New York already ranks second in greenhouse vegetable production, according to 2012 numbers from the United States Department of Agriculture. In that year, the state had 435 operations with 114 covered acres, with wholesale value on those vegetables of $27 million.
“I am particularly excited about the fact that three contiguous regions won the [Upstate Revitalization Initiative (URI) funding] competition and that all three regions prioritized agriculture,” said Prof. Kathryn Boor, dean of Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). “A focus on agriculture makes so much sense for central New York. We have land, water, educated and progressive producers, research and development centers at Cornell in Ithaca and at Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, and a large, sophisticated consuming public all along our east coast. This public is increasingly interested in purchasing tasty, local food.”
The Finger Lakes region, including Rochester, and central New York, including Syracuse, were the other winners in the $1.5 billion giveaway of funds liberated by New York State from the big banks in a $6 billion-plus settlement making amends for the 2008 recession.