Students Earn Honorable Mention in Ag Export Challenge

A team of five Cal Poly Pomona students took honorable mention in a U.S. Department of Agriculture national competition that required them to develop a strategy to export cheese to the Philippines.

The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service’s Agricultural Export Market Challenge combined a case study and role playing to expose juniors and seniors to the Foreign Agricultural Service’s work and learn about diplomacy, economics, marketing, and trade policy.

Participating teams were required to develop and present a market entry strategy for a fictitious American company seeking sales opportunities for a U.S. food product in an overseas market.

They had to conduct basic research simulating the work that FAS subject matter experts perform every day to increase export opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural products.

The Cal Poly Pomona team was one of 19 from Hispanic Serving Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities around the country that were chosen to participate in the five-week competition.

A team from the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico in Aguadilla won the event. The Foreign Agricultural Service awarded honorable mentions to teams from other schools for exemplary work in five categories:

• Understanding topic and analysis
• Market barriers
• Working with the USDA
• One-Page Summary
• Presentation 

The Cal Poly Pomona team earned its honorable mention in the “One-Page Summary” category along with two other colleges.

The one-pager included an economic analysis of eight potential countries as export markets and selecting one to target. It also included an analysis of trade barriers and identified three FAS programs that could support export efforts.

The intercollegiate competition officially began in February with teams working virtually with USDA mentors. The teams presented their solutions to FAS leaders in early March.

The Cal Poly Pomona team consisted of

• Michelle Donovan, senior, agricultural science
• Anairy Gonzalez, senior, agribusiness and food industry management
• Citlalli Moreno-Diaz, senior, agricultural science
• Karina Zamarripa, senior, apparel merchandising and management – fashion retailing option
• Dennis Silveria, junior, agricultural science.

Professor Jon C. Phillips, the chair of the Department of Agribusiness & Food Industry Management/Agricultural Science, was the team’s advisor.

In addition to working with USDA mentors, the students also participated in a session on potential USDA careers. The Cal Poly Pomona students said their interest in working for the USDA increased significantly through their participation in the competition.