Cornell AgriTech

06/18/2026

June is a busy month for New York’s berry growers, but the work doesn’t stop there. Researchers, in partnership with the New York Berry Association, are exploring how Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) can help keep fresh, local berries on New Yorkers’ tables all year long.

Ph.D. student Mckenzie Schessl and professor Kerik Cox are leading one of these efforts. Their research focuses on the major diseases that affect berries grown in CEA systems and on finding effective ways to manage them.

The payoff could be big: year round access to sweet, local berries for consumers and new revenue opportunities for New York berry producers.

06/18/2026

06/15/2026

Put July 11, on your calendars to see the gardens at Cornell University's Long Island Horticultural Research & Extension Center, from 10am-3pm. Admission is free with a flower arranging class at noon.

06/12/2026

If you’ve spotted robots cruising through the fields at Cornell AgriTech, chances are they belong to assistant professor Yu Jiang’s team.

This crew works with an entire fleet of ag‑tech characters, from the PhytoPatholoBot scouting vineyard diseases to UV light robots zapping pathogens to a robotic dog that can sniff out plant stress before we can see it.

Want to see how this work is gaining national attention? Check the comments for a recent The New York Times article featuring Yu's thought leadership.

06/11/2026

Climate change is reshaping wine country, and Cornell researchers have new insights on what growers can do next.

Their study shows that the best strategy depends on how extreme future heat becomes. Some vineyards may stay the course, others may turn to shade cloth or heat‑tolerant grape varieties, and in the most severe scenarios, moving to cooler regions could be the smartest choice.

Even more interesting: consumers are willing to pay more when they understand these climate‑smart changes. Learn how growers can adapt and what this means for the future of wine.

Read the full story:

As the planet warms, wine-growing regions face an uncertain future. Should they double-down on what they grow or do something entirely different?

06/08/2026

Agriculture is beautiful! Drive by and see our cover crop of wildflowers in bloom.

06/08/2026

Can you grow vegetables in a straw bale? Yes!

Ph.D. student Kensy Rodriguez and professor Steve Reiners show you how in this video.

As part of her extension outreach assistantship, Kensy has also translated the video for Spanish‑speaking audiences.

Steve Reiners, a Cornell University horticulture professor and vegetable crop expert, and Kensy Rodriguez Herrera, a Ph.D. student at Cornell, discuss a cool...

06/05/2026

🐝 AgriTech is the place to "bee"!

Varroa mite research is in full swing, and today Ph.D. student Petra Hafker and summer scholar Amanda Parrish were out in the hives keeping this critical work moving.

Healthy bees mean healthy ecosystems, and Petra and Amanda are helping make it happen.

06/03/2026

Ph.D. student Kaitlin Diggins is taking on a pretty sweet project: advancing organic melon production through hands‑on research.

Organic systems come with their own challenges, and Kaitlin is part of a team developing practical solutions.

06/01/2026

What if future protein sources could be less land dependent?

Research led by assistant professor Ke Wang and postdoctoral associate Krishna Sahoo, has identified how to grow oyster mushroom mycelium in days, using waste cooking oil as food.

Mycelium is naturally rich in protein. As it grows, it forms dense, fibrous networks packed with amino acids, essentially a nutritious protein source that grows itself. When cultivated in fermentation tanks, it becomes a high‑quality mycoprotein ingredient without the land, water or time demands of traditional agriculture.

Food scientists at Cornell AgriTech have developed a liquid-fermentation process that grows protein-rich oyster mushroom mycelium in days rather than weeks and – in a first for the field – have shown that the fungus will thrive on a fatty acid commonly found in waste cooking oil instead of sugar...