Empire State Producers EXPO Offering Scholarships, Expanded Content

December 8, 2021/Ryan Maher

Update: Status of the EXPO being offered in-person is pending given the ongoing pandemic. Check the Expo website for the most up to date info.

This year’s Empire State Producers EXPO is returning to an in-person event from January 11 to 13, 2022, at the Syracuse OnCenter, following all local and state health and safety guidance. This annual conference serves NYS vegetable and fruit growers and gathers almost 1,000 attendees over 3 days, offering educational workshops on a broad range of topics and an expansive trade show featuring ag support and supply businesses.

New this year, programming on Thursday, January 13, will be focused on workshops of interest to small-scale and beginning farmers and produce farms using organic and ecologically based management. Production-centered sessions will cover: pests and disease, high tunnels, organic apples, cut flowers, organic alliums, agroforestry, cover crops for weed management, and biocontrol for managing insects.

The Cornell Small Farms Program has organized soil health sessions, including “Strategies for Small Farms” which features mulching, tarping, and cover cropping, and “No-Till in Rolled Cover Crops” which covers both veg transplants and soybeans and dry beans.

Also, registration scholarships are available for beginning and historically underserved farmers. There are up to 50 scholarships to help cover Thursday’s registration. New-to-EXPO farmers who have never attended may also apply. The 1-page scholarship applications are now available online, and can be returned by email to sr43@cornell.edu or by FAX to 315-787-2216, attention Steve Reiners. To request a paper copy or fill out an application by phone, call 585-993-0775. Priority will be given to applicants who submit applications by December 15, and applications received after will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Applicants will be notified of their selection status and follow-up registration steps on or before January 3, 2022.

Explore the full conference schedule and register at the Empire State Producers EXPO website.

Ryan Maher

Ryan began with the SFP in the summer of 2013 and focuses on research and extension in soil health practices for vegetables. He is a Baltimore native with family and educational ties to CNY. After graduating from SUNY-ESF in 2003 he spent two summers training on diversified vegetable farms, first in SW Oregon and then in the Boston metro area. In 2007, he graduated from Iowa State with an MS in Sustainable Agriculture focusing on soils in native grassland restorations. He spent five years with the USDA-ARS in St. Paul MN, coordinating research on nutrient cycling in perennial forage crops. Ryan, his wife Jackie, and daughters Gia and Olive are happy to settle in CNY and enjoy the food, farms, forested hills, and water of the Finger Lakes region.
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