You may have noticed more farm-based wineries, distilleries or breweries in and around Monroe County.
That’s one of the expanding segments of our economy that will need trained workers.
As part of the Finger Lakes Revitalization, MCC is offering an Agriculture and Food Sciences certificate.
"We get hard skills, in the sense of food safety, food science. We also get experience in communication and business management," said Bob King, director of MCC’s Ag and Life Sciences department.
"Folks actually visit different types of farming operations so they have an understanding where their food comes from and the role that dairy, greenhouse, wineries and vegetable operations play here within the 9-county region."
As King puts it, training runs from "farm to fork" to get more people ready for jobs found in our area.
"We're really seeing a foothold here in Monroe County for farm breweries, farm distilleries and farm wineries," said King.
He told WXXI there are more farm breweries, distilleries and wineries closer to Rochester.
"We're seeing a lot of that. Not just on the east side but also to the west of the Genesee River, so I think that the nature of the landscape for Monroe County and our area is changing. We're seeing more and more destination points."
King says there are a lot of startups in Monroe County, so you don't have to travel an hour to the Finger Lakes if you don't have the time.
"If they want to take a short jaunt down and they want to visit with a farm brewery or farm winery they can do that. It's a lot easier to do that. They don't have to travel an hour to do a visit, although Finger Lakes wineries are certainly well worth the visit. But if somebody has a need or a couple hours and they want to go visit, they certainly could do that."
According to King, local towns are considering creating a new beverage trail here in Rochester, another example of agricultural and food sciences businesses that will need trained workers, something addressed by MCC’s certificate program.
