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

Rochester-based startups Leep Foods and Crystal Creek Organics are among the 20 finalists in the Grow-NY competition, which features a top prize of $1 million. Grow-NY is a food innovation and agriculture technology business challenge, which focuses on enhancing the ...

A new competition will enable agricultural entrepreneurs to introduce new dairy products for consumers, ultimately boosting dairy sales in New York state. The state Department of Agriculture and Markets, the New York Dairy Promotion Order (DPO) Advisory Board and VentureFuel ...

Tagged with: agriculture Cornell University dairy department of agriculture milk milklaunch New York Dairy Promotion Order VentureFuel

Now is the time of year when United Way of Greater Rochester Inc. typically would celebrate with the community the results of its annual workplace campaign that helps fund some 75 local nonprofits. But this year is a little different, ...

Tagged with: Clark Patterson Lee covid covid-19 jaime saunders Todd Liebert united way

Since winning a portion of the $3 million Grow-NY competition last year, the Perfect Granola LLC has expanded operations, moved into a larger warehouse with office space and more than doubled its staff. The small agricultural business now has a ...

Nordetect, a chemical analytics company based out of Copenhagen, Denmark, is another optics/photonics startup in Luminate NY’s third cohort. Luminate is a six-month residency program at NextCorps. Companies in the Luminate cohort have access to mentorship, access to resources and ...

While many businesses are retrenching in an effort to get through the COVID-19 pandemic, Maureen Ballatori is acting like the situation is a brass ring. Earlier this week, Ballatori announced that the firm she founded, 29 Design Studio, has launched ...

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and New York State issued its first guidelines on social distancing, farmers markets were among the many businesses that closed down. The seasonal markets that haven’t opened yet for the year, meanwhile, have been contemplating ...

Tagged with: Brian Howell Brighton Canandaigua Farm markets farmers markets Fisher Hill Farm Flour City Bread Keith Myers Red Jacket Orchards Rochester City Public Market Seven Bridges Farm Swan Market William Moehle

The application window to enter the $3 million Grow-NY business competition is now open.  Empire State Development and the Cornell Center for Economic Development both announced on Tuesday that the competition is opening up for its second round of applications, ...

Tagged with: business competition Cornell University economic development empire state development Grow-NY Kathryn J. Boor Kathy Hochul RealEats The Perfect Granola

American Farmland Trust has created a relief fund to help farmers at the end of a domino effect caused by shooing people away from gathering and eating spots to prevent the spread of disease.  The Farmer Relief Fund promises to ...

Tagged with: agriculture American Farmland Trust covid-19 relief

Cornell Cooperative Extension is holding a seminar by video conference Friday morning for dairy farmers about how to manage their businesses with COVID-19 in mind.  The conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. with ZOOM video conferencing technology, and can be ...

Tagged with: Cornell Cooperative Extension covid-19 dairy farms pandemic Richard Stup

When Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the closure of restaurants, bars, gyms and movie theaters earlier this week, he also effectively closed the tasting rooms of more than 500 wineries statewide. Preventive efforts like this aimed at lessening the severity ...

Tagged with: Andrew Cuomo Anthony Road Wine Company Colleen Hardy covid-19 John Martini Living Roots wine wineries

A Penn Yan winery is again receiving attention from the James Beard Foundation. Red Tail Ridge Winery’s owners, Nancy Irelan and Mike Schnelle, have been nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award in the category of outstanding wine, spirits or beer  ...

Tagged with: James Beard Award James Beard Foundation Mike Schnelle Nancy Irelan penn yan Red Tail Ridge Winery

For more than a decade, dairy farms in New York have been trying to manage their cow manure and save on their electric bills by employing anaerobic digesters. The digester siphons off the manure’s methane — a greenhouse gas — ...

Tagged with: anaerobic digester Boxler Dairy Farm Brightmark Energy dairy farms Don Jensen Lakeshore Dairy Lamb Farm Lawnhurst Matt Lamb Robert Powell Swiss Valley Farms Zuber Farms

The late John Brahm III, founder of Arbor Hill Grapery and Winery in South Bristol, Ontario County, was honored at the Unity Awards Banquet Wednesday on the opening day of a wine industry conference in Henrietta. Brahm, who also founded ...

Tagged with: BEV NY Boundary Breaks Vineyards Brown Hound Downtown Empire Merchants North Fox Run Vineyards Hans Walter-Peterson Jim Trezise John Brahm Karen Aumick New York Wine & Grape Foundation Peter Bell

Cheribundi’s decision to pull out of production in the Geneva area and use a co-packer in Michigan will leave a hole in the Western New York food processing world. Cheribundi announced in January that it will start contracting for its ...

Tagged with: agriculture Bob Debadts Cheribundi Mike Hagan Mike Manikowski Sara Brady