News

The Dairy Runway program begins with a six-week virtual entrepreneurship course, giving participants the opportunity to hear from industry leaders, conduct an in-depth customer discovery process, and define their target market.

Entrepreneurs Carol Fitzgerald and Benita Kasbo-Perez, both Dairy Runway alumna, have each won $10,000 in WomensNet grants to support their startups.  

Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA) encourages food innovators with ideas for value-added dairy products to apply for the next cohort of Dairy Runway.

This month, a new cohort of dairy innovators started Dairy Runway, a free entrepreneurship program supporting early-stage ideas for value-added dairy products using New York State cow’s milk.

Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA) invites food innovators with early-stage ideas for value-added dairy products to apply for the next cohort of Dairy Runway, a free entrepreneurship program focused on initial product concept and customer discovery. 

Carol Fitzgerald found herself
in a unique position to merge local industries when she founded Hazy Fudge, an alcohol-infused
fudge company using ingredients sourced from upstate New York dairy farms, wineries, and
distilleries.

The Spring 2024 cohort of Dairy Runway is concluding the program’s six-week entrepreneurship course and advancing into the Kitchen Incubator phase of the program.

Laura Mack, the owner of an independent ice cream parlor called lu•lu Ice Cream in Vergennes, Vermont, won a $200,000 Existing Dairy Processor Expansion Grant from the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NEDBIC) in November. 

Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA) is accepting applications for the second cohort of Dairy Runway, an entrepreneurship program for food innovators with value-added dairy products at the ideation stage.

Jonah Gershon, the founder of Spekld, was named the top prize winner of Cornell’s Hospitality Pitch Competition.

lu.lu Ice Cream, Oakfield Corners Cheese LLC, and Terra Firma Farm have been named winners of the inaugural Northeastern Dairy Product Innovation Competition.

With the business development phase of the Northeastern Dairy Product Innovation Competition underway, the Dairy Innovation Program is proud to spotlight the 10 finalists selected for the inaugural competition. 

Jonah Gershon ‘24, a hotel administration major in the Nolan School of Hotel Administration at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and the founder of Spekld, is the lone student finalist among the 10 selected for the inaugural Northeastern Dairy Product Innovation Competition.  

Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA) and the Northeast Dairy Foods Research Center (NDFRC) have launched the Dairy Runway program, an entrepreneurship curriculum for dairy innovators that focuses on product concept and consumer discovery.

Finalists will receive $20,000, up to three winners receiving an additional $55,000, and a presence at the Dairy Innovation Showcase at the 2023 Grow-NY Summit in November.  

Laura Ginsburg is the Center Director for the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC), the funder for the Northeastern Dairy Product Innovation Competition.

Funds to support innovation in value-added products made from Northeast dairy