Smart Ag's Colin Hurd named on Forbes 30 Under 30 list

Smart Ag founder and CEO Colin Hurd was named to Forbes 2019 30 Under 30, the global media company's annual list chronicling the brashest entrepreneurs across the United States and Canada. Hurd, who grew up on a farm and studied agriculture and business at Iowa State University, founded Smart Ag to commercialize autonomous farming solutions. Its first product, AutoCart, lets farmers automate a grain-cart tractor at harvest time.

The 2019 Forbes list features 600 entrepreneurs in 20 different fields. Hurd was chosen as one of the top 30 in the manufacturing and industry category from a field of 200 original nominees which was eventually pared down to 51 finalists. A team of experts judges, including Ford CEO Jim Hackett; Eren Ozmen, president of rocket firm Sierra Nevada; venture capitalist Jim Kim, general partner of Builders VC; and Chase Feiger, cofounder of Parsable and an alumnus of the 2017 30 Under 30 list in Manufacturing, chose the top 30.

Smart Ag is a graduate of the ISU Startup Factory program’s inaugural cohort and one of the Ag Startup Engine’s portfolio companies.