Cornell Vegetable Program

Providing the New York commercial vegetable industry with the knowledge to profitably produce and market safe and healthful vegetable crops

A field of bell pepper plants planted on plastic mulch beds. Wooden stakes are pounded into the beds too.

Regional Agriculture Team

A partnership between Cornell University and CCE associations in 14 counties

Our Region
Four people sitting on top of a boulder and two people standing in front of it.

Focus Areas

Educational programs and information for commercial vegetable growers, processors, and agri-business professionals

A green tractor planting vegetable transplants into black plastic mulched rows in a field.
Crop Production BMPs

Crop-specific research-based best management practices for production in western and central New York growing conditions.

Five orange plastic harvest bins nestled among broccoli plants, each containing a different variety of broccoli. Each bin has a yellow trial stake, laying across the harvested heads in the bin, with the name of the variety on it.
Variety Evaluation

Unbiased results from local, on-farm trials.

A small pepper transplant being held between a thumb and forefinger. On the underside of one leaf, there are three round aphid mummies.
Pest Management

Integrated pest management (insect, disease, and weed control), identifying new pests, and pest alerts.

A hand holds a ripe red tomato in the foreground. Behind it are two rows of high tunnel tomato plants and a box of harvested tomatoes. Straw mulches is between the rows.
Cultural Practices

Crop and variety selection, yield enhancement, production efficiency, soil health benefits, and season extension.

Yellow, orange, and red bell peppers and a few eggplants exiting a produce washer, gathered in a pile at the end of the conveyor. In the background is a cardboard box that says Farm Fresh Quality Produce on the side of it.
Farm Food Safety

Help growers meet Quality Assurance and Food Safety Certification Standards, including Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs).

Various vegetable crops in market baskets awaiting purchase at a produce auction.
Market Development

How to promote local foods and new crops, notify growers of new market opportunities, and encourage farm-to-chef and farm-to-school connections.

Specialists

Elizabeth Buck
Elizabeth Buck
Elizabeth Buck is a fresh market vegetable specialist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Cornell Vegetable Program, serving in the westernmost counties in New York. The fresh market produce scene in western New York is multifaceted and vibrant, reflecting the region's diversity in growers...
Robert Hadad
Robert Hadad
Robert Hadad is a vegetable specialist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Cornell Vegetable Program, working in the westernmost counties of New York State. His efforts are designed to provide growers with the best cultural methods to grow crops and to market them successfully through research...
Christy Hoepting
Christy Hoepting
Christy Hoepting is a vegetable specialist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Cornell Vegetable Program in Western New York, a position she has held since 2001. She conducts on-farm applied research projects and demonstrations, and educational programming in onions, cabbage, broccoli, and garlic...
Julie Kikkert
Julie R. Kikkert
Julie Kikkert is a vegetable crops specialist with the CCE Cornell Vegetable Program, a regional agriculture team that serves the commercial vegetable industry in a large multi-county region in the western and central parts of New York State. Dr. Kikkert earned a PhD and MS degree in horticulture...
Margie Lund
Margie Lund
Margie is a vegetable specialist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Cornell Vegetable Program, specializing in potatoes, dry beans, and vegetable storage. She works with potato and dry bean growers across a 14 county region in western New York by, Providing on-farm consultations to local growers...