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

Dairy producers are being sought for an open seat on the state’s Dairy Promotion Order Advisory Board. The board makes recommendations to the state agriculture commissioner on marketing promotions, nutrition education and research programs. “The dairy industry is a major ...

 A town hall event to rally support for farmworkers’ rights in New York State is scheduled for Sunday afternoon in downtown Rochester. The gathering, sponsored by the Justice for Farmworkers Legislative Campaign and Rural Migrant Ministries Inc., is urging passage ...

Tagged with: Farmworkers Justice for Farmworkers Legislative Cammpaign Rural Migrant Ministries

A group of state legislators has introduced bills again to prevent construction of trash incinerators anywhere in the Finger Lakes Watershed, in an attempt to halt Circular energG’s proposed incinerator at the former Seneca Army Deport in Romulus. The legislators ...

Tagged with: Brian Kolb Circular energG incinerator Michael Cusick Pamela Helming Phil Palmesano Rachel May Romulus Seneca Army Depot Seneca Lake Guardian

Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability, housed in Sustainability Institute Hall, lists nine different laboratories. But one that’s not on the list is the biggest of all – the building itself. With power or heat or both produced by a ...

Tagged with: Diana Rodriguez Alberto Golisano Institute for Sustainability Lauren Toretta Rochester Institute of Technology Synergy BioGas Thomas Trabold

Dan Wise, founder and CEO of RealEats in Geneva, likes to say that at 4 p.m. every day, someone in every household in America has to make a decision about dinner. And that decision usually pits healthy against easy. Since RealEats began ...

Tagged with: Aliya LeeKong Dan Wise Geneva Marco Ballatori Michael Nozzolio Real Eats RealEats

A collaborative of eight farms in Livingston and Wyoming counties has released a line of cheeses under the Craigs Creamery brand, promoting the products’ sustainability. The cheeses are made from milk delivered from the members’ farms to their production plant ...

Tagged with: cheese Chris Noble Craigs Creamery dairy Frank Mariello Noblehurst Farm

In Geneva, students at Finger Lakes Community College ferment wine, hoping their training will provide either a second career in the wine industry or a less-expensive leg up on bachelor’s degree they’ll complete at Cornell University. In North Chili, meanwhile, students at Roberts ...

Tagged with: Finger Lakes Community College Great Recession Jobs Monroe Community College optics Roberts Wesleyan College sydor viticulture wineries

Cindy’s Pies started as a lark back in 1978. That first year, during the Naples Grape Festival, Cindy and Jon Trzeciak wanted to make some Christmas money by selling the local specialty, grape pie. They teamed up with Jon’s twin brother, ...

Tagged with: Cindy Trzeciak Cindy's Pies Jeni Makepeace Jeni's Pies Jon Trzeciak Monica Schenk Monica's Pies Naples Grape Festival Phil James

When it comes to agriculture, the industry is no Silicon Valley. Surveys conducted just a few years ago found that the average American farmer was 58 while the average American computer programmer was 31. The food and agriculture workforce has only gotten older since ...

Tagged with: agriculture Anthony Colangelo Cornell Cooperative Extension Larry Van De Valk LEAD NY leadership Tom Facer

When a small company in New York has a bright idea for a new food product, it typically turns to Olga Padilla-Zakour. When a large company, like Wegmans, is thinking of adding a new product line or a new vendor, it ...

Tagged with: Cornell Agritech Cornell Food Venture Center John Luker Kathleen O'Connell-Cahill NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets Olga Padilla-Zakour wegmans

The conversation at the feed counter lamenting that the latest soybean crop won’t be any good when it’s harvested might actually be a cry for help. Wyoming County officials are offering a workshop Jan. 17 to help train colleagues, friends ...

Tagged with: agriculture Cornell Cooperative Extension mental health Wyoming County

Information sessions on Genesee Community College’s veterinary technology program are coming up starting Jan. 15, to try to increase the number of licensed vet techs needed by the state’s growing bovine population. Genesee County is one of the most dairy-dense ...

Tagged with: Genesee Community College veterinary technology

McDonald’s Corp. announced Tuesday that it is instituting new policies to reduce the use of antibiotics in production of beef for hamburgers, a move heralded as a significant sea change in the way beef cattle is raised around the world. ...

Tagged with: antibiotics antibiotics resistance As You Sow beef McDonald's National Resource Defense Council

New York farmers are eligible for two Christmas presents from the state: money for clean energy technologies and a 10-year extension of a tax waiver for farm buildings. New York State Energy and Research Development Authority announced on Tuesday that ...

Tagged with: Alicia Barton Andrew Cuomo clean energy David Fisher New York Farm Bureau NYSERDA Richard Ball tax exemptions

You’ve bought the local fruits and vegetables. Now the state Department of Agriculture is asking that you buy local when it comes to your Christmas tree, too. To set an example, locally grown trees and wreaths are being displayed at ...

Tagged with: agriculture buy local Christmas tree farms Richard Ball