News

Wisconsin entrepreneur recognized

A Manitowoc County, Wisconsin man has been named one of six semi-finalists in the American Farm Bureau Rural Entrepreneurship Challenge. Adam Kolb of Cleveland, Wisconsin will get $10,000 for the development of a custom calf raising, grass-fed beef marketed directly to consumers, crop production and custom field work services.

A 2012 graduate of U.W. Platteville, Kolb spent two years as an ag credit analyst before becoming an agronomist with Country Visions Cooperative in Valders. In December of 2013 he started raising bull calves on his home farm, he then expanded into crop production then custom planting and cultivating. He says if the opportunity is there, he will expand his services including raising replacement dairy heifers.

Kolb says there are a lot of opportunities for young people in agriculture and encourages “anyone to get involved in agricultural organizations like Farm Bureau and use the opportunity to network with people.”

The four national finalists in the competition are:

• AccuGrain (Rose Hill, Iowa), ag tech entry, X-ray technology to inventory flowing grain in real time. Team lead: Ryan Augustine.
• AgriSync (Dallas Center, Iowa), ag tech entry, mobile customer support platform for crop farmers. Team lead: Casey Niemann.
• Farm Specific Technology (Bolivar, Tennessee), ag tech entry, no-till crimper for cover crop production. Team lead: Shawn Butler.
• Fedora Malthouse (Village of Shepherd, Michigan), value-added processing entry, malted barley production for use by craft beer brewers. Team lead: Julie Baker.

The final four will pitch their business ideas to a team of judges in front of a live audience at AFBF’s 97th Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show in January in hopes of winning the Rural Entrepreneur of the Year Award for an additional $15,000 and the People’s Choice Award for $10,000 more, totaling prize money of up to $40,000 to implement their ideas.