Mallory Hohl is an urban garden specialist with CCE’s Harvest New York team, where she helps communities across New York grow urban agriculture efforts through practical support and Cornell expertise.
From supporting Rochester’s Urban Ag Working Group to helping community and home growers access no-cost soil testing, her work focuses on more than growing food. It’s about creating welcoming spaces, beautifying neighborhoods, and helping communities build resilient local food systems.
Learn more – 🔗
For many youth, this was their first time tying a fly, casting a line, or stepping into the Salmon River.
Through a two-day fly fishing program with CCE Oswego County 4-H and Trout Unlimited volunteers, participants explored fly fishing through hands-on lessons in aquatic insects, fish ecology, casting, fly tying, and conservation.
After practicing their new skills, youth stepped into the river, where several landed rainbow trout for the first time.
Built for beginners, the program connected outdoor recreation with stewardship and helped participants better understand the ecosystems that support local waterways.
Hear more about the program and partnership in the latest episode of Extension Out Loud — 🔗
How many ways are there to harass, catch, or kill invasive spotted lanternflies? The answer is undetermined, but this semester, students in Duffield Engineering developed an impressive array of proposed technological solutions to the challenge of protecting New York state’s vineyards from the destructive insect. 🪰🍇
The student-created projects were the result of a chance encounter in the fall of 2025 between Steve Heim and Kyle Bekelja. Heim, a senior research associate and lecturer, was preparing to teach MAE 2250, which is a required sophomore design class in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Bekelja, the Grape Coordinator for Cornell Integrated Pest Management in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was in search of an engineering team to work on spotted lanternflies. While in previous years students pursued self-directed "open design projects," Heim wanted to redesign MAE2250 to bring in a community partner as a client with a real problem to solve.
“This is about learning how engineering actually works: it's not about finding the one correct solution,” Heim said. “You have to want to get your hands dirty, to look for ways to fail fast and use that to iterate your design. And that is exactly what happened. I'm really proud of what the students achieved.”
The course reflects a broader push toward experiential learning and industry engagement at Cornell Duffield Engineering. Experts from across the university and the agricultural sector provided feedback throughout the semester, reviewing student proposals and offering guidance. Looking ahead, Heim hopes to continue the collaboration beyond the classroom, working with community partners to field test some of the most promising ideas.💡
What happens when students take on real-world challenges facing New York agriculture?
At Cornell, engineering students spent the semester designing and building solutions to combat the spotted lanternfly, an invasive pest causing millions in damage to the state’s grape and wine industry.
These insects can swarm vines, sometimes hundreds per plant, weakening them, reducing winter hardiness and yield, and even killing entire vines.
Working alongside Cornell Integrated Pest Management, students focused on preventing harvest bin contamination. They studied the insect’s life cycle and behavior, then applied CAD, machine design and testing to develop practical, field-ready solutions. Extension specialists with Cornell Integrated Pest Management and CCE’s Lake Erie Regional Grape Program helped judge the student prototypes.
From separating systems to rotary brush tools and inline sorting systems, these student-built prototypes are designed with one goal in mind: helping growers protect their crops.
More than 80 educators from across New York State gathered on campus April 15–17 for the 2026 Cornell Human Ecology In-Service: bringing the statewide impact of Extension work into one shared space.
Cornell Cooperative Extension connects communities with research from Cornell Human Ecology and Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, building partnerships among faculty, educators, student and local organizations. The In-Service highlighted how those connections translate research into action, strengthening communities and advancing Cornell’s land-grant mission across New York State.
“Whether you're working in agriculture, nutrition and health, 4-H Youth Development, or other parts of extension, what do we all have in common? We're working through human beings. We're connecting people,” said Andrew Turner, director of CCE.
The In-service took place as Cornell is exploring how it can evolve to best serve future generations while pursuing its core missions. Ariel Avgar, chair of the subcommittee focused on the mission of public impact and community engagement, spoke at the event. He shared the work so far, explaining how CCE is advancing that mission.
Throughout the week, attendees engaged in workshops and discussions on youth development, parenting and family support, early childhood education, nutrition, and community outreach. Faculty shared research on topics ranging from caregiving for aging family members to food access and the role of nature in supporting autistic youth: demonstrating how discovery translates into real-world impact.
