
Ag Innovation Showcase 2019
Ag Innovation Showcase is an intimate venue for industry leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs to form relationships and engage in substantive discussions that will enable innovative solutions to come to market for consumer, social, commercial, and environmental benefit. Speakers, sponsors, early-stage companies, and other stakeholders in food and agriculture innovation network with each other to address today’s questions and develop tomorrow’s solutions for feeding the planet.
The common theme across the 10-year span of AIS since 2008 has been to explore global and national issues related to soil health, food production, food sustainability, food waste, and food security. AIS has been at the forefront of bringing thought leaders and influencers in the field of agriculture and related industries to initiate dialogue and drive collaborations domestically and internationally.

Startup CHONEX aims to turn chicken poop into profit, with help from Prosperity Fund
Using a proprietary process, CHONEX applies black soldier fly larvae to poultry manure. The voracious larvae convert the waste into three products: a certified organic protein feed, a fatty acid used in cosmetics, and a high-value organic fertilizer and soil enhancer.

With Prosperity Fund Help, Startup CHONEX Aims to Turn Waste Into Profit
Corey Tyree, Ph.D., Southern Research’s director of strategic growth initiatives and a co-founder of The Prosperity Fund, said CHONEX’s technology not only has commercial potential but also addresses several problems facing the agriculture industry today.
For one thing, the industry needs sustainable and more efficient methods to produce protein since most soybeans, one-third of all grains, and a large portion of caught wild seafood go to make animal feed. At the same time, egg producers need new sources of organic protein.

CHONEX Wins Alabama Launchpad $85k Prize
CHONEX wins $85,000 prize from Alabama Launchpad.
Started in 2006, Alabama Launchpad is a program of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA). It is the state’s most active early-stage seed fund investor, driving innovation and job growth through startup competitions and ongoing mentoring for Alabama entrepreneurs.
For 30 years, the EDPA has been a catalyst for economic growth in the state, contributing to Alabama’s greatest economic development successes. A totally private, nonprofit organization, EDPA is uniquely positioned to partner with state, local, and private entities involved in Alabama’s economic development efforts.