Cornell Cooperative Extension

From using drones to track nutrient management in upstate corn fields to working with Head Start programs in Harlem, Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) interns had a busy summer impacting communities across New York State. Along the way, they learned the value extension brings to applied research and the important role Cornell plays as New York’s land grant university.

Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva is poised to expand its food development and technology commercialization capabilities with $1 million in new state funding.

For many current and prospective pork producers, raising the pigsis the easy part. Knowing how the meat is cut and the sausage is made is not always as instinctive. Helping them figure out that piece of the puzzlewas a recent pork processing and marketing class co-organized by SUNY Cobleskill and Cornell Cooperative Extension’s (CCE) Harvest New York economic development and sustainability program.

Through its New York Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN), CCE provides boots-on-the-ground support in times of disaster, including the drought currently gripping a large portion of the state. Much of the communications heavy lifting is coordinated through the All-Hazards Response Team Ag Sentinel dashboard, an online tool is tied into the statewide emergency response network.  

Arlene Wilson will be the Honoree in the Board Leadership Award category at the 2016 Greater Rochester Awards in October.

While the consumer appetite for locally grown and sourced foods is at an all-time high, not all farmers have mastered how to access all-important distribution and delivery systems. To help bridge that gap, the Cornell Cooperative Extension Agriculture and Community Development program work team recently hosted a two-day workshop for CCE educators and other agriculture support entities who work with mid to large scale producers across New York State.

The van, a farmer’s market on wheels, brings locally grown fruits and vegetables to the North End as part of an effort to make healthy foods more accessible to local residents.

Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management extension educators Bobbie Severson and Dan Welch were honored for their service in July by the National Association of County Agricultural Agents.

CCE Intern Lindsey Chamberlain: I am very excited to be working with the Nutrient Management Spear Program this summer, because the work we do here involves crop plants (which I love to study) and helps provide information for dairy farmers throughout New York.

Nearly 380 middle and high school students from 42 New York counties streamed across campus June 28-30 to launch rockets, dissect mouse embryos, calibrate watershed models, program robots and learn what it takes to create a sustainable future.