About Us
Get to know the partners and programs fueling the competitionGrow-NY Team
Jenn Smith
Director of Food and Agriculture Programs, CREA
Jenn Smith leads food and ag startup programs for Cornell’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement, including the Grow-NY program, an annual $3M competition for innovative, early stage, high growth potential businesses working anywhere in the agrifood system. Through CREA she co-directs an ag tech hardware accelerator and runs a Dairy Product Innovation initiative and activities supporting the cultivation of Upstate New York’s regional agrifood ecosystem. In her role she draws on her background in entrepreneurship in the food and farming space and subject matter expertise in craft beverage market development, gained while the Executive Director of the New York Cider Association and the New York State Distillers Guild. In addition to leading NYCA and NYSDG, Jenn has helped entrepreneurs throughout the Northeast launch value-added products, agritourism ventures and hospitality businesses.
Sarah A. Meyer
Grow-NY Program Manager
Sarah A. Meyer is the Program Manager for Cornell University’s Grow-NY program. She leverages her familiarity with food, agriculture, and community innovation to provide administrative and management support to the Grow-NY Food & Agriculture Competition. Experiences gained in her most recent roles as Project Manager of the Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture at Cornell AgriTech and Director of Cornell Agriculture and Food Technology Park are an asset to Grow-NY and its continued dedication to strengthening New York’s viable food system.
Grow-NY Partners
Finalist Judges
Finalist judges score each finalist pitch at the live summit based on a pre-determined rubric.
Ben Verschueren
Executive Director
New York Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation (NYSTAR)
Finalist Mentors
Mentors guide finalist teams through business development and pitch preparation.
Victoria Giarratano
Assistant Director, Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
Cornell Cooperative Extension
Derek Simmonds
Business Development Specialist
NYS Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture at Cornell AgriTech
Empire State Development
Empire State Development is funding Grow-NY through NYSTAR and cooperation between three of the Upstate Revitalization Initiative’s regional economic development councils – Finger Lakes Forward, CNY Rising and Southern Tier Soaring.
Cornell University
While there are other universities with top 10 agriculture programs and other schools with top 10 computer and information science programs, only Cornell University can offer both. Because of that, New York state chose Cornell to administer the competition and accelerate the formation and growth of new, innovative startups. Cornell leverages its experience managing the state’s 76West Clean Energy Competition, its resources as a top-ten institution for entrepreneurship and a top-three agriculture school, its partnerships through AgriTech and extension programs, and its long history as New York’s land grant research university. The competition is administered by Cornell’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement.
About the competition
The Grow-NY Food and Agriculture Competition is a global startup challenge awarding $3 million in investment to seven startups. Each year, 20 finalists are selected to pitch at the annual Grow-NY Summit, a two-day event showcasing food and ag innovations that have the power to change the path of the industry. At the end of the Summit, one grand prize winner will receive a $1 million investment; two others will be awarded $500,000 each; and four more will win $250,000 investments.
The 2026 Grow-NY finalists are Barnwell Bio, Budbreak Innovations, CryoBio, Earnest Agriculture, Fooditive BV, Frost Methane Labs, Nouri Foods, NRGene Canada, Nuravine, OrganoTech, PropelMapper, Prospect Growth, Quantera Analytical, Recoup Beverage, RETRN Bioworks, Spectacular Labs, Spraycision, Starfish Technology, Startchy, and ThermoShade. The 2026 Grow-NY Summit will take place Thursday, November 12 and Friday, November 13 at the DoubleTree Rochester in Rochester, NY.