This all day event provides 2 near-identical programs available on the West and East sides of Rochester on consecutive days.  We are featuring an intensive Precision Honeycrisp management school in addition to updates on Labor, Fruit Farm Business Summary, as well as pests and diseases, including European Cherry Fruit Fly.  

Save the Date for our upcoming 2020 Fruit & Vegetable Conference at the Desmond Hotel & Conference Center in Albany, NY.

Save the Date for our upcoming 2020 Fruit & Vegetable Conference at the Desmond Hotel & Conference Center in Albany, NY.

Save the Date for our upcoming 2020 Fruit & Vegetable Conference at the Desmond Hotel & Conference Center in Albany, NY.

Click details for temporary enforcement guidance on Annual Fit Testing.     

- CANCELLED - In a collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension Wayne County, Wayne County Farm Bureau and the Finger Lakes Occupational Health Services (FLOHS), we are offering the opportunity for Fit Test and Training provided by the FLOHS.

Join Our Upcoming Valent Pome Fruit Portfolio Webinars

Each webinar will cover timely topics to help prepare you for the upcoming apple season. Each webinar will include an expert panel as well as time for questions and answers.

 The expert panel will include: 

• Phil Schwallier, Michigan State University
• Greg Clarke, Senior Field Market Development Specialist, Valent
• Poliana Francescatto, Valent BioSciences
• Eric Ott, Field Market Development Specialist, Valent
• Valent Territory Sales Reps

UPDATE: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has approved a revised Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Special Permit Training (SPT) Program for 2020. This will accommodate current restrictions on public meetings, recommendations for social distancing, and projected delays in H2A guest worker processing.  Our previously announced SPT in-person training sessions scheduled in Wayne and Orleans counties for April 7 and 8 have been cancelled. 

  Although we will provide more details on how the training will look soon, for now I want to stress to everyone that trainings will be offered this spring, and that the pre-registration deadline of March 30^th is especially critical this year.

View Details for more info.

Special Permits (SP) will only be issued for specific pesticide labels and SP trainees will have to pass a test. This will relieve the certified pesticide applicator from "on-site within voice contact" supervision of non-certified pesticide applicators when they are handling federally-restricted-use pesticides for which they hold a Special Permit.

Workers requiring general pesticide training/Agricultural Worker Protection Standard Handler training who do not need special permits are welcome to take the class; they will not be tested and will receive a course participation certificate.

UPDATE: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has approved a revised Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Special Permit Training (SPT) Program for 2020. This will accommodate current restrictions on public meetings, recommendations for social distancing, and projected delays in H2A guest worker processing.  Our previously announced SPT in-person training sessions scheduled in Wayne and Orleans counties for April 7 and 8 have been cancelled. 

  Although we will provide more details on how the training will look soon, for now I want to stress to everyone that trainings will be offered this spring, and that the pre-registration deadline of March 30^th is especially critical this year.

View Details for more info.

Special Permits (SP) will only be issued for specific pesticide labels and SP trainees will have to pass a test. This will relieve the certified pesticide applicator from "on-site within voice contact" supervision of non-certified pesticide applicators when they are handling federally-restricted-use pesticides for which they hold a Special Permit.

Workers requiring general pesticide training/Agricultural Worker Protection Standard Handler training who do not need special permits are welcome to take the class; they will not be tested and will receive a course participation certificate.

THIS IN-PERSON EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED BUT A REVISED PROGRAM HAS BEEN DEVELOPED. THE DATE AND TIME OF THE REVISED PROGRAM WILL BE DETERMINED SOON. 

Special Permits (SP) will only be issued for specific pesticide labels and SP trainees will have to pass a test. This will relieve the certified pesticide applicator from "on-site within voice contact" supervision of non-certified pesticide applicators when they are handling federally-restricted-use pesticides for which they hold a Special Permit.

