Project to ranch sea urchins as a food source named 2025 Ag Springboard winner

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State students had the opportunity to showcase their entrepreneurial aspirations at the 2025 Ag Springboard student business pitch contest, which took place earlier this month in State College.

Sponsored by the College of Agricultural Sciences, Ag Springboard is a key event for the college’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, which fosters an entrepreneurial mindset for student success across majors and career paths.

During Ag Springboard, student teams pitch new business or nonprofit ideas to improve food, agriculture, biorenewable materials, community development or sustainability. Each student team must have at least one member enrolled in the college. Since 2011, 544 students have competed in Ag Springboard, with more than $125,000 in awards offered.

Jonathan Rabinovich, an agribusiness management major, and Axel Saavedra, a cybersecurity analytics and operations major, took home this year’s first-place award, winning a prize of $7,500. Their project, Spiky Farms, focuses on sea urchin ranching.

During their pitch, the pair explained that purple sea urchins are destroying California’s kelp forests due to overpopulation, leading to “urchin barrens” where biodiversity collapses and the urchins become inedible.

To address this ecological and economic crisis, the company proposes sea urchin ranching — removing urchins from barren zones, raising them in aquaculture facilities with proprietary feed and selling them once they are market-ready. The students have partnered with a major U.S. distributor to enter the national market through high-margin restaurant sales and expand into wholesale.

Two teams — Health Bake and Urban Coop Solutions — tied for second place, each receiving a $2,500 award.

Lexi Burnham, an agribusiness management major with a minor in corporate innovation and entrepreneurship, is Health Bake’s chief executive officer and founder. She said the company aims to revolutionize the baking aisle with in-store flour grinding stations. Health Bake offers fresh, customizable flour made from various grains, ground on demand to preserve nutrition and eliminate additives.

Customers use biodegradable, reusable bags, select their grains, choose grind consistency and receive fresh flour instantly. The business targets the growing gluten-free and locally sourced food markets. Mitzuko Zist, an aerospace engineering major, also is on the team.

Presenting the pitch for Urban Coop Solutions were Christian Crabtree, an agribusiness management major with a minor in poultry and avian science, Austin Ehrensberger, a finance major with a minor in supply chain and information systems technology, and William Caye, a dual major in biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering.

Urban Coop Solutions simplifies urban farming by offering turnkey backyard chicken coops. The team’s service includes legal compliance, installation, livestock delivery, workshops, consultations, feed subscriptions and 24/7 support. The coops are designed for low-maintenance care and feature user-friendly elements such as automated doors and easy cleaning systems.

The college’s Harbaugh Entrepreneur and Innovation Faculty Scholar, Mark Gagnon, noted that Ag Springboard provides students with experience creating and pitching business ventures.

“I am thrilled to witness our student teams develop and deliver outstanding venture presentations,” Gagnon said. “The exceptional caliber of their work was noted by our competition judges.”

Judges were Penn State faculty and alumni, business owners, and supporters of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, including Daniel Azzara, Charles Brill, Jeff Conrad, William Donley, Linda Feltman, John Finegan, Angie Raimondi, Joe Berger, Sarah Owusu, Gretchen Raybuck and Hannah Hartness.

The keynote speaker at the final judging event was Sam "Xiang" Guo, a Penn State alumnus. After starting his career in venture capital, he returned to his hometown of Lancaster to launch Silantra Asian Street Kitchen, growing it into three successful locations. Over the years, he has expanded into the brewery, bakery and real estate industries. Guo shared insights from his journey from working for others to starting his own business.

Dan and Wendy Azzara, Earl and Kay Harbaugh, and the College of Agricultural Sciences supported the Ag Springboard competition.