State grant will help Extension get new digital sign to promote events
File photo: This photo from July 2013 shows Extension Director Robert Batt, who was then the president of the Fair Board, and Kerri Richardson, who was then community educator for the Cornell Cooperative Extension, gearing up for 4-H Fair in Knowlesville. The Extension will soon get a new digital sign allowing the organization to list more events.
KNOWLESVILLE – The Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orleans County has been awarded a $4,535.75 to purchase and install a multicolor LED sign on the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds. The new sign will allow the Extension to better promote agriculture education and events.
State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball announced the funding on Friday. It was part of nearly $600,000 for research, promotion, and development projects to strengthen New York State’s diverse agricultural industry and spur economic growth across the state.
The funding for the Extension was approved by the Genesee Valley Regional Market Authority.
Other grants approved by the GVRMA include $300,000 to the New York State Agricultural Experimental Station in Geneva with $260,000 going to malting barley research in New York State and $40,000 dedicated to enhance the location of the Institute for Food Safety.
The Board also awarded $200,000 to the New York Wine & Grape Foundation to support its successful NY Drinks NY program, a promotional effort showcasing New York’s wine and grape industries.
In addition, the GVRMA Board awarded the following projects that will boost the promotion and marketing of New York’s agricultural industry:
• NYS Wine & Culinary Center – $15,000 for the promotion of its annual craft beer festival, a public awareness campaign to promote beer production and hops growers.
• Finger Lakes Wine Alliance – $15,000 for the promotion of NYS Rieslings in the Buffalo, Rochester, and Albany markets.
• Cornell Cooperative Extension of Monroe County – $15,000 to support Monroe County farmers in their efforts to create and promote agritourism on their farms.
• Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orleans County – $4,535.75 to purchase and install a multicolor LED sign on the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds.
• Irondequoit Farmers’ Market – $5,736.12 to develop a “Nutritional Fact Book” and promotional materials that will promote the value of fresh fruits, vegetables and plants available at the market.
• Bishop Kearney High School – $15,000 to build a vegetable garden greenhouse where students will learn the importance of sustainable agriculture and develop a deeper understanding of the food that they consume.
• City of Geneva – $11,842 to purchase an open burners range and two dry storage cages, which will be used in the City of Geneva’s KitGen, a shared culinary incubator production space for tenants.
• Homesteads for Hope – $15,000 for a construction and cost feasibility study for an Agri-Enterprise Center, which would be used as a general store, farm café, community classroom and rentable event space on Homesteads for Hope’s 55-acre farm property for young adults with autism.
“These investments in research, promotion, and business development are critical to sustaining and growing a wide range of projects that benefit the agricultural community,” Commissioner Ball said. “I thank GVRMA for their partnership, which has allowed for resources to be targeted to assisting the industry across the Genesee Valley and New York State.”
