About Us

Our Model

AgLaunch is a national platform of innovative farmers from a broad range of farming operations that provide due diligence, shares data, coordinates field trials, and provides investment capital to support agtech startup companies from idea-to-scale. AgLaunch-affiliated farmers own a portion of the agtech companies we work with. This model promotes ownership within the value chain and ensures the technologies we help develop directly benefit the farmers who use them.

AgLaunch’s platform bridges the gap between how we farm now and the way we will farm in the future. AgLaunch believes that the future of farming includes nutrient dense crops, carbon neutral farms, and more equitable ownership in the value chain.

Our Team

Katie Ellis

 Farmer Innovation Network & Appalachian Ecosystem

 

Fallon Fogarty-Bonk

Farmer Recruitment & Farm Trial Support

Thomas Greenlee

Farmer Relationships & Farm Trial Coordination

 

Katie Hauser

AgLaunchLABS & Strategy

Sarah Kate Kavich

Startup & Investment Support

 

Paul Kennedy

Farmer Relationships & Trial Support

 

Joy Leverette

Data Research Analyst

Pete Nelson

 

Pete Nelson

Founder & President, Strategy, Farmers Innovation Fund

 

Margaret Oldham

Co-Founder, AgLaunch Growth, Farmers Innovation Fund

 

Sarah Varble, PhD

AgLaunch365 & MS Delta Ecosystem

 

Tom Womack

Senior Advisor & Community Development

Special Project Contributors

Tony Brannon, EdD

Farmer Recruitment, West KY Ecosystem & WAVE Ag

 Sam Brown

 IP & Science Strategy

Jane Chadwell

Sr. Leadership Support & Data Cooperative

Michael Frank

Director of On Farm Innovation for NSF AgTech Engine

Alex Paraskevas

Community Development & Pacific Northwest Ecosystem

Loran Steinlage

Farmer Relationships, Midwest Ecosystem & AgVa

Board of Directors 

Marcus Coleman, Ph.D.

Professor of Practice, School of Liberal Arts, Tulane University

Fayre Crossley

Nonprofit Executive

Allan Daisley

Entrepreneur, Accelerator Builder and Innovation Ecosystem Leader

Schuyler Dalton

Schuyler Dalton

Regenerative Agriculture Impact Investing Manager,
World Wildlife Fund

Corinne Gould

Corinne Gould

Senior Director of Communications, Tennessee Municipal League

Hubert Hamer

Retired, Administrator USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)

Teresa Lynch

Founder and Principal, Mass Economics

Arielle Moinester

Senior Program Director, Women’s Earth Alliance

Loston Rowe, Ph.D.

Founder and Principal, AgRowe, LLC

Alumni Board Members (2018-2026)

  • Samuel Brown, Co-Founder, Attorney

  • Dewayne Goldmon, Ph.D., Farmer, Former Executive Director, National Black Growers Council

  • Carolyn Chism Hardy, Investor, Food & Beverage Entrepreneur

  • Dan Hatzenbuehler, Retired, Chairman, E. Ritter & Company

  • Karen LeVert, Managing Partner, LeVert Ventures

  • Andrew McCarroll, General Counsel, Southeastern Asset Management

  • Rhedona Rose, Retired, Executive VP, Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation

  • Jai Templeton, Farmer, Former Commissioner of Agriculture, State of Tennessee