The U.S. Small Business Administration has recognized California’s Sacramento and North San Joaquin Valley region as a Regional Innovation Cluster for AgriFood technologies.

According to a city press release, Woodland’s AgStart, located at 1100 Main St., has been designated the cluster administrator to drive engagement and collaboration and provide funding to expand support for emerging AgriFoodTech businesses.

The Small Business Administration’s Regional Innovation Cluster program helps America’s entrepreneurs start and scale their businesses in critical industries, emphasizing leveraging regional strengths and collaboration.AgStart is a regional non-profit with a mission to accelerate innovation in our global food system and has been active in California’s Central Valley region since 2012. In addition to the non-profit’s physical facilities, a shared-resource wet lab and incubator in Woodland, AgStart regularly hosts community-building events and provides other services to strengthen the local AgriFoodTech entrepreneur community.

“The SBA award recognizes the tremendous strengths of our Central Valley region as an innovation hub for AgriFood technologies,” stated John Selep, board chair of AgStart.

California’s Central Valley region houses our country’s largest, most diverse, and most productive agricultural economy, with over 400 different crop commodities. The fifteen counties encompassed in this cluster region represent some of the most productive agricultural lands in the country, contributing to California’s $50B annual agricultural production at raw ‘farm-gate’ commodity value.

The region also includes a well-established industry of fruit, nut, and vegetable processors, as well as dairy and beverage processing to transform raw agricultural production into value-added food and beverage products sold throughout the country and the world.

In Yolo County, the top agricultural commodities include tomatoes, whose value was put at $236.717 million, compared to $183.6 million in 2022, Almonds with a value of $120.922 vs. $60.576 in 2022 and wine grapes, which generated $101.383 million in 2023 against $65.042 a year earlier.

Other crops in the Top 10 commodities category included all organic produce (which generated $63.89 million from 98 farms, 91 of which are certified)), pistachios ($29.124 million), nursery products ($26.752 million), sunflower seeds ($24.292 million) and apiary products like honey ($23.738 million).

UC Davis, the nation’s No. 1 research university for agriculture and forestry, as well as No. 1 in animal science and veterinary medicine, and a leader in food science, biological and agricultural engineering, and human health, invests over $1 billion a year in sponsored research and innovation.

The region also houses established clusters of global AgriFoodTech companies, including vegetable seed research facilities for nearly all of the global Seed and crop protection companies, and a concentration of biological crop protection and emerging microbiome companies.

The region also houses several collaborating institutions that provide entrepreneur support, including mentorship, connections, laboratory and kitchen space, funding, and entrepreneurial training programs.

“Our region has the size, scale, technology, and crop diversity to be a leading innovation hub for AgriFood Technologies, and this SBA award recognizes this potential,” Selep stated.

The Food Frontier AgriFoodTech Innovation Cluster encompasses a fifteen-county region covering the key agricultural counties of the Sacramento Valley and North San Joaquin Valley regions, from Butte County in the north, to Merced County in the south.

Through the support provided by the SBA, the Food Frontier AgriFoodTech Innovation Cluster will be able to provide more focused resources and connections to AgriFoodTech innovators and entrepreneurs, helping these emerging businesses accelerate their path to commercialization and bring their innovations to growers, food processors, retailers, restauranteurs, and consumers, as well as drive increased employment and innovation-led economic development to the region.

“As a leader in agricultural research and innovation, UC Davis is proud to support the AgriFoodTech ecosystem in California’s Central Valley,” stated the Director of Venture Catalyst UC Davis Karl Jessen. “This well-earned SBA recognition underscores AgriFoodTech’s unique value and the region’s unique capacity to drive technological advancements in food and agriculture. With a thriving network of startups, research institutions, and industry partners, we are excited to see new innovations come to life that will revolutionize our food system and benefit growers, processors, and consumers alike.”