University of California’s Million-Dollar Baby to Support Ag Tech Innovation
May 16, 2025 
At the end of April, UC ANR Innovate (the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources’ innovation arm) received a $974,855 grant to help fund “The Plant,” an innovation center that will support and develop new technologies for the food and ag tech industries.
The grant was awarded by the “We Prosper Together” collaborative from Valley Vision, a civic leadership organization located in the Greater Sacramento region. The funding will be used for partnership building, economic planning, and pre-construction work for The Plant.
The center’s primary goal is to bring commercial businesses, government, and academia together to help the Sacramento region thrive economically. Work there will focus on indoor and outdoor agriculture, nutrient-dense food, food ingredients and processing, and other ag tech endeavors.
“The Plant is a really positive look at what’s happening in the country,” says Penny McBride, head of partnership development for the project. “I’m working on establishing relationships with key stakeholders right now and I’ve realized the global desire for more efficient and nutritious food systems. Everyone wants their economy to succeed, and that all comes down to food.”
Conceptual design of “The Plant.” | Photo: The University of California
Commercial and Academic Research
On the commercial side, the facility will give companies an opportunity to perform greenhouse, biomanufacturing, and food product trials, test new ingredients, packaging lines, and their capacity to scale products. For academia, it will provide UC researchers with a space to scale up their innovations for the food and ag tech industries. “This is an opportunity to bring people together so we can be the connector for the industry and the innovations coming out of UC’s campuses, the region, and the U.S.,” McBride says.
Valley Vision awarded the nearly-million-dollar grant just eight months after it received the application. “Our mission is directly aligned with theirs because we want to bring more opportunities to existing businesses in Sacramento,” she says. “The end goal is achieving economic prosperity for the region.”
The Plant is projected to create thousands of jobs and drive billions of dollars in economic growth for Sacramento. “It’s all about the future of food,” she says. “We’re involving researchers, restauranteurs, and retailers, so we’re getting input from people on the ground to help us answer the challenges we’re facing.”
UC has implemented a four- to five-year plan for finalizing the design, achieving full staffing, and building the infrastructure.
For more information, go here: https://ucanr.edu/blog/anr-news-releases/article/uc-anr-receives-nearly-1-million-spur-innovation-economic-growth.