Today, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), a national farmer-owned dairy cooperative, announced plans to continue partnering with the Sprint Accelerator through 2018. The Accelerator, located in the Crossroads District of Kansas City, is an innovative, 90-day program that helps accelerate and grow startup businesses.
For the 2018 program, DFA will continue its sponsorship of the ag tech segment, which offers support and fosters technologies to help manage the Cooperative’s nationwide operations. Additionally, DFA will sponsor a new Accelerator segment focused on dairy products. For this segment, the Cooperative is looking to identify early stage dairy food startups that are bringing innovative products to consumers in the U.S and around the world.
“Innovation is a core value for DFA, and it has been really exciting to play a role in connecting new ideas and technologies to help our farm families and the Cooperative. For year two, we are eager to continue our sponsorship of ag tech, but also will support dairy food startups with experts in product research and development, manufacturing, packaging, consumer insights and marketing,” says Kevin Strathman, senior vice president of finance at Dairy Farmers of America. “With this new addition, our partnership with Sprint truly represents every facet of DFA’s business and our commitment to innovation from farm to table.”
DFA’s sponsorship announcement for the 2018 program was made at the 2017 Accelerator Program Demonstration Day, where four startup ag tech companies presented their ideas in Kansas City.
The ag tech companies participating in the 2017 Demo Day presentations were:
- AgVoice from Atlanta, Ga. - AgVoice is a mobile, voice-interaction service designed for food and agriculture professionals to capture insights on the go.
- HerdDogg from Longmont, Colo. - HerdDogg builds state-of-the-art smart ear tags and readers for livestock ID and health monitoring.
- My Dairy Dashboard from Frisco, Texas - My Dairy Dashboard helps producers gather insights and simplify their dairy decisions through a visual dashboard of aggregated herd, feed, milk and weather data.
- TradeLanes from Miami, Fla. - TradeLanes digitizes and automates the supply chain for shippers, merchants and traders.
“The ag tech teams for this year’s Accelerator have brought forth thought-provoking and game-changing ideas for the dairy industry,” says Strathman. “We look forward to ongoing collaboration and watching their continued growth.”
Additional details and applications for the 2018 Accelerator program will be available later this year.
Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) is a national dairy marketing cooperative that serves and is owned by nearly 13,000 members on nearly 8,000 farms in 48 states. DFA also is one of the country’s most diversified manufacturers of dairy products, food components and ingredients, and is a leader in formulating and packaging shelf-stable dairy products. For more information, call 1-888-DFA-MILK (332-6455) or visit www.dfamilk.com.
About Sprint and its Support for Entrepreneurship
Sprint has a strong history of working with startups in Silicon Valley, Kansas City and around the globe, helping young companies navigate the corporate world and build momentum behind their new businesses. Sprint is committed to supporting the entrepreneurial movement across the country, delivering new business opportunities, and spurring the startup spirit within the company. In 2014, Sprint opened the award-winning Sprint Accelerator in Kansas City – home of the Corporate Accelerator. The accelerator space is used to deliver year-round programming, including mentor engagement, STEM programs, entrepreneurial community collaboration, and community coworking space.
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served 59.5 million connections as of Dec. 31, 2016 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past five years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
