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Agricenter International – connecting ag innovation to farmers

Agricenter International, located inside the Memphis, Tennessee city limits, helps connect agriculture research and innovation to the farmers who use it.  John Butler, president of the center, says the facility dedicates more than 600 acres to research and partners with companies like Helena to conduct independent third-party verified studies. “They may say, by the way, we want you to look at this product, it’s about ready to go to market, but we need some testing,” he says. “We need some data in this environment, so our team of researchers runs that program.”

He tells Brownfield Agricenter is also the home to the largest hops yard in the Southeast. “You might say, well, hops don’t traditionally grow here, and that’s an accurate statement,” he says. “They don’t traditionally grow here, but we think we have found at least 8 cultivars that do an excellent job of adapting to their climate. And we’re scaling that because we want farmers to be successful.”

Butler says this is the southernmost research station for the American Malting Barley trial system, which comes out of the University of Minnesota. 

Agricenter conducts more than 250 research trials for more than 60 companies annually. 

AUDIO: John Butler, Agricenter International