From exchanging ideas to strengthening partnerships, CHE's In-Service reinforced a central theme: meaningful change starts with connection.
Read more at the link in our bio.
Photo Credit: RJ Anderson/Galib Braschler
When there wasn’t space in a local Jefferson County 4-H club, Linda Elcsisin started her own.
What began with a small group of nieces and nephews has grown into Timeless Textiles, a place where kids learn to sew, build confidence and create something they are proud to take home. Linda keeps the club intentionally small so each child gets the attention they need to develop real skills.
Club members sew caps for cancer patients, read aloud to a 95-year-old neighbor, collect donations at local events and show up when help is needed. Along the way, they are learning the importance of giving back to their communities.
“They come because they’re excited to make something,” Linda says. “They leave proud.”
For National Volunteer Week, we’re highlighting Linda and the difference one volunteer can make in a community.
Read her Faces of Extension Profile – 🔗 in bio
Kwesi Joseph didn’t start with a plan. He started by asking questions in a Brooklyn community garden and figuring things out through trial and error.
Over time, that hands-on work led him to become a master composter and deepen his understanding of soil, food systems and how people interact with the spaces around them.
Today, as an urban garden specialist with CCE’s Harvest New York program, he works across community gardens in New York City, helping improve soil health and strengthen how those spaces are used and maintained.
That work shows up in healthier soil, more productive beds and more food being grown in neighborhoods across the city.
Learn more about his work – 🔗 in bio
New York’s maple season is winding down, but the opportunity is wide open.
New York is already the second-largest maple producer in the U.S., yet it holds more tappable maple trees than any other state. There’s room to grow, and producers across the state are working to do just that.
In Lewis County, that progress is visible as producers are testing new products, trying new techniques, and asking better questions each season. They turn to Cornell Cooperative Extension as a place to exchange ideas, find answers, and refine their approach as they tap into their potential.
For Michele Ledoux, executive director of CCE Lewis County, that’s the part that sticks: working alongside producers who are eager to learn, adapt and improve what they do year after year.
Because when producers succeed, the impact reaches far beyond the sugarhouse, into local economies, working landscapes and the future of New York agriculture.
CCE Ulster County Executive Director Melanie Forstrom’s pathway to Extension is grounded in years of youth development experience — from serving as a residential case manager for immigrant youth in Washington, D.C., to directing programs for under-credited students in New York City public schools.
She brought that experience to CCE as a 4-H program leader, growing enrollment and expanding youth opportunities through initiatives like the Tech Wizards Mentoring Program, the Rural Storytelling Program and a Japanese youth exchange program.
Today, as executive director, that work continues through programs shaped by community input — bringing people together, guiding collaboration and connecting research to real-world needs.
Learn more about Melanie’s work – 🔗
At the Uihlein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid, operated by the Cornell Maple Program, Adam Wild leads research directly in the sugarbush throughout the season.
Sap runs when conditions are right. Equipment has to keep up. The same variables maple producers manage every day, like weather, timing and flow, shape the work here too.
The research isn’t separate from production. It happens under the same conditions, on the same scale.
Through CCE, that work reaches maple producers across New York state, helping inform decisions throughout the season.
After a long winter, fields across New York State are starting to come back to life.
For farmers, that means long days, tight windows, and work that depends on weather you can’t control.
It’s planting, planning, repairing equipment, checking soil, and making decisions that shape the entire season ahead.
It’s also the next generation pitching in and learning the routines, the responsibility, and the patience it takes to do this work well, day in and day out.
Alongside that work, CCE specialists are in the field with farmers, sharing research, troubleshooting challenges, and helping inform decisions throughout the season.
On National Ag Day, we’re recognizing the people who keep this work moving. The work doesn’t stop, and neither does the support behind it.
The darker the maple syrup, the stronger the flavor. 🍁
In celebration of maple season, Adam Wild, co-director of the Cornell Maple Program, walks through the four grades of maple syrup and where the flavor comes from.
At Cornell’s Uihlein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid, his office is the woods. Research happens in the sugarbush, working on commercial-scale equipment and producing maple syrup in conditions that reflect real-world maple production.
Through CCE, that expertise reaches producers across the state.
Do you prefer light or dark maple syrup?
