Visiting farmer lecture at Clarkson

Clarkson University's Shipley Center for Innovation will host the first event of its new Visiting Farmer lecture series on Wednesday, May 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the Petersen Board Room on the third floor of Bertrand H. Snell Hall (#20 on the map. All area farmers and the public are invited to attend.

Brian and Ann Bennett of Bittersweet Farms will present on farming in the North Country and ways to connect college students with farms to educate and benefit both. 

"We hope that this event jumpstarts communication and connections across disciplines in business, engineering, and our administration to drive interactions and create value that stays in our region," says Shipley Center Executive Director Matt Draper. "This series fits seamlessly into the Regional Economic Development Council’s focus on agribusiness as part of the $500 million statewide competition for 2015, but our bigger aim is to connect students, faculty, and stakeholders with farmers to keep wealth in the North Country." 

Clarkson through the Shipley Center for Innovation has developed a focus on regional farming through its work with Agbotic (a regional startup focused on advanced agricultural production equipment), Blue Sphere Industries (a startup founded by Clarkson students focused on closed environment high-rise farming), and this year’s sophomore honors class project, which focused on technology in regional farming. 

The impetus for the first lecture is the sophomore honors project on farmer outreach and the student’s desire to maintain the momentum of the project, which investigated ideas to make Clarkson University students a part of the area's farming community."

"We envision opportunities to connect not just technology but our business environmental/sustainability, and purchasing areas with local farmers in a number of areas," says Draper. "These include value-chain analysis, supply chain analysis, energy efficiency, sustainable farming, policy, food-to-table, marketing/branding and distribution.

"The May 13 session will identify additional areas of opportunity and will focus on how we can both formally and informally connect students and classroom experiences with regional farmers."

For more information, contact the Shipley Center for Innovation at 315-268-7610 or ShipleyCenter@clarkson.edu .