Patrick Hooker, Deputy Secretary for Food and Agriculture in the Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo, will attend the inaugural New York Soil Health Summit on July 18, 2018 at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY.
Hooker will deliver a morning conference welcome and join in conference sessions planned for the day. The summit, organized by the New York Soil Health project, is for farmers, researchers, agriculture service providers, government agencies, non-profits and policy-makers interested in advancing soil health efforts across the state.
Patrick Hooker earned his B.S. in agricultural education at Cornell University in 1984. By 2008 he was the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets for the state of New York. In 2011 he became director of agribusiness development for Empire State Development Corporation, where he created new markets for family farms. Hooker currently serves under the governor as deputy secretary for food and agriculture. In 2017 he received an Excellence in IPM award from the NYS IPM Program.