Sukup Manufacturing Co., based in Sheffield, Iowa, has long been at the forefront of innovation since its inception in 1963. After Sukup aquired automation technologies company Ramco Innovations, the company announced the creation of Sukup Innovations in May of this year with the goal of bolstering agricultural innovation through automation.

Renee Hansen, Sukup Manufacturing, External Relations Manager, and Megan Brandt, Program Manager, Sukup Innovations, were at Tech Hub LIVE last week to talk about how Iowa and ag tech go together.

“Iowa really is the Silicon Valley of ag tech,” said Hansen. “Sukup Manufacturing is really trying to take that to another level, help with the productivity and efficiency of the producer and we’re at Tech Hub LIVE because we want to be a player in this space.”

Brandt says the first product offering from Sukup Innovations is Synk™, a new bin monitoring solution designed to enhance grain storage management for farmers.

“I think people at first questioned why two very different companies would come together until they figured out why Sukup was trying to bring this technology out to the farm,” said Brandt. “So having two separate powerhouses with not a lot of preconceived ideas of what wouldn’t work and what would work is going to be, I think, powerful.”

In addition to Ramco, Sukup Innovations includes an innovation lab called Maple Studios which brings in early stage manufacturing tech startups and Hansen says the Iowa Economic Development Authority is very helpful in supporting early stage companies. “We have a lot of different funds that come from the federal government and the state government and we have a lot of programs, including Ag Tech focused funds, locally and across the whole state,” she said.

Learn more in this interview from THL.
2024 THL Sukup Manufacturing/Innovations 7:47

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