State awards Cornell funding for construction project at experiment station

GENEVA — New York has awarded Cornell University $4.7 million for a construction project at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva.

State Senator Michael F. Nozzolio (R–Fayette) and State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb (R–Canandaigua) announced the funding award on Thursday.

The experiment station is part of Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The project involves the reconstruction of more than 21,000 square feet of greenhouse and research facilities at the experiment station.

“Innovations pioneered in these reconstructed, state-of-the-art greenhouses will translate into tangible products that have a positive economic impact on New York’s hardworking farmers and put our region at the forefront of agricultural research and development,” Thomas Burr, director of the New York State Experiment Station, said in a news release.

In many ways, agricultural innovation begins in the controlled environment of research greenhouses, Kolb said in the release.

“Cost-saving practices, disease and pest resistant crops and valuable new plant varieties developed as a result of this project will help New York farms compete in the global, regional and local markets that characterize today’s agricultural economy,” Kolb said.

Besides experiment-station funding, Nozzolio and Kolb also secured more than $3.2 million for the construction of the Finger Lakes Viticulture Center, which will serve as a permanent location for Finger Lakes Community College’s Viticulture and Wine Technology program.

Viticulture is the science, production, and study of grapes.

The community college plans to locate the Viticulture Center at the Cornell Agricultural Technology Park, which is near the experiment station.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com