2018 FDRS Student Food Marketing Challenge Call for Participation

The 2018 Annual Meeting of the Food Distribution Research Society will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Arlington, Virginia, from September 14th – September 18th 2018.  The conference will be held in conjunction with United States Department of Agriculture, Farm Credit, Farmers Market Coalition, and National Value-Added Conference under the umbrella of the “2018 Direct Agricultural Marketing Summit.”

The Student Food Marketing Challenge Competition will be held on September 15th. The competition will provide students with the opportunity to play the role of consultants for an industry client, as they apply their knowledge of food distribution, marketing, management, economics, and merchandising to a real world problem. Details about the client and case challenge will be disclosed to teams two weeks in advance of the competition.  Representatives from the company will give an overview of the challenge and conduct team interviews on the day of the competition. The first round of presentations will occur on Saturday afternoon (September 15^th), in which teams will compete to give a bid presentation to the company’s executive team during the final round on Saturday evening.    

Teams can consist of 3 to 5 undergraduate and masters-level students, however the majority of the team members must be undergraduate students. Registration fees are $350 and teams should register for the competition by August 17, 2018. Registration includes attendance to all FDRS case events.

For more information, please contact the VP of Student Programs, Lurleen Walters, at lurleen.walters@msstate.edu and Assistant VP of Student Programs, Elizabeth Canales, at elizabeth.canales@msstate.edu or visit https://www.fdrsinc.org/ and https://localfoodeconomics.com/agsummit/.