UW-Platteville Students Pitch Pest-Control Innovation at National Competition

Students in the National Agri-Marketing Association Club at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's School of Agriculture recently competed in the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) Student Marketing Competition in St. Louis, presenting a marketing plan for HerdWave, a proposed ultrasonic device designed to attach to cattle collars and repel flies and other pests.

The UW-Platteville team competed against 26 universities from across the United States and Canada. Before developing its marketing plan, the club received product approval from the competition board. Students then conducted research, wrote a five-page executive summary submitted before the competition and prepared a presentation for a panel of judges.

The UW-Platteville student presentation team included Clay Cardoza, Jorian Breidenstein, Holly Daly, Brooke Yecoshenko, Payton Bunger, Eloise Rohloff and Luke Burds. Mia Dauphin contributed to the team's research. Dr. Lucie Kadjo and Dr. Kelvin Amon served as advisers and accompanied the students to the conference.

In addition to presenting their plan, students networked with other teams and agriculture industry professionals. The experience offered hands-on marketing practice, opportunities to build professional connections and experience developing public speaking and communication skills.

"One of the best parts of the trip was watching other schools present," Rohloff said. "We were really impressed by their ideas and how they brought them to life," she stated. "We came away with inspiration for next year."

The UW-Platteville NAMA Club thanks SUFAC, the Doug and Jean Buhler Student Travel Grant and GROWMARK for sponsoring the trip.

Information for this release provided by Dr. Lucie Kadjo and Eloise Rohloff.