The Cornell Vegetable Program Specialists work together with Cornell faculty and extension educators statewide to address the issues that impact the vegetable industry. Our Specialists have varying areas of expertise but work as a team to provide educational programs and information to commercial growers, processors and agri-business professionals in our region.

Julie Kikkert

Team Leader, Extension Vegetable Specialist

Areas of Interest: Processing Crops
Crops: Snap Beans, Dry Beans, Beets, Carrots, Peas, Sweet Corn

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Robert Hadad

Extension Vegetable Specialist

Areas of Interest: Food Safety, Western-Region Fresh Market Vegetables, Marketing, Organic
Crops: Asparagus, Cucumbers, Ethnic Vegetables, Garlic, Horseradish, Lettuce / Leafy Greens, Melons, Parsnips, Pumpkins / Gourds, Radishes, Rutabaga, Squash - Summer, Squash- Winter, Sweet Corn, Turnips

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Christy Hoepting

Extension Vegetable Specialist

Areas of Interest: Field Research, Pesticide Training
Crops: Broccoli, Cabbage, Garlic, Onions

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Judson Reid

Extension Vegetable Specialist

Areas of Interest: Greenhouse/High Tunnel Production, Small Farming Operations, Eastern-Region Fresh Market Vegetables
Crops: Cucumbers, Eggplant, Lettuce / Leafy Greens, Peppers, Tomatoes

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Darcy Telenko

Extension Vegetable Specialist

Areas of Interest: Western-Region Fresh Market Vegetables, Weed Management, Climate Change Resiliency, Soil Health
Crops: Cucumbers, Eggplant, Lettuce / Leafy Greens, Melons, Pumpkins / Gourds, Squash - Summer, Squash- Winter, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes

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CANCELLED: Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) / Harmonized GAPs Farm Food Safety Training

September 26 - September 27, 2017
9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Salamanca, NY

This event has been cancelled due to low registration numbers. Farm food safety is common-sense practices organized to assist farmers to improve their skill set to continue to grow safe and healthy food.

Day One of this training will be an educational training on farm food safety principles and practices to provide the background and information for farmers to understand how to minimize the risk of food born disease contamination. Day Two will be for those who want help with writing a farm food safety plan.

Pickle Variety Twilight Meeting

September 26, 2017
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Ransomville, NY

Vegetable growers are invited to tour an on-farm plot of early generation Cornell downy mildew resistant pickle breeding lines. Dr. Michael Mazourek, Professor of Plant Breeding, and lab members, will be on site to walk growers through the plot and review plant selections. All growers that attend will be an integral part of helping make selections for the next generation of pickle varieties released!

Season Extension - Stretching Tomato Season and Winter Greens

October 4, 2017
4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Allegany, NY

What do you need to do to stretch out your high tunnel tomato season or establish a profitable crop of winter greens? Meeting the full season's nutritional demands of tomatoes under organic management is challenging. Juggling diverse succession crops and keeping the tunnel profitable year round adds an extra level of difficulty. 

Produce Donations for Hurricane Relief

The ENY Commercial Horticulture Program is leading an effort to collect pallets of produce to send down to TX and FL for hurricane relief. Feeding American is handling the transportation. "Hard" crops accepted:

• apples
• onions
• cabbage
• potatoes
• winter squash
• any other crop that withstand no refrigeration for a week

Empire State Producers EXPO Proceedings Available

Proceedings from the Empire State Producers EXPO conference from 2011-2017 are available online.