Webinars

Join us for short, informal chats with movers and shakers in the food and ag industry

Lunch Specials: Food & Ag Innovation Chats

Each Thursday at noon, break for our Lunch Special! We will be serving up a series of short, informal chats with movers and shakers in the food and ag industry. A Cornell University student will pepper our guest innovators with questions as we get to know what motivates and challenges them and how they are adapting to uncertainties in our economic climate.

Hungry for ideas on funding or scaling? Looking for a recipe for success in tech, production, or sales? Lunch Special attendees are part of the conversation and we encourage you to share your questions and comments as we go.

Save the date for upcoming webinars:

All will be held from 12:00 – 12:30 p.m. EST

  • May 21: How to Partner with Farms on Pilot Testing
    Tiffany Agard, MPA candidate at Cornell, speaks with Propagate Ventures. Agroforestry is the strategic addition of tree crops to farmland with, among other benefits, the result of improved soil health and carbon sequestration. Propagate Ventures is a startup that designs, implements, and optimizes agroforestry systems on a range of sizes and models. Learn how a startup in regenerative ag can partner with farms of varied sizes and orientations on pilots and beyond in a way that supports the startup’s core business viability.
  • May 28: How to Get Buy In On Far-Out Innovation
    Will Shepard will interview Caleb Scott of Scott Land Yard Group. Connecting with customers is a precondition for startup success. But what if your idea is so novel, so inventive, that your customer base is skeptical about its potential? Scott Land Yard ’s business proposition is to regain agricultural land while contributing to sustainable energy production by raising sheep to essentially mow the lawn on ground-mounted solar fields.

Watch past webinars

Episode No. 1: How to Get Retail Buyers to Notice Your Product

Johnson MBA Candidate Delia Hughes speaks with Jason Goodman of Antithesis Foods.

Episode No. 2: Identifying the Right Problems to Solve

CALS student Tom Mueller speaks with Acumen Detection founder Chuck Stormon and Tech Garden Program Manager Jeannine Rogers.

Episode No. 3: Leveraging Strategic Partnerships

Johnson student Austin Blais speaks with Enduraphin founder Danny Drake.

Not just for sports fans! How can a CPG startup engage an established business in an adjacent industry to help their product stand out in a crowd? Sports nutrition startup Enduraphin talks about their strategy of partnering with athletes and hockey and football teams to get exposure for their brand by fueling practices and games.

Episode No. 4: Expanding to a Second Sphere of Activity

Engineering student Shiang-Wan Chin speaks with Nordetect founder Keenan Pinto.

Nordetect has a user-friendly portable device for analyzing biochemicals that has applications for agriculture and beyond. They are based in Copenhagen, but are following a path that will put them in Rochester, too. Learn about what it is like to operate in a second geographical sphere of activity.

Episode No. 5: Expanding to a Second Sphere of Activity

Johnson MBA Candidate Delia Hughes speaks with Samantha Abrams of Emmy’s Organics about the ins and outs of bringing on sales staff.

Emmy’s is a home grown, family-oriented company, committed to spreading the good word about healthy snacking as well as social and environmental responsibility. They got their start at the Ithaca Farmers Market a decade ago, and are now a better-for-you brand with a national shelf presence. How did they get from there to here – from two crazy kids making coconut cookies to a thriving company with dozens of employees? What early choices did they make about bringing sales staff on so that they could stay profitable, while increasing their reach?

Episode No. 6: How to Partner with Farms on Pilot Testing

Tiffany Agard, MPA candidate at Cornell, speaks with Propagate Ventures. Agroforestry is the strategic addition of tree crops to farmland with, among other benefits, the result of improved soil health and carbon sequestration. Propagate Ventures is a startup that designs, implements, and optimizes agroforestry systems on a range of sizes and models. Learn how a startup in regenerative ag can partner with farms of varied sizes and orientations on pilots and beyond in a way that supports the startup’s core business viability.

Episode No. 7: How to Get Buy In On Far-Out Innovation

Will Shepard interviews Caleb Scott of Scott Land Yard Group. Connecting with customers is a precondition for startup success. But what if your idea is so novel, so inventive, that your customer base is skeptical about its potential? Scott Land Yard’s business proposition is to regain agricultural land while contributing to sustainable energy production by raising sheep to essentially mow the lawn on ground-mounted solar fields.

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