UF/IFAS launches agricultural entrepreneurship program to prepare students to create farming, AgTech businesses

 

 

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Growing a business is difficult. Growing an agricultural business can present unique challenges that can be daunting for a budding businessperson.

 

 

That’s why the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Department of Food and Resource Economics (FRE) is launching a new entrepreneurship program, specifically targeted for students who want to create agricultural businesses.

 

The Wayne T. Davis Agricultural and Rural Entrepreneurship program will kick off in the fall of 2026 with the course Principals of Agricultural Entrepreneurship, with a follow-up course in the spring of 2027. The class series will focus on the basics of entrepreneurship and business planning, with an emphasis on agricultural issues, said Tori Rumenik, an FRE alumna and the program’s creative coordinator. The courses are open to both undergraduate and graduate students as joint classes. All majors across UF can enroll.

 

“Agriculture is facing huge challenges, from automation demand to responsible water use, and UF really has the brightest minds in the nation when it comes to agriculture innovation,” she said. “We want to make it possible for them to take those big ideas and transform them into businesses after graduation, but we need to provide the toolkit to do so.”

 

• UF’s Food and Resource Economics Department is launching the Wayne T. Davis Agricultural and Rural Entrepreneurship program in Fall 2026 to help students build agriculture-focused businesses.
• The new course sequence teaches agricultural business fundamentals in the fall and culminates in a spring “Shark Tank”-style pitch process where students present full business plans to industry mentors.
• Funded by alumnus Wayne T. Davis, the program will equip students to innovate in areas ranging from automation, water use, food preparation, precision agriculture and more.