Recently, the Cornell Hudson Valley Research Laboratory [HVRL] received $1 million from State Senator Michelle Hinchey [D-NY 41st District]. The laboratory is a public-private partnership between Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences [CALS] and local fruit and vegetable farm members of the nonprofit Farmer’s Alliance for Research and Management [FARM].

 

A press release notes that for more than 100 years, Lab scientists “have worked alongside scientists from CALS to advance fruit and vegetable production systems by evaluating varieties, fine-tuning crop management practices and evaluating pest management technologies.”

 

The Hudson Valley Research Laboratory taps “the full breadth of Cornell Resources to tailor solutions for farmers facing climate change and suburbanization [by] developing solutions for sustainability, disease and pest control, organic production and for the region’s growing wine and hard cider industry.”

 

The lab, which is located at 3357 Route 9W in Highland, was originally constructed in 1964 and was designed to support applied research for the commercial fruit industry that included research of tree fruit entomology, the study of insects, Pathology, the study of disease and injury, and Horticulture, the study of fruits, vegetable and ornamental plants.

 

The press release also notes that although the building was expanded in 1974 with minor capital improvements and renovations, it still needs to be updated, “to support modern research that requires increased levels of energy, hygiene, safety and accessibility…”

 

"Cornell faculty researchers conduct applied research in support of commercial fruit production and in return Hudson Valley farmers provide a facility to house the scientists. The farmers own and operate a 7,000 sq/ft office/laboratory and a 1,500 sq/ft cold storage and workshop building, while Cornell owns an adjacent experimental orchard and vineyard of approximately 22 acres.

 

The three goals of the renovation program are to improve the sustainability of the building concerning energy efficiency, while reducing the operating costs for growers; to improve safety and accessibility for the staff and the public; and to incorporate flexible use that can accommodate current and potential future scientific research.  

 

The $1million renovation plan calls for wrapping the main building with insulated panels ($140,000), replacing the 50+ year old roof ($178,553), replacing the flooring throughout the building while checking for asbestos ($155,957) replacing lab benches with a modern modular system that includes new built-in fume hoods in each lab ($207,234), dedicating a room for cold storage and deep freeze tissue storage, insect rearing and an upgrade of the electrical circuitry ($15,000), installation of a high efficiency heating and air-conditioning system ($194,000), modernize the electrical supply to meet current scientific research demands ($40378) and adding solar panels on the roof ($68.878).

 

Jared Buono, Director of the HVRL, said 100 years ago the fruit farmers in the Mid Hudson region, said, “we are at the front line for pests and diseases in New York, so we would really like our own environmental station and in 1923 this place was established and originally Cornell scientists came down here and were housed at Vassar College.” He said they eventually had their own lab in Poughkeepsie but it burned down in the 1960s but the local farmers were not deterred and gathered enough funds to build a small lab in Highland in 1964. In 1994 the entomology lab was remodeled, but nothing since then.

 

“So now we’re looking to set up for the next 100 years of research in the Hudson Valley,” he said. “How do we future-proof this lab and give these scientists a place where they can have a higher level of hygiene, a more powerful energy supply and to have better labs and that’s what we’re working on.”

 

In a subsequent interview, Hinchey said she used funds that are allotted to her office to give to the lab, “because in the New York State budget there is a limited amount of money that can go around and what we presented today is capital.”

 

Hinchey said in tapping her own office’s funding she tries to make sure that the money is spread around equally to meet requests that are submitted to her office, noting that the funds help important capital projects in her district.

 

Hinchey said she has been in communication with Jared Buono at HVRL about the importance of the agricultural research that is being done at the lab and the critical need for renovations to meet their needs in the future.

“What is really exciting is not only the work that is happening here now, which is critical, but what more they will be able to do, especially as we see more invasive species because of changing weather patterns.”

 

Hinchey said the work being done here better informs what she does at the state level, “in our policy, legislation and in our funding. What I’ll be excited to do once the capital improvements have been made, is to bring more colleagues here to see what is being done on the ground; when we’re talking about climate, environment and agriculture all working together.”

 

Hinchey stressed the huge economic importance of agriculture in New York, “as well as agriculture’s role in CLCPA [Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act] in helping to sequester carbon and helping us meet our climate goals. Agriculture is a specific element in the CLCPA to help us reach our goals by 2030 and beyond that through scaling.”

 

Hinchey said as we begin using less pesticides than were used in the past, “it doesn’t mean that the pests go away, so they’re still a problem, so we have to do that research to figure out in an environmentally friendly way and in an economically viable way to do that work, which is happening here.”