N.C. PSI Welcomes Three Companies to Innovation Hub

How does your company address challenges in agriculture?

Farmers today face many challenges, including economic instability from rising input costs and volatile markets. We know they are looking for alternative solutions to reduce their operating costs while not compromising efficacy.

Albaugh’s portfolio is perfect for today’s environment, offering high-quality products and great service at competitive prices, giving farmers a much-needed alternative to succeed.

Why did you choose to be a member of the Innovation Hub?

Collaboration is a key to supporting Albaugh’s vision to be the leading alternative for crop protection products globally. Partnerships like this, between Albaugh and the Innovation Hub at NC State, provide the perfect opportunity to bring together manufacturing, scientific and technical expertise to deliver solutions that meet the needs of North Carolina farmers as well as growers across the country and around the globe.  

Does your company partner with NC State in other endeavors?

Albaugh actively collaborates with NC State on multiple initiatives. We are a major supporter and donor to the NC State turfgrass program and the Center for Turfgrass Environmental Research and Education, contributing to their research and development efforts. We engage in field research with various faculty members and support the annual field day event.

Additionally, Albaugh conducts extensive field research with NC State’s agriculture faculty, rigorously testing our products to ensure top performance before market launch. These studies, often carried out with interdisciplinary staff at NC State, help us refine and validate our agricultural solutions.

What do you think about approaching grand agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary research and technology development? 

Addressing major agricultural challenges such as food security and sustainable resource use benefits from interdisciplinary research and technological development. Integrating knowledge from agronomy, chemistry, data science, biotechnology and engineering contributes to forming comprehensive solutions for complex issues.

For example, using precision agriculture technologies alongside advanced chemical formulations can help optimize crop yields and reduce environmental impact. Techniques including AI-driven analytics, sensor-based monitoring, and gene-editing are used to develop targeted products.

How does your company address challenges in agriculture? (Jeff Wheeler, vice president, commercial biosciences)

Mosaic Biosciences addresses agricultural challenges by combining advanced crop nutrition with cutting-edge biological technologies. Incorporating these scientifically proven biologicals into crop nutrition strategies empowers farmers to boost yields, enhance profitability and contribute to a more resilient and sustainable future for agriculture.

Why did you choose to be a member of the Innovation Hub? (Jeff Wheeler, vice president, commercial biosciences)

Mosaic Biosciences joined the Innovation Hub to deepen its commitment to advancing agricultural science. The Hub offers a unique opportunity to collaborate with NC State’s leading plant science research, amplify our strategic initiatives, and actively engage with the broader agricultural innovation ecosystem—all while hosting impactful events and conversations in a dedicated space designed to foster industry-academic partnerships. This strategic move strengthens our connection with the Ag Tech community and opens the door to exciting opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and growth. 

Does your company partner with NC State in other endeavors? (Jeff Wheeler, vice president, commercial biosciences)

Not at the current time, but we are open to exploring those opportunities in the future.

What do you think about approaching grand agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary research and technology development? (Scott Rabe, director, R&D biosciences)

We believe that solving the next generation of agricultural challenges requires interdisciplinary teamwork for the development of breakthrough technologies. By integrating expertise in crop nutrition, biology-based sciences, and academic institutions — and collaborating closely with researchers and entrepreneurs — we can accelerate the creation of solutions that are both innovative and practical. This collaborative model supports the development, validation, and deployment of transformative technologies to address food security, sustainability, and other pressing agricultural issues. 

We invite partners across disciplines to join us in advancing these solutions. Let’s work together to shape the future of agriculture.

How does your company address challenges in agriculture?

Terrana fuses nature’s intelligence and machine intelligence to generatively design versatile RNA-based solutions for every aspect of plant health from seed to stem.

Terrana is developing targeted products designed to work at any time in a plant’s lifecycle, enabling a continuous product pipeline that is adaptive and responsive to variable climate conditions and capable of generating new solutions at a fraction of the time and cost associated with conventional agriculture approaches.

We are working to create new tools that will enable farmers to fight and prevent disease and pests, increase yields, adapt quickly to climatic conditions, and maintain soil health.

Why did you choose to be a member of the Innovation Hub?

Terrana’s first location in North Carolina was in the Plant Sciences Building at NC State University. When we moved on to a larger space, we wanted to maintain our strong connection to the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative.  Being a member of the Innovation Hub allows us to do just that.

Does your company partner with NC State in other endeavors?

Terrana interacts with NC State faculty as consultants for the company. One of our leaders, Dale Karlson, is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology.

What do you think about approaching grand agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary research and technology development?

Terrana was founded on insights derived from interdisciplinary research and thrives today because of the combination of disciplines that we bring together to fuel our tech development. Our company was founded by Flagship Pioneering, the company that created Moderna, to apply a similar approach to plant health that created lifesaving improvements in human health. Today, our team includes experts in computational biology, machine learning, plant pathology, molecular biology and nanotechnology.