Second CDA Governor's Award for Ag Exporting
The second winner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture's third annual Governor's Award for Ag Exporting is for the New-To-Export Award. CDA International Marketing Specialist John Addison shares details about the second export award winner.Addison: "For the New-toExport, we were looking for something unusual and a little bit off the beaten path. We picked Montanya Rum. They are a small, woman-owned distillery in Crested Butte. They had to overcome adversity. They're not on the I-25 corridor. They are not on the Front Range which makes transportation very difficult for them. In a short period time, they've actually managed to get into four export markets — the company is only nine-years-old. To get into Asia, to get into Europe and to go into Canada — so that is three main hemispheres in such a short time. That is a pretty outstanding achievement."
Addison continues with additional hurdle that the company had to overcome which took ingenuity and that was the bulk of shipping glass bottles internationally.
Addison: "By use of innovation she came up with an idea to use Spain — to ship bulk to Spain and have a company there bottle it for her. What does that do? Well, that immediately takes her product and makes it very price competitive in a tough market."
This award — as well as the Experienced Exporter Award — will be presented at the Governor's Forum on Agriculture next Wednesday in Denver.