Two long-time research farm managers — with a combined 70 years of dedication to Cornell — retired this year, after careers spent facilitating research that has strengthened New York’s food system and agricultural industry.
Steve McKay, former manager of Homer C. Thompson Vegetable Research Farm in Freeville, NY, retired in April after 38 years of service, all at the Thompson Research Farm. Paul Stachowski ’79, MPS ’91, former supervisor of Musgrave Research Farm in Aurora, NY, retired in February after 32 years of service, including work in vegetable and field crops, weed and soil sciences, and 14 years as supervisor of Musgrave farm. Thompson and Musgrave are two of the nine research farms across New York state operated by the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station (Cornell AES).
“To be a good research farm manager, you need to know how to manage crops, how to fix machinery, how to manage pests and weeds, but you also need to have an understanding of the unusual expectations that come along with research,” said Margaret Smith ’78, Ph.D. ’82, associate dean and director of Cornell AES. “Paul and Steve are both phenomenal at this: always responsive, helpful, and willing to work with researchers to meet our needs.”