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A view of the CFVC Pilot Plant.

Seneca Foods Foundation Pilot Plant

The Seneca Foods Foundation Pilot Plant in Geneva, NY, is a unique processing facility designed for food businesses of all sizes to facilitate product development and scale up new or optimized food products.

The Pilot Plant provides the facilities and experience our clients need to:

  • Develop product formulations that scale accordingly.
  • Create robust production methods.
  • Ensure long-term food safety.

We tailor each process workflow and product to the clients' expectations, while remaining aware of the next steps in the commercialization process, to choose processes and equipment that are ultimately transferable to a manufacturing or co-packing facility.

In recognition of the 75-year relationship between Seneca Foods and Cornell AgriTech, the Seneca Foods Foundation has announced a $10 million gift to the Cornell Food Venture Center (CFVC), the largest gift in Cornell AgriTech history. The gift will further support the CFVC's work to help food entrepreneurs and producers of all sizes bring their products to market and grow the food economy in New York state and beyond. 
 
Half of the gift will endow the CFVC and its state-of-the-art pilot plant, now named the Seneca Foods Foundation Pilot Plant. The other half will endow the Seneca Foods Foundation Professor and Director of the Food Venture Center, a role currently held by Olga Padilla-Zakour. 
 
Seneca Foods was founded by Arthur Wolcott '49 in Dundee, N.Y. months after graduating from Cornell. Now a $1.5 billion publicly traded company headquartered in Fairport, N.Y., Seneca Foods is a leading producer of packaged fruits and vegetables, sourcing produce from over 1,600 American farms. 

 

Contact Us

man standing with arms crossed in black shirt outside
Roger Morse

Manager, Seneca Foods Foundation Pilot Plant

Food Science

Cornell AgriTech

Roger Morse
man in black shirt in front of lab equipment
George Howick

Technician III

Food Science

Cornell AgriTech

George Howick
  • gh342 [at] cornell.edu
man in light grey shirt standing outside with arms crossed
Bob Martin

Technician III

Food Science

Cornell AgriTech

Bob Martin
  • rm822 [at] cornell.edu

Collaborating facilities

Pilot Plant technologies, capabilities and pricing

5,112

The number of hours spent consulting Pilot Plant clients in 2023

38

The number of companies that worked on product trials in the Pilot Plant in 2023

300+

The number of services provided to clients by Pilot Plant staff in 2023

668+

Clients/businesses served by CFVC in 2022-2023.

2,000

Samples analyzed for safety and stability by CFVC in 2022-2023

40,000+

Commercial food products brought to market with help from the CFVC since 2000.

The clients we serve

A product line of bags and glass jars of seasonings with yellow labels.
Small business owners and established food companies

Clients who have a food product they are producing on a small scale, looking to scale up or established companies looking to develop new products or processes. Goals may be to identify the most suitable production process and equipment or the latest cutting-edge equipment or processes.

Colorful food in jars
Academic researchers

Clients looking to conduct research and contribute to the body of knowledge surrounding food science, process development, and robust production, with the goal to provide a reliable answer to a specific question.

Man stirs melted chocolate
Food entrepreneurs and startups

Clients who may have a concept, idea, or already a prototype for a new food product but require expertise in product development and food safety. The goals may be to create a reproducible process or to optimize the texture, appearance, color, taste, or shelf-life of their product.

Explore our Facilities

A group of people working inside the Cornell Food Venture Center Pilot Plant.
Cornell Food Venture Center Pilot Plant
A steam kettle in the Food Venture Center Pilot Plant, at Cornell AgriTech.
A man wearing a hairnet pouring ground corn into a machine.
food science pilot plant
pilot plant showing food processing equipment
a lab with measuring equipment
Machinery inside the CFVC Pilot Plant

Our 10,000-square-foot facility is built for a wide range of food and beverage manufacturing.

The Seneca Foods Foundation Pilot Plant is equipped with everything clients needs to make their final food/beverage product in one location, from starting materials to a final packaged product.

A steam kettle inside the Seneca Foods Foundation Pilot Plant, one of the many pieces of commercial-grade equipment available for use.

Loading ingredients into a Hebenstreit single-screw cooking extruder, among the newest pieces of technology available in the Seneca Foods Foundation Pilot Plant.

Use of the Seneca Foods Foundation Pilot Plant is available by the hour, half-day and full-day.

Most of our equipment is on wheels and we often assemble specific production areas based on the client’s needs.

Adjacent to the main floor, our analytical lab is for performing fast, accurate measurements; most commonly to determine pH, Brix, moisture content or water activity during production runs.

Equipment inside the Seneca Foods Foundation Pilot Plant.