Department Program
The primary mission of the Department of Horticultural Sciences at Geneva is to serve the horticultural industry in New York and the consuming public by discovering and disseminating knowledge that improves their ability to produce fruit and vegetable crops in a environmentally sound and profitable manner. To assure sustainability, broadly based, multi-strategy production systems must be developed and proven by the realities of nature. The Department uses a strategy of improving production systems by integrating research in physiology of the crop plants, their genetic improvement, pest control strategies provided by allied crop protection departments, quality assurance through cooperative interactions with food scientists with the applied development of production systems.
The Department has an internationally renowned breeding program that is known for developing disease resistant vegetable and fruit germplasm, and for developing high-quality fruit varieties. The breeding program is now actively engaged in developing and using genetic maps of key horticultural crops for the purpose of combining resistance to disease, insects and adverse environments with superior quality of the harvested fruits and vegetables. Pioneering genetic engineering approaches are being developed to modify clonal fruit varieties. The affiliated USDA Germplasm Resources Unit is aggressively collecting in apple's center of origin on the Asian continent, and we are identifying useful genes from this collection. The department has applied research in biological control, seed treatments and coatings, and whole plant regulation of photosynthesis. We integrate this work throughout the development of innovative sustainable high-production systems for tree fruits, grapes and the major vegetables (sweet corn, cabbage, beans, table beets and onions). In meeting our mission, the department maintains close contact with our constituents: farmers, processors, consumers and environmental organizations.
Our scientific mission includes nature of evolution, speciation, mechanism of mutualistic plant-microbe interactions, plant growth regulation at the organismal level, root-soil interactions, anatomy and organ development, and physiology of seed vigor.
Applied research involves extending and developing concepts, ideas, and methods to address practical problems of man and environment. To the benefit of New York agriculture, applied and developmental research have been successfully pursued at Geneva for many years and will continue to be so. For long-range solutions the Department devotes a portion of its resources on fundamental research in physiology and molecular genetics of horticultural crops. Through the fortunate congregation of a talented and dedicated staff, the blend of applied and basic research in this department has proven highly successful. It is our objective to maintain this balanced approach in reaching our goals.
The department has 14 research programs, headed by 11 professional Cornell faculty, three research associates, and nine USDA scientists. The permanent staff is about 50 with an additional 25 to 50 visiting scientists, postdocs, graduate students and temporary employees.
Please take the virtual tour of the Station to see how we carry out this program!
Horticultural Sciences Home Page
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences