Central Iowa areas.

The tour kicked off in Slater, Iowa at Gross-Wen Technologies, a business focused on recovering nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus from waste-water in a sustainable manner, implemented in industrial and waste water treatment facilities. Students toured the Slater waste water treatment facility and were greeted with a firsthand look at the innovative and efficient revolving algae biofilm system developed by Gross-Wen Technologies. 

(Gross-Wen Technologies)

The first exclusive tour of the Change-Maker Academy concluded with great success, leaving students enthusiastic and eager for the upcoming opportunities as part of the program. Last Thursday, students toured Salin 247, a cutting-edge start-up revolutionizing small scale, lightweight autonomous farm machinery located in Ames, Iowa.

Founded by the innovative father-son duo, Dave and Ben Krog, the company was born from a vision to reduce soil compactions by getting heavy equipment off the field. Their mission focuses on creating more affordable, lighter machinery and minimizing the number of large machines on highways. Salin 247’s business model is currently service-based, offering autonomous machinery solutions to farmers with the goal of commercializing their equipment in the future. 

BJ Brugman (Agricultural Business 2012) moved back to Ames to build his business, Distynct, hoping to take advantage of the central Iowa agtech scene as well as access to resources and talent at Iowa State University. A recent project Brugman and his team at Distynct are a practical demonstration of what an entrepreneurial ecosystem can do for helping an early-stage business make progress.

In Distynct’s office in Building 7 of the ISU Research Park, there’s a cubicle with a steady noise. But it’s not someone on the phone or video conference or the key taps from a computer. Rather, two 3D printers sit side-by-side printing out blue cases.

3D printers making sensor containers for Distynct.

Dillon Blythe ('17 agricultural studies) didn’t use the startup idea he’d developed in the Econ 334/Entrepreneurship in Agriculture course right away after graduating in 2017, but he didn’t forget it either.

“My startup idea from class was about providing soil fertility consulting services to farmers,” Blythe comments. “I took a position after graduating from ISU with an agriculture retailer, so I did work with farmers on soil sampling and fertilizer plans. Then I accepted a position with a seed company and farmers who’d worked with me in my previous position asked for help with soil sampling and fertilizer issues.”

Blythe’s opportunity had arrived. In 2021, he started Blythe Crop Solutions, based near his hometown of Marengo, Iowa. “I asked my wife if I could quit my job and start a business,” he adds. 

Bryce Irlbeck ('14 agronomy) and Tyler Bruch ('04 agricultural studies) recently took time to share entrepreneurial insights with Iowa State University students engaged in the summer incubator program, Rural Entrepreneurship Academy. The two are owners of a business that is one of the fastest growing businesses in agriculture, Boa Safra Ag. The company offers advanced tax services and scientific reporting that enables agricultural landowners to realize significant income tax deductions.

“We’re forty-two months since starting the business,” comments Bruch. “We’ve had three hundred percent growth or more each year. We have customers now in forty-nine states, with more than three thousand customers and twenty employees. We’ve created great value for customers and so the business has grown alongside that value creation.”

Brian Mike ('12 agricultural business) and his colleagues at FS Bioenergia in Lucas do Rio Verde recently hosted Iowa State University students to talk about corn ethanol and opportunities in this agricultural production super state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Mike first traveled to Brazil in a high school exchange program, where he first developed his skills communicating in Portuguese. “While at ISU, I did a couple internships either in Brazil or on Brazil projects,” he commented. “One of those projects was with Summit Agricultural Group, who was working to develop a project to put the first corn-based ethanol plant in Brazil.”