A new agricultural era in Sacramento? Why this company is investing $1 million in Woodland

When AgStart opened in May 2021, the Woodland food and agriculture company incubator offered startup companies lab benches — vital spaces to perform various experiments and take readings — for $800 a month.

Within several months, startup companies rented all 26 of them.

The benches are intended to be the first step in creating new food and agriculture companies. And — leveraging resources such as the agricultural school at UC Davis — help make the Sacramento area a hub for the startups.

On Thursday, AgStart unveiled a $1 million expansion of the facility that increases total space from 4,825 square feet to 13,000 square feet. The growth adds a new wing to the lab area — and doubles the number of lab benches to 52.

The original facility cost $1.5 million to build, occupying part of a three-story office building on Main Street in Woodland. Now, AgStart takes up a much larger chunk of the building.

Already, half of those new benches have been rented, said John Selep, who serves as President of the AgTech Innovation Alliance, the non-profit behind AgStart.

“There’s been a kind of pent up demand because we’ve been full for over the last year and a half,” he said. “We had existing companies that wanted to expand but there was no place to go.”

That still leaves 13 open benches for rent as part of the expansion.

“We’re inviting new clients to come in,” he said. “I am very confident that the benches will fill up soon.”

While The $800 monthly rent only entitles the start-up company to a 6-foot bench that is their own, the startup can can also use other lab facilities that are shared, including a tissue culture lab, a fermentation lab and co-working space, said Amanda Portier, AgStart’s program director.

Many of AgStart’s startups are in their initial phases, but one company, TurtleTree has attracted around $40 million in capital. The company is attempting to commercialize the creation of raw milk, using cells from mammals.

As part of the AgStart expansion, Turtle Tree has increased the number of its benches it rented from 8 to 21, said Fengru Lin, CEO and co-founder of TurtleTree.

Lin, who was working in the expanded AgStart facility on Thursday, said the incubator has been a lifeline to the company because the opening of its own research, development and manufacturing facility in West Sacramento is still months away.

So far, two other companies besides Turtle Tree are in the process of graduating to their own development and or manufacturing space.

The number of new jobs created from AgStart so far is not large. Statistics from the incubator show 24 new full-time professional jobs and 26 internships have been created since its spring 2021 opening.

Selep said the long-term goal may take time.

“We want the Sacramento region to be recognized nationally and internationally as an innovation hub for Ag and food,” he said. “The way we earn that recognition is by taking our innovation, our innovators, our start up companies, and making them successful.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2023 at 9:41 AM.