Officials from Cornell University this week unveiled renovated greenhouses at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva.
Jan Nyrop is a Senior Associate Dean at Cornell. He says the renovations have resulted in greenhouses that will be more energy efficient, allowing those savings to be plowed back into research.
And Nyrop says that research has provided a big boost to the state’s economy.
“One of the primary reasons we have a wine industry is that there was research that went on at the experiment station in Geneva to develop wine varieties that really set the stage for having this industry that now has in excess of 300 wineries, that employs several thousand people.”
Nyrop also says among the projects going on now is one that involves looking at ways of helping farmers in the state grow broccoli.
“Nearly all the broccoli that we consume right now ends up coming from California, Arizona and Mexico. There is an opportunity to be able to source broccoli closer to the consumers here and that would create a market and also an opportunity for New York growers.”
Officials say the renovations at the greenhouses will also help them improve educational opportunities for students who work with the facilities at the agricultural experiment station.
The greenhouse renovations were paid for with a $4.7 million state grant.
