*
*Adapted from CCE NYS and CCESC Plans of Work
• Assure long-term viability and well-being of the agricultural/horticultural industry and rural Sullivan County. • Assist producers, horticulture businesses, and natural resource managers to optimize production management and improve profitability and sustainability in accordance with their goals. • Boost Sullivan County agricultural production. • Improve capacity to meet growing food demand. • Foster innovation in fighting hunger by addressing food insecurity in vulnerable populations. • Promote economically and environmentally sound products and practices, and safer and healthier products. • Increase the use of sustainable practices to result in improved or protected soil, air, and water quality and production of high quality and safe food and fiber. • Improve soil health and productivity, resulting in increased farm profitability and improved environmental quality.
What is Extension in Sullivan County? Technical Assistance Direct staff-to-producer problem solving occurs at the Extension Education Center, the Catskills Kitchen, and at farm businesses. Staff scout crops for pests; identify disease; test soil samples; research food safety regulations, business planning, and finance opportunities; and assist with livestock management, site selection, and more. The team fields over 1,000 technical assistance inquiries annually.
Applied Research Real world experiments are run to discover solutions to challenges of pest, manure, and nutrient management. The Western Bean Cutworm trapping project, in collaboration with NYS IPM Program Livestock and Field Crop Work Team and Extension Educators from across NYS, has had another successful season of monitoring for WBC in preparation to alert growers to potential infestations during the growing season. Trapping locations were set up at Weiss Dairy Farm and Peters Dairy Farm to track the flight of the pest across Sullivan County.
Education Workshops, webinars, and peer-to-peer networking groups provide forums for producers to learn about rules and regulations; crop and livestock production and management techniques; integrated pest management; farm business financing; risk management; value-added production; diversification; labor practices; hay, soil, and manure management, and more. In addition to Extension staff, Cornell and other university faculty, USDA, NYS Ag and Markets, Small Business Administration mentors, farm business entrepreneurs and other experts guest lecturer in Sullivan County. Workshops happen in the classroom, the CCE Sullivan greenhouse, high tunnel, and teaching gardens, and on farm sites to provide a variety of hands-on learning experiences in practical settings.
SULLIVAN COUNTY AG REPORT Page 5
CORNELL RESOURCES FOR FARMERS
CCE SULLIVAN'S STRATEGIC GOALS
