ITHACA, N.Y. — Grow-NY, a food and agriculture innovation business competition, does more than just hand out a $1 million top prize.

The contest draws businesses to the 22-county region that spans Central New York, the Finger Lakes region, and the Southern Tier as it seeks to grow a food and agriculture innovation hub.

Why agriculture? “It’s the tie that binds those three regions,” says Grow-NY Program Director Jenn Smith. With more than 40 percent of New York’s working farmland and 20,000 people employed in food and agriculture businesses, it just made sense to look there when seeking an area that could benefit from Upstate Revitalization Initiative funding. The regional economic development councils for the three regions agreed, which allowed Empire State Development to collect the funding and distribute it to Cornell University for the program.

The program hosts a yearly business competition that attracts high-growth food and agriculture startups from around the world and makes them aware of what the area has to offer.

“There are a lot of reasons for startup companies to be looking at our region,” Smith says, noting the region is within 500 miles of more than 100 million consumers.

Competition entrants must operate in a food or agriculture field including foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, and dairy products; fuels such as ethanol; fibers including animal and plant fibers; raw materials such as livestock feed; and processes or systems to improve development, growth, production, distribution, delivery, or processing.

Entrants must be early stage and have a scalable business model. Winners must commit to operating in at least one of the three regions for at least 12 months — and agree to repay the award if they don’t meet that requirement.

While the criteria are strict, winners can walk away with a hefty prize, Smith says. The competition awards a $1 million top price, two $500,000 prizes, and four $250,000 prizes.

Last year, more than 300 companies applied for Grow-NY. Applications this year opened on May 16 and will close on July 1. After that, 10 panels of three members each will work their way through the applications and each panel will pick two eligible entrants to move forward.

Grow-NY essentially serves as an accelerator program, and the 20 finalists spend the first three months going through a business development phase, Smith says.

A final summit takes place Nov. 15-16 where the finalists get to pitch their businesses and the judges select a winner.

In the four years since Grow-NY started, 21 startup companies have moved forward with their plans in New York, bringing in $65 million in follow-up funding and creating more than 200 jobs, Smith notes.

Last year’s winner Every Body Eat of Chicago committed to establishing a wet allergen-free processing facility in the region to make allergy-free versions of things like dips. The company manufactures and sells foods free of 14 common allergens and corn.

“We don’t have something like that in Central New York,” Smith notes. Every Body Eat plans to act as a co-packing facility, providing an opportunity for existing small companies to add allergy-free products and even for people to create new companies.

“We call that feeding two birds with one stone,” Smith says.

The counties included in the Grow-NY (www.grow-ny.com) region are Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego counties in the Central New York region; Genesee Livingston, Monroe, Orleans, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming, and Yates counties in the Finger Lakes; and Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, and Tompkins counties in the Southern Tier.