Land grant. The year: 1862. Congress granted thousands of acres of federally owned land to each state, with the promise that sales from the land would finance a college dedicated to knowledge with a public purpose. When Ezra Cornell and Andrew White were elected to New York's state senate in 1863, they worked (at first with existing colleges) to bring the land grant mission to New York. When their 1865 bill to found Cornell University passed the New York Legislature — it admitted its first students two years later — New York became one of a handful of states to marry a land-grant college with a private university.
Now Cornell’s “Year of the Land Grant” celebrates White and Cornell’s vision and hard work that began 150 years ago.
NYS IPM has its own unlike-most-others structure. Every state’s land-grant university hosts an integrated pest management program. What’s different here: though housed at Cornell, we’re largely funded through state law — making us doubly accountable to New York’s citizens. We tap into the amazing skills and real-world knowledge available at Cornell to serve the people of New York, with ripple effects that spread far beyond state lines. Doesn’t matter who you are — farmer, school custodian, librarian, arborist, householder — if you’ve got pests (who doesn’t?), you need the safest possible solutions. Your problems are our challenge.
Nearly 150 years into the game, Cornell’s deeply rooted land-grant mission is stronger than ever. And with more than a quarter-century of research and outreach under our belt and a network of Cornell Cooperative educators reaching every county and borough in New York, NYS IPM is a vital piece of that “stronger than ever” mission — and vision.