Outreach & Extension

More than 80 seed professionals and Cornell community members gathered on June 26 for the 2025 Cornell Seed Grower’s Field Day. The field day began with coffee and networking at the New York Seed Improvement Project (NYSIP) Foundation Seed Barn on Dryden Road in Ithaca and featured presentations by multiple faculty in the School of Integrative Plant Science on their small grain, forage and cover crop breeding research and more.

Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Fruit and Soil Health Program Work Teams held a joint meeting July 11 to tour research orchards and the Cornell Soil Health Lab for updates on the latest science from Ithaca-based faculty and staff. 

The Cornell Turfgrass Program has launched a new podcast ahead of the lawn, sports field, and golf turf-growing season. The Cornell Clippings Podcast delivers timely insights, expert advice, and research-backed strategies to help transform turfgrass into a valuable, environmental asset.

Horticulture graduate student Kensy Rodriguez-Herrera produced a series of crop management videos for cucurbit crops, such as squash, pumpkins and gourds. The videos, originally in English, are available with Spanish captions on YouTube. “The addition of Spanish captions makes the content even more impactful, reaching a broader audience, including Spanish-speaking growers and home gardeners,” said Rodriguez-Herrera. “These videos also serve as a valuable resource for extension agents, who can now share them with Spanish-speaking communities in their regions, further broadening their outreach and support.”

During the spring 2024 semester, Libby Indermaur PhD '25 was a teaching assistant in Professor Emeritus Bill Fry’s plant pathology course at the Cayuga Correctional Facility in Moravia, New York. Through the Cornell Prison Education Program (CPEP), incarcerated individuals can earn an associate’s degree, and some students aspire to eventually earn their bachelor’s. The course inspired Indemaur, who is studying plant pathology, to pursue teaching as a career.

More than 150 farmers, educators, consultants and researchers viewed the latest Cornell field crop research at 2024 Musgrave Research Farm Field Day in Aurora, N.Y., August 1.

"Attendees traveled from all over New York to get the inside scoop on our research and extension efforts," said Dan Buckley, head of the Soil and Crops Section in the School of Integrative Plant Science. "This event is one of the crown jewels of our extension programming, where we lead conversations about field crop management, on-farm experimentation, weed control, soil health, agrivoltaics and other research." 

Small farms can help build human capacity, revitalize communities, supply regional food systems, and foster ecological resilience in a changing world. Since 2001, the Cornell Small Farms Program has fostered programs that support and encourage the sustainability of diverse, thriving small farms.

Hemp is a promising crop. New markets for hemp have opened up after a recent wave of legislation. By growing, selling, and processing hemp, New York could revitalize its economy. We have assembled an interdisciplinary team of researchers and extension specialists to study how the state can move forward in developing its hemp industry.

Cornell Garden-Based Learning encompasses programs, activities, and projects in which the garden is the foundation for integrated learning and discovery across disciplines, through active and engaging real-world experiences. We are committed to the value of gardening with children, youth, adults, families and communities, focusing on plants as an avenue to human and community well-being. Horticulture Distance Learning program features gardening, permaculture and botanical illustration courses.

The Cornell Turfgrass Program delivers timely insights, expert advice, and research-backed strategies to help transform turfgrass into a valuable, environmental asset. In addition to serving sports turf, golf turf and landscaping professionals, the program also has resources to help homeowners maintain a healthy lawn with less work and fewer chemicals.

Several Cornell programs focus on weed identification and management resources to help you reduce the impact of these unwanted plants in fields, gardens, landscapes and ecosystems.

CEA is an advanced and intensive form of hydroponically-based agriculture using sophisticated lighting and environmental control systems that help make indoor farming more efficient and sustainable. See also: Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE) – a public-private partnership led by Cornell and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to integrate advanced energy-efficient LED lighting with improved environmental controls for more efficient and sustainable greenhouse production.