Workers requiring general pesticide training/Agricultural Worker Protection Standard Handler training who do not need special permits are welcome to take the class; they will not be tested and will receive a course participation certificate.

Got commercial vegetable questions? Get LIVE answers every Thursday night from 7:00-8:00pm! This event is hosted on Zoom or you can call in for farmer-driven production conversations, dynamic troubleshooting with CCE Specialists, and photo diagnostics of crop issues and pests. Learn how to identify the pests affecting your crops.

To prevent Zoombombing, register here online and the Zoom link will be in the email confirmation that is sent to you. Growers can also join us by calling 1-646-518-9805, meeting ID: 450 507 028.

Do you have a photo of your crop that you want help diagnosing? Email it to us in advance and we'll discuss it during the meeting. 

Weekly Berry Office Hours held on Thursdays at 12:30pm via Zoom or on your phone.  Format will be a short, in-depth presentation about a production issue followed by Q&A.

Join in each week, view the recordings that will be posted.

Beginning on Tuesday, August 25th at 4:00 PM EST, Cornell CALS and CCE will host office hours for farmers and packers to answer any questions they might have about managing and responding to protect the farm workforce during COVID-19.  Participants will be able to log in from a computer or call in from a phone to ask questions or just to listen. A panel of experts will be available to answer questions immediately, questions that the experts cannot answer right away will be recorded, studied and answered later. The next 6 weeks are a critical time for the farm workforce as seasonal harvest ramps up, so the office hours will repeat every Tuesday at 4:00 PM EST through the end of September. Look for log in information and phone numbers in coming news releases and watch this website: www.agworkforce.cals.cornell.edu.

Please join us for our annual winter advisory meeting where you can spend time with the Lake Ontario Fruit Program team reviewing the team's educational programs and most importantly providing us feedback. Advisory meetings are important for the team to ensure that our programs and research are aligned with the industry's needs.

Onboarding Seasonal Farm Employees - Get Organized for 2021!

• Do you bring groups of seasonal employees onto your farm?  Are you already up to your eyeballs when they arrive?
• Every year do you say that NEXT year you will be more organized when they arrive?
• Do you find it challenging to keep up with all of the regulatory and paperwork requirements for bringing on a new employee?

Then Onboarding Seasonal Farm Employees is for YOU!

CCE Eastern NY Commercial Hort Team, CCE Lake Ontario Fruit Program and the CCE Ag Workforce Development Program, have a planning guide and training programs to help you prepare your farm for next year's seasonal employees.  Our motto is: Safe, Productive and Engaged from Day 1!

We are holding the processing commodity advisory meetings virtually on Zoom since we are not able to hold an in-person meeting this year due to COVID-19 safety restrictions. On Tuesday, December 15, the snap bean meeting will be held in the morning, with the pea and sweet corn meeting in the afternoon. The beet and carrot meeting will be held the morning of Wednesday, December16. You can log-in with the same Zoom link for any or all sessions. The meetings will cover a review of the 2020 growing season, reports of funded projects, and discussion of research priorities for the coming year. 

Cost: FREE!

Pre-registration is required. Registration will grant you access to all three sessions/meetings. After you register, you will receive an email a few days before the conference with a link to connect to the conference via Zoom. REGISTER HERE NOW
 
The conference will be held using an online videoconferencing platform called Zoom. Don't have Zoom? Sign up for free at Zoom  and click on "Sign Up, It's Free"

DEC credits are available. In order to receive DEC credits, you have to pre-register, enter your DEC ID number AND upload a photo of your DEC ID license (or email a picture or photocopy of your DEC ID license to Julie Kikkert at least 1 day prior to the event). You can only receive credit if BOTH of those are submitted and match. It is also required to have your Zoom log in name match the name on your DEC ID. If you need to change your name in Zoom, hover over your window and click on the three (•••) dots in the upper righthand corner. Select "rename" to change your screen name displayed. 
 
CCA credits are also available after each talk. Please download the certified crop advisor app prior to the conference