Grow-NY Startups Lead Food and Ag Innovation in the Region

By Bridget Hagen

The twenty startups competing for a $3 million in prize money in the sixth annual Grow-NY Food and Agriculture Business Competition promise to lead innovation and growth beyond their own companies, to the global food and agriculture industry and the region’s abundant agrifood ecosystem.  

Grow-NY is a global competition focused on enhancing the emerging food, beverage and agriculture innovation cluster in the Central New York, Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions of upstate New York. The competition is funded by Empire State Development and administered by Cornell’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA), a division of the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation. 

Three hundred and twelve startups applied for this year’s competition, including 89 applicants from New York state. The 20 finalists hail from nine different states and six countries, with five finalists from New York. 

The selected startups will spend the next two months in the program’s accelerator phase, which includes one-on-one mentorship from industry experts, pitch training and fully funded travel to the region. During the three-day business development trip, representatives of each startup will expand their networks and develop strategic relationships within the region. 

Finalists will pitch their business plans, including how they will make a positive impact on the region, to a live audience at the Grow-NY Summit, Nov. 6-7 at the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center. One grand prize winner will receive $1 million, two will win $500,000 and four will take home $250,000. 

“Once again, the Grow-NY Food and Agriculture Competition has drawn top-quality startups and entrepreneurial talent from around the world,” said Hope Knight, Empire State Development president, CEO and commissioner. “Through its continued support, New York state is poised to reap the benefits of these Grow-NY innovators, who will create jobs and grow the economy in the Central New York, Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions.” 

Four of this year’s finalists have connections to the Cornell community: 

• For Bitter For Worse (Portland, Oregon) and UdderWays (Albion, New York) are members of Rev: Ithaca Startup Works, a business incubator located in downtown Ithaca and administered by CREA. 
• Researchers in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have used TerraSentia robots made by EarthSense (Champaign, Illinois) since 2018. 
• Casey Call ’12, co-founder and head grower at Zordi (Oakfield, New York), earned his B.A. in agronomy and crop science from Cornell. 
• Grape.ag (Cupertino, CA) participated in the Dyson Grand Challenges Project led by students in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management this year. 

Information about all 20 of the Grow-NY finalists can be found on the Grow-NY website. 

The Grow-NY Summit features a pitch competition, educational symposium and Ecosystem Expo with services for startups. All-access, in-person registration is $75, $25 for students, and virtual registration is free.