Rochester Business Journal Leading source of business news and information in Rochester, N.Y.

A septet of female chefs and food-and-beverage producers from the Finger Lakes region will be featured presenters at the esteemed James Beard House in Manhattan in January. The team, headed by Geneva’s Samantha Buyskes, is currently listed on the house’s list of ...

Tagged with: Autumn Stoscheck Brown Hound Downtown Claire Benjamin Eve's Cidery finger lakes FLX Hospitality Group James Beard House Linnea Shumway Lively Run Dairy Nancy Irelan Red Tail Ridge Winery Rue Claire Chocolates Samantha Buyskes Susanne Messmer Trish Aser

At least three local farms are receiving more than $100,000 each in grants from the federal government to help bring their operations up to date with renewable energy systems.  The state director for rural development announced this week that New Yorkers ...

Tagged with: agriculture Brightly Farms Kludt Brothers Panek Farms renewable energy US Department of Agriculture USDA Rural Development

When it comes to drinks, the Finger Lakes region has wine trails, beer trails, spirits trails and even cider trails. For consumers who like to mix it up, there’s a craft beverage trail, and its member businesses are now offering ...

Wayne County fruit farmer Gary Orbaker won the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award at the annual meeting of the New York Farm Bureau last week. Orbaker, who raises fruit in Williamson, Wayne County, was honored for his contributions to membership ...

Tagged with: Gary Orbaker John Sorbello New York Farm Bureau Pam Helming

Rochester can now boast not one but two urban cider bars that operate without a trace of apple trees nearby, and both have seen some recent developments in their businesses. The older of the two, Mullers Cider House, recently changed hands ...

Tagged with: Bill Bly Chris Bly Cider Hungerford Michael DiFranco Mullers Cider House Seed + Stone Cidery William Kellerman

Sen. Charles E. Schumer called upon the federal government Wednesday to allow more time for comment on proposed hemp regulations, concerned that the proposed rules would harm the rising industry of growing the useful plant. Schumer announced his concerns while ...

Tagged with: Albion charles schumer hemp Miller farm Orleans County USDA

Just in time for Thanksgiving meal planning, there’s another E.coli outbreak affecting romaine lettuce. The Centers for Disease Control reported Friday afternoon that 40 people had become sick and 28 hospitalized with a strain of E. coli that appeared to ...

Tagged with: Centers for Disease Control Dorsey & Whitney E. coli Michael Droke recall romaine lettuce wegmans

Catharine Young didn’t change much about her living situation when she became head of the new Center of Excellence in Geneva last March. Young had spent 20 years on the road, commuting between her home in Olean and Albany, where ...

Tagged with: agriculture Bill Strassburg Catharine Young Cornell Agritech Cornell Tech Farm Grow-NY Joseph Giglio NYS Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture wegmans

U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer says a federal program to help compensate farmers for negative trade impacts is stacked against New York farmers. Schumer said Friday that Southern farmers are receiving 95 percent of the top awards from the U.S. ...

Tagged with: charles schumer farmers trade USDA

New York is about to get more real. More RealEats America, that is. The Geneva meal-subscription company won the top, $1 million prize in the competition for start-up companies featured in the Grow-NY Food & Ag Summit ending Wednesday evening. ...

Tagged with: Aliya LeeKong Dan Wise Grow-NY RealEats The Perfect Granola

Consumers want their food choices to be fresh, local, “clean,” healthy, decadent, plant-based, full of taste, packaged in a recycled container, and made by a company that has a social conscience and doesn’t harm the environment. Those were some of ...

Tagged with: Chobani Cornell Agritech Cornell University empire state development Grow-NY LiDestri RealEats Rich Products The Perfect Granola

A greenhouse operation planning to raise hydroponic greens year-round is due to start construction at Eastman Business Park. Clearwater Organic Farms’ plans for a 10-acre greenhouse had been stalled for financing issues for the last two years. But Friday morning, ...

Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery has been named one of the top 100 wineries in the world for 2019 by Wine & Spirits magazine. The magazine released its list over the weekend, including wineries from around the globe, with one-third of ...

Tagged with: Dr. Konstantin Frank Fred Frank Joshua Greene Mark Veraguth Meaghan Frank Top 100 Wineries Wine & Spirits magazine

Dairy farmers have an extra week to enroll in the Dairy Margin Coverage program, a type of federally backed insurance that provides payments when milk prices fall and feed prices don’t.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that the new ...

Tagged with: 2018 Farm Bill dairy farms Dairy Margin Coverage USDA

The day Red Jacket Orchards turned on the juice production line at its new plant in 2010, Brian Nicholson had a realization. What began as a fruit farm and roadside produce stand two generations earlier had already expanded to shipping ...

Tagged with: Apple Brian Nicholson Joe Nicholson John Engels juice Mark Nicholson Red Jacket Orchards