André Davis is excited to see the launch of the Agriculture Business Innovation Center (ABIC) at N.C. A&T. “I know that it’s going to help benefit me,” said Davis, owner of Drozik’s Urban Farm in High Point, North Carolina. “I’m looking forward to it because (the ABIC team has) that drive or that initiative that I need to get me to the next level.”

Davis attended launch of the center at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University on Sept. 17. The center is administrative (not brick-and-mortar) and serves as a hub, offering assistance to agriculture-based businesses nationwide, with a primary focus on small-scale farming and related enterprises. It aims to encourage innovation and facilitate workforce development training.

“This launch is not just about the opening of a center,” said Radiah C. Minor, PhD., interim dean of A&T’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. “It’s about opening doors, breaking old paradigms, embracing technology, data and science — building a future where agriculture is inclusive, resilient and thriving.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded $1.92 million to A&T to establish the center in partnership with three other 1890 land-grant universities: Kentucky State, Alabama A&M and West Virginia State.

The center will provide both virtual and in-person technical assistance in such areas as food and agricultural production, business planning, market development, funding opportunities and workforce development for agricultural and related enterprises.

Alex Meredith, Ed.D., managing director of the Agriculture Business Innovation Center (ABIC) at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, speaks during the N.C. A&T Launch event held at the University Farm Pavilion.

It also houses a virtual Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Academy, said Alex Meredith, Ed.D, ABIC managing director. The academy will also help students learn about and prepare for working in agriculture entrepreneurship.

“Any college student in the United States can tap into it,” Meredith said.

The academy will offer a professional development certification program, said Kenrett Jefferson-Moore, Ph.D., who is leading the ABIC project. Those who earn a certificate in the program will be able to compete for funding, she said.

“Through our tournament of ideas, we will have a competition where current or prospective entrepreneurs will take that funding and help launch their business idea,” said Jefferson-Moore, chair of A&T’s Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education.

“You can’t buy entrepreneurship,” said Kathleen Liang, Ph.D., another of the center’s project leads. The third project leader is Michelle Eley, Ph.D., community and economic development specialist with Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T.

“It’s a process,” said Liang, Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Agriculture at N.C. A&T. “You’ve got to go step-by-step from the initial idea, to look at what you want to do, to how you do it.”

Entrepreneurs then put the plan together, implement it, get feedback and try it again, Liang said.

“People who are persistent, they make it happen,” she said.