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The New York Farm Viability Institute grew from a $993,000 grant from USDA
Rural Business Cooperative Service to Cornell University in 2003. (That
funding was part of the 2002 Farm Bill.) The University established the
Agricultural Innovation Center, which provided
outreach from Cornell's researchers and extension educators to New York farms.
Project work included business planning, crop value-added product development,
dairy value-added marketing, manure management, and labeling of retail food
products to indicate growing conditions that used integrated pest-management
techniques, among others.
In 2005, the Institute became an independent, incorporated nonprofit
organization. Cornell University and New York Farm Viability maintain an
active working partnership.
The New York Farm Viability Institute works continually to provide initiatives
that serve the diversity of the agriculture community in New York. The
Education Innovation program
provides grants for projects that share with farmers and producers the
education of the universities, Cooperative Extension and the many agricultural
agencies and groups. The Applied Research
Partnership program provides grants for research on New York farms. The
Institute's newest grant program, Focus Opportunities, is a mechanism for
project leaders to apply for funding for efforts that fall outside the
parameters of our core grant programs. Applicants should send a letter of
inquiry to the New York Farm Viability Institute, and then may be invited to
draft a project proposal. Letters of inquiry may be submitted throughout the
year. Grants are awarded as funding, need and opportunity exist.
In early 2007, the New York Farm Viability Institute launched the New York
Center for Dairy Excellence. The Center brings together agricultural leaders
-- farmers, researchers, educators, government officials, agri-business
personnel and others - to implement strategies to increase farm profits and
strengthen the dairy industry. Project work is funded through the Center after
its has been identified and prioritized by the New York Dairy Industry Task
Force, a volunteer group that includes a cross section of people with interest
in New York dairy. To propose project work, contact the Center for Dairy
Excellence or a New York Dairy Industry Task Force committee.