Geneva, NY - Forty-five formerly homeless drug addicts at New Leaf in the South Bronx don't want to hear that impending state budget cuts and a handful of early retirements may seriously impair the effectiveness of Cornell University's Food Venture Center (FVC) at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY. Neither does Thomas Gibson at Seneca Foods in Dundee, NY, or Richard Albert at General Foods in Hudson, NY.
"New Leaf, Seneca Foods, and General Foods have all received valuable technical assistance from the FVC at Geneva in bringing food products and processes to market," said Director Jim Hunter. "And, unless the legislature intervenes in the next budget cycle, and restores some positions and operating funds, the Station will be below the critical mass that is necessary to run effective agricultural programs like the Food Venture Center that help strengthen the New York economy."
A program of the Food Science and Technology Department, the Food Venture Center (FVC) was officially opened in the fall of 1988. Directed by Don Downing, professor of Food Processing, the FVC was designed to provide guidance to state residents seeking to introduce new food products and processes to the marketplace. Guidance ranges from expertise in food safety issues, government regulations, sensory evaluation, product development, and resource networking in such crucial areas as packaging, labeling, and marketing to analytical services and scale-up facilities in the Station's 10,000 square-foot Pilot Plant.
Depending on a team of dedicated food scientists, using a bank of file cabinets and a lifetime spent working contacts and networks, Downing bridges the gaps between novel ideas and practical processes. He helps companies negotiate a maze of regulations and product licensing requirements, often spelling the difference between economic success and failure. He fields as many as 450 inquiries a year from entrepreneurs in fledgling and established food companies from all across New York State.
"Many inquiries come from existing farm-based businesses that want to increase their income by marketing value-added products," said Downing. "In addition, many inquirers buy raw materials from farmers' markets and in turn sell their value-added products back through the farmer's markets. Some of them are referred to us by New York State's food licensing agency, the Department of Ag and Markets."
Faced with the possible retirement of several faculty members in Food Science--including Downing--interim department chairman Mark McLellan, is fighting to keep the FVC and supporting programs in the department viable. "We transfer technology from the lab into new products. Through the FVC we are creating jobs in New York State," he said. "New York State will shoot themselves right in the proverbial foot if they allow this to happen."
But, from the sound of things, industry is beginning to howl. David Call, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Jim Hunter have received a 2-inch stack of testimonials and numerous phone calls since the rumor mill started churning in Albany in April.
"We are getting tremendous support for the FVC, the Food Science & Technology Department at Geneva, and--by association--the entire Food Science and related agricultural programs at Cornell," said Hunter.
Letters have come from companies, big and small, rural and urban, which provide jobs and economic opportunities across the state. They come from food industry giants like Nabisco, Seneca Foods, General Foods, Hanover and Bison, from individuals who have spent lifetimes in the food industry in New York, and from smaller ventures like Winter Sun, Glenora, La Cucina di Parillo, Neiman's Kosher Fish Market, and the Shung Kee Food Company, among others. Postmarks reflect urban centers like New York, Rochester, and Albany; smaller cities like Cortland, Amsterdam, and Spring Valley; and rural towns like Hurley, Lake Placid, Dundee, among others.
The testimony is eloquent and direct.
"Without restoration of some of the expertise and assistance provided by these retiring staff members, companies such as ours will be deprived of one of the truly best resources we have had in order to stay current and competitive," says Thomas. A. Gibson, Director of Technical Services for Seneca Foods Corporation, a multi-million dollar New York State-based food company, which recently underwent a $72 million expansion by acquiring six additional food processing plants.
"Historically, the Cornell faculty have contributed enormously to the fundamental base of knowledge that has been a major basis for the success of the U.S. food industry," writes Gilbert A. Leveille, Vice President of Research and Technical Services for Nabisco
Dave Moore, Corporate Quality Assurance Manager at Indian Summer, with operations in Lyndonville, Sodus and Medina, NY, notes: "As a result of the advice I have received [from the FS&T Department at the Station], I have been able to redirect my efforts to prevent this quality defect from reoccurring, at a potential savings of $40,000 per year."
Joel Frank, Program Director for the Argus Community's New Leaf Program, helps provide job training for 170 formerly homeless men and women in the South Bronx. In April, they received the license to market the vinegar they make flavored with the herbs they grow to help support the program they are in, selling directly to customers at Green Markets in New York City. "Dr. Downing was extraordinarily helpful in guiding us in the proper notation of our vinegar process so we could gain licensed approval from Ag & Markets," said Frank. "The Food Venture Center is an incredible resource. When the Food & Drug Administration came in to inspect a week after we were licensed, they told us we exceeded all requirements for commercial production."
It doesn't take much imagination to recognize the economic benefits that come from fostering a partnership between researchers in the food industry and industry.
Downing, an energetic and enthusiastic man in his early 60s summed it up: "Over 17 million New Yorkers live within seven hours of each other. They all eat. Within the Boston-Washington corridor, people from Northern and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico, Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, Africa, India, and Russia provide a niche market for value-added specialty foods. They want sauces, salsas, vinegars, and more. Jews, Moslems, Jehovah Witnesses, also live here and they all require certain specialty foods to satisfy dietary restrictions."
Downing is quick to point out that legislatures in other states recognize the win-win benefits of this partnership and directly support state agribusiness development with dollars. To capitalize on the value-added potential of converting $3.3 billion worth of agricultural and forestry commodities into approximately $16.3 billion of retail products (a four-fold multiplier), Mississippi State University recently established a Food and Fiber Center to assist agribusiness start-ups. The Iowa legislature approved $3.65 million in grants and loans to create the Value Added Agriculture Products and Processes Financial Assistance Program, to develop innovative products and processes and renewable fuels and by-products. In Oklahoma, groundbreaking for the Food and Agricultural Products Processing Center for Research and Technology was held November 12, 1994, to stimulate the expansion of Oklahoma's value-added processing industry. And, in 1994, $300,000 in funding was approved by the Georgia legislature to develop a Food Processing Center at the University of Georgia in Athens.
By contrast, Downing, McLellan, Call, and Hunter sometimes feel food scientists at Cornell are forced to serve New York's $20 billion, number one industry--food and agriculture--with inadequate resources. And, the situation is getting worse. Yet, food scientists at Geneva collaborate with their colleagues in the departments of Horticultural Sciences, Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Integrated Pest Management to solve some of the food industry's thorniest problems, particularly in the areas of health and food safety.
"I do not think it was the intent of the voters in this last election to make it more difficult for New York companies to do business in New York," said Thomas A. Gibson, of Seneca Foods Corporation.
"Surely the voters--and agribusiness--expect the state to fund programs like those at the Geneva Experiment Station that help entrepreneurs and small businesses to grow and strengthen the New York economy," said Hunter. "But we have to do a better job of letting state government know about our programs and all those who benefit--and, in time how the state benefits. Support like that expressed for the FVC will make this an easier job."
NOTE TO EDITORS: A 5-page list of selected industry comments is available upon request.
Contact: Linda McCandless
315-787-2417
e-mail: llm3@cornell.edu
Communications Services, Geneva, NY
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