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Founder. Farmer. Entrepreneur. Storyteller.
From a 150-year-old family dairy farm to a growing consumer brand and agritourism destination. Monica speaks about entrepreneurship, product development, agritourism, brand building, and turning a traditional family business into something new.
Send a RequestMonica Cody is a first-generation farmer, engineer, and entrepreneur. She grew up in a multi-generational Italian-American restaurant family, then married into a fourth-generation Upstate New York farming family. In 2021, she began experimenting with lavender on a corner of the family's historic dairy farm in Cazenovia, and turned it into Farmstead 1868, a multi-channel business selling farm-grown and farm-inspired products through retail, wholesale, online, farmers markets, and agritourism.
Before Farmstead, Monica built a career as a bioengineer and product developer, including experience at Kimberly-Clark and Bristol-Myers Squibb. She brings that analytical background to every conversation, and she is equally comfortable talking about the messy, human side of entrepreneurship and running a farm-based business while raising a family.
Inc. 500 Female Founders
2026 Honoree
Small Business of the Year
2025 Madison County
SCORE National Finalist
Small Business Virtual Pitch
Founder & Host
Cazenovia Lavender Festival
A partial list of the universities, entrepreneurship programs, and organizations that have brought Monica in.
Cornell Cooperative Extension
Farm Enterprise Development
Colgate University
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
WISE Women's Business Center
CNY Entrepreneurs Panel
SCORE
National Pitch Finalist
NY Agriculture In The Classroom
State Conference Keynote
NY Agritourism Conference
Lessons From the Field
Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers
Breaking Beyond Borders
2024 Food & Farm Experience
Farm Bureau
Real events, real audiences. From keynote stages to intimate barn talks, Monica brings the same energy to a room of ten as she does a room of two hundred.
Every topic below can flex from a 20-minute keynote to a half-day workshop. Custom topics welcome. Speaking topics can be tailored to your audience, organization, and event goals.
How to turn what you already have into something customers actually want.
Monica shares how she identified an opportunity within a traditional dairy operation, tested a new crop and business model, and built an entirely new revenue stream around it.
How to introduce something new without abandoning what came before.
A practical look at adding value-added products, agritourism, events, education, and new revenue streams to an established agricultural business.
Sometimes the best business idea isn't the one you started with.
Monica talks candidly about recognizing opportunities, experimenting, changing direction, and building a business while navigating the uncertainty that comes with entrepreneurship.
What actually happens between "I have an idea" and "Someone is going to pay for this."
Drawing on her engineering and product-development background, Monica speaks about product creation, testing, branding, packaging, customer feedback, and bringing physical products to market.
A product isn't always what customers are buying.
Monica explores how Farmstead 1868 uses story, place, experience, and emotion to turn lavender products into a recognizable brand, and how small businesses can compete without the biggest budget.
Agritourism can be more than opening the farm gate.
Monica shares lessons from building Farmstead 1868 into a destination through festivals, workshops, wellness experiences, farm tours, events, and seasonal programming.
How rural businesses can think beyond traditional markets.
Monica discusses finding new customers, developing value-added products, creating partnerships, and using creativity to build economic opportunity in rural communities.
You don't have to follow the obvious path.
Monica's journey from engineer and product developer to farmer and entrepreneur offers a real-world story about career reinvention, taking risks, and building something that didn't exist before.
You don't build a business alone.
Monica shares how partnerships with universities, agricultural organizations, tourism organizations, other farmers, local businesses, and community groups have helped Farmstead 1868 grow.
20 to 60 minute talks for conferences, associations, and corporate events.
Small-group sessions on product development, brand building, or launching a farm-based business.
Panel appearances on entrepreneurship, agriculture, women in business, or economic development.
Bring your group to the 'Stead. Half or full-day farm-based experiences in season.
Also available: podcast interviews, virtual talks, and media appearances.
Farmers looking to diversify, students figuring out their first business idea, established entrepreneurs looking for their next opportunity, and professionals considering a career pivot.
Share a few details and Monica will get back to you within one business day.
Reach out directly at info@farmstead1868.com and Monica will follow up personally.