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

More. That might be the one thing that all growers of grapes, owners of wineries and juice producers can agree upon. More marketing, more sales, more research, more data. But as to how that might look, there are plenty of ...

Tagged with: finger lakes grapes marketing NYWGF vineyards wine wineries

GLK Foods will be closing its plant in Shortsville, Ontario County, by the end of the year, it announced today. The plant processes a variety of pickled or fermented vegetables, including sauerkraut, and employs 48 people. The Wisconsin-based company has ...

Tagged with: GLK Foods Sauerkraut Shortsville

Food that farmers donate to organizations serving the needy will now qualify for a state tax credit worth 25 percent of their donation’s market value. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the new refundable tax credit this week in an effort ...

Tagged with: agriculture Andrew Cuomo farms food banks food donations NY Farm Bureau refundable tax credit

Sales of Taste NY products across New York grew by $3 million in 2017, an increase of nearly 23 percent over the previous year. “Taste NY has put local products on the map, boosting tourism, helping local craft breweries, wineries, distilleries and cideries grow, and increasing ...

Tagged with: Andrew Cuomo farms food production Taste NY

Farmers have until April 2 to help their local public schools earn a grant of $10,000 or $25,000. The grants are provided by the Monsanto Fund, a charitable arm of the agricultural chemical company Monsanto Co., to boost science, technology, ...

Tagged with: farmers grants Monsanto schools

The drink of hobbits will get its own farm license in New York under a proposal in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget for 2018-19. The proposal creates a farm meadery license, the latest craft beverage license to join those already available ...

Tagged with: Andrew Cuomo craft beverage honey Mead

After most of a day hearing about federal, state and municipal laws governing the hiring of foreign workers, Barbara Bauman of Webster felt she learned enough to start asking more questions of the appropriate agencies. Barbara and Daniel Bauman attended ...

Tagged with: Allison DeMarree Barbara Bauman Becker Forum Daniel Bauman farm labor H-2A Melissa Buckley

The New York Apple Association, the marketing and promotion arm of the apple industry in the Empire State, has been named 2018 Business of the Year by the New York State Agricultural Society. The award was presented earlier this month ...

Tagged with: Jerome's Farm & U-Pick NY Apple Association NYS Agricultural Society

O-AT-KA Milk Products Cooperative plans to build a 20,000-square-foot expansion onto its production facility in the city of Batavia. A state grant of $750,000 was announced Wednesday, Jan. 10, for the $34.5 million project, which also includes incentives from the ...

Tagged with: Anne Kress batavia Bob Duffy Michael Fuchs O-AT-Ka

It’s a marriage with Rochester roots—Lento restaurant is serving a new cocktail made with Love Beets, the packaged and ready-to-eat beets produced in Rochester. The farm-to-table restaurant in Village Gate created a drink called “Roots and Revel,” featuring Love Beets’ ...

Tagged with: farm to table Lento love beets

Shoppers have a bonus Holidays at the Market event Sunday, Dec. 17, at the City of Rochester Public Market. By popular request a fourth day was added to the original schedule of three Sundays when market patrons can shop for ...

Tagged with: holiday shopping Mayor Lovely A. Warren Rochester Public Market

A new invasive species has been identified in New York State and it poses a threat to grape and orchard crops. The state Department of Agriculture and Markets issued a warning Wednesday about the spotted lanternfly, whose first US sighting ...

Tagged with: agriculture environment invasive species spotted lanternfly

You’ve seen the Taste NY signs around the state. New York state officials are trying to make this Christmas what could be called “Tree NY.” On Tuesday, state Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball urged fellow New Yorkers to buy locally grown ...

Tagged with: Christmas tree farms Commissioner Richard A. Ball finger lakes Wayne County Wyoming Country

Though the listening session was held in a craft brewery, most people who commented Tuesday, Oct. 31, on the upcoming renewal of the federal farm bill talked either about food stamps, research or young farmers. The session at Rohrbach’s Brewing ...

Tagged with: agriculture Farm Bill food stamps Foodlink organic farming SNAP benefits

A farm’s first step into agritourism may be as simple as allowing people to watch the farmer work. “People will pay money to watch you milk your cow. No joke,” said Sophie Winter, assistant professor at agricultural business at the ...

Tagged with: agriculture Agritourism Genesee Community College