Laura McDermott

Laura McDermott is the Regional Berry Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extensions Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture (ENYCH) program. As the berry specialist, she assists commercial small fruit growers with a wide variety of concerns including pest management, production system questions, marketing and food safety concerns, etc. She also works with the Cornell faculty on applied research that benefits the berry industry in New York State and the northeast United States. 

Laura received her B.S. degree in Plant Science from Cornell University in 1982 and her M.S. degree in Fruit Crops from the University of Florida in 1988. Laura started working as a tree fruit scout with CCE in Washington County in 1989 and then transitioned to a general horticulture educator role that same year. In 2007, she joined a regional program that morphed into the current ENYCH team supported by 17 counties in eastern New York. Her work for Extension has included:

• Ornamental horticulture 
• Natural resources
• Commercial vegetable and fruit crops and
• Consumer horticulture

She is also a member of the Cornell Climate Smart farming team and is interested in how our changing climate will impact berry production systems in the future. 

Laura and her husband John live in Hebron, NY where they operate Seldom Still Farm, a small thoroughbred broodmare operation. Laura loves to ski, travel and garden.

Affiliations:

• New York State and National Association of County Agricultural Agents, NYSACAA and NACAA
• North American Strawberry Growers Association
• New York State Berry Growers Association
• North American Raspberry and Blackberry Association