The first-ever Home Grown Business Challenge, a unique summer camp conceived by local educators, farmers and agribusiness advocates, ended its inaugural year with teams of students pitching their agricultural idea to a panel of real life venture capitalists/ “Shark Tank.” They were paired with local farmers and challenged to develop a product or service to generate additional revenue for a local farm.
Students from a number of different high schools in the region including Greenville, Catskill, Hudson, Taconic Hills, Germantown and Maple Hill impressed the judges with their unique ideas and presentation skills. The judges in turn gave the students feedback as well as suggestions for growing their concept into a working model.
The Shark Tank panel was comprised of Eric Williams, retired NBA Celtics Forward; Todd M. Erling, Executive Director, HVADC; Emil Ponte, Credit Representative, Farm Credit East; Ross A. Mauri, Vice President, Enterprise Process Transformation IBM; Carole Murko, Creator, Host and Executive Producer of Heirloom Meals; and Mick Bessire, Extension Educator-Agriculture and Livestock, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene Counties.
Camp Mentor Phil Trowbridge, owner of Trowbridge Angus, spoke highly of his interactions with the students and their likelihood to succeed in the future. “They are brighter and smarter than we were at that age. The one thing we need to help them with is remembering their intuition and instincts,” he said.
The camp and reception was held at Columbia-Greene Community College. After the presentations there was a brief ceremony to recognize the achievements of the campers and contributions of the mentors, participating businesses and sponsors. A short reception followed.
The students visited nine farms during the week including: The Berry Farm, Chatham, NY; Beth’s Farm Kitchen, Stuyvesant, NY; Samascott’s Farm, Kinderhook, NY; Wil-Roc Farm, Stuyvesant, NY; Trowbridge Angus, Ghent, NY; Grazin Angus Acres, Ghent, NY; Real Live Amazing Cheese Company, Pine Plains, NY; Sol Flower, Ancramdale, NY; and Farmer’s Wife, Ancramdale, NY.
The Home Grown Business Challenge was operated by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene Counties in conjunction with Questar III and was funded by the Farm Credit East-Ag-Enhancement program and the Tech Valley Career Pathways Program. Additional support was provided by Columbia-Greene Community College, Hudson Valley Agribusiness Corp and Friends of the Farmer.
The camp is one of six free summer camps offered by the Tech Valley Career Pathways Consortium. The camps are designed to give teens an opportunity to explore emerging career opportunities in their own backyards. For more information, please visit www.questar.org/summercamp.
The Tech Valley Career Pathways Consortium is a partnership between Hudson Valley Community College, Capital Region BOCES, Columbia-Greene Community College, Questar III BOCES, Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES, Schenectady County Community College, and SUNY Cobleskill.
