Department News

CALS awarded funds for regional economic development

March 29th, 2013Cornell expertise has driven economic growth for more than 150 years. Grant funds awarded through New York’s Regional Economic Development Councils will soon boost Cornell’s economic impact by expanding job-creating infrastructure on the Ithaca campus.

A $500,000 grant will equip a specialized mini-manufacturing facility within the Food Processing and Development Laboratory (FPDL) in the Department of Food Science, which is already a statewide center for workforce training and product development.

“This will significantly expand our capability to support regional dairy plants, especially with artisan cheese and yogurt products,” said Rob Ralyea, M.S. ’98, dairy extension specialist. “The new equipment will allow the FPDL to produce marketable, packaged products, an essential step in helping new processors establish themselves in the marketplace.”

A $350,000 grant will fund construction of a state-of-the- art 8,000-square-foot research greenhouse with 16-foot-high side walls. The height, unique among Cornell greenhouses, will facilitate studies of taller crops important to Southern Tier growers, including corn, trellised peas and biofuel grasses.

“The research performed in Cornell greenhouses creates local jobs and strong agricultural communities,” said Mike Hoffmann, director of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station. “Projects lined up for the new greenhouse include breeding new field crops, vegetable varieties and biofuels adapted to New York, as well as developing recommendations for pest control and weed management needed to keep our farmers competitive.”

Cornell’s Tech campus on New York City’s Roosevelt Island also received an award of $870,030 to design a 150,000-square-foot LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum “net-zero energy” building, which will harvest as much energy from the site as it consumes. The Regional Economic Development Councils and Awards are the core of the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s strategy to harness a community-based approach to job creation.

“The small-scale processing facility and the new greenhouse will help us keep pace with the needs of New York growers and manufacturers,” said Kathryn Boor, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “We are pleased to be partnering with the state and region to build infrastructure that will yield jobs for decades to come.”