Food incubator partnering with Slovak University of Agriculture

Ivana Tregenza, pictured far right, initiated an exchange between the LSU AgCenter’s Food Incubator and Slovak University of Agriculture. Photo courtesy of LSU AgCenter.

Officials from the Slovak University of Agriculture are currently in the midst of a three-week training program with the LSU AgCenter’s Food Incubator. The program is just one part of a partnership that started a year ago between the universities.

Ivana Tregenza, the LSU AgCenter’s international programs coordinator and a Czech Republic native, initiated the exchange. So far, students and faculty from each campus have visited Slovakia and Baton Rouge. The program the Slovak University was most interested in, however, was the food incubator.

With the help of incubator director Gaye Sandoz and LSU AgCenter Vice Chancellor Dr. John Russin, the Slovak University will have a “roadmap” for a potential food incubator program of its own. It would be the first of its kind in the small European country.

The university sent food scientists to LSU to “learn everything the food incubator does,” Russin says. “They’re doing hands-on work. They’ve gone to the farmers market, helped with producing and packaging … In early July, [Sandoz] and I will visit their campus, and the consultation will continue well beyond our time there.”

Slovak University’s food incubator program is in the beginning stages, Russin and Tregenza say. The program needs additional funding and logistical guidance before opening its doors. However, such a venture in Slovakia would be a big achievement, Tregenza says.

“This is a multi-year project,” she says. “We’re just starting to put the platform in place so they could open, and we’re in the beginning stages of that process. But something like this would employ a lot of people. It’s an opportunity for entrepreneurship in an area where that idea is still relatively new. It would be a huge step for the country.”