Local agricultural lender, MidAtlantic Farm Credit, announced MADTECH, LLC of Huntingtown, Maryland as the winner of AgPitch 2018.

MidAtlantic Farm Credit announced Marnane Agricultural Drone Technologies (MADTECH), LLC of Huntingtown, Maryland as the winner of the 2018 AgPitch competition, which took place on December 6 as part of the Grow and Fortify Summit in Stevensville, Maryland.

"I admire the passion and enthusiasm all five finalists have for the ideas they presented at AgPitch," says Tom Truitt, CEO of MidAtlantic Farm Credit. "Hearing the pitches and learning about each organization has me certain that the future of the agriculture industry is in good hands. Were excited for MADTECH and look forward to watching the business develop."

MADTECH was founded by a father-son team that has developed "The MADTECH System," which captures real-time farm data using advanced Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) network management to fly two types of very sophisticated fixed wing drone technologies simultaneously. The data gathered by the drones is coupled with rapid lab testing, targeted ground proofing, and writing optimized prescriptions for farm equipment to enable a farm to be continuously optimized for efficiency in real time.

"We are honored to have been chosen to present our business concept to the judges and audience of the 2018 AgPitch event," says Tom Marnane, Co-Founder and President of MADTECH. "I am very confident in our technology and the opportunities it can bring to farmers in Maryland and across the country. We cant thank Farm Credit enough for creating such a venue to allow agriculture companies like MADTECH to enhance our business and expand our impact."

Farm Credit received applications from nearly 30 creative and innovative entrepreneurs looking to make a positive impact on the agriculture industry. The four other finalists who pitched at the event on December 6 were: Johnny Oysterseed, 1000 EcoFarms, AgriMetis, and GreatAlga. Each finalist had five minutes to pitch their business to a panel of judges and an audience of over 250 people, who were able to participate in the voting process. The judging panel consisted of Isvara Wilson, Chief Administrative Officer of AgFirst Farm Credit; Alex Moore, Sr. Partner of Stratagon, Inc. and Immediate Past President of MANRRS; Mike Thielke, Executive Director of the Eastern Shore Entrepreneurship Center; and Jan Baum, Director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Towson University.

As the overall winner, MADTECH will receive $7,500, as well as accounting, legal, and other business services to help the success of the business. All of the finalists receive membership into the F3Tech pre-accelerator, which will give them the opportunity to explore avenues to help them grow their business ideas.

To learn more about MADTECH, please visit madtechfarm.com or email Thomas Marnane at tomm@madtechfarm.com. For more information about AgPitch, visit agpitch.com.

About MidAtlantic Farm Credit
MidAtlantic Farm Credit is an agricultural lending cooperative owned by its member‐borrowers. It provides farm loans for land, equipment, livestock and production; crop insurance; and rural home mortgages. The co-op has over 11,600 members and over $2.7 billion in loans outstanding. MidAtlantic has branches serving Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. It is part of the national Farm Credit System, a network of financial cooperatives established in 1916 to provide a dependable source of credit to farmers and rural America.