Farm-Based Beverages    Local Foods    Dairy Food Processing    Urban Agriculture    Livestock Processing & Marketing    Farm Strategic Planning
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Cheryl Thayer

Cheryl Thayer

Local Food Distribution & Marketing Specialist

CCE Erie County
21 South Grove Street
East Aurora, NY 14052

phone 607-592-9507


Areas of Interest
Food-to-Institution Programs, Farm-Based Beverages, Local Food Promotion

Cheryl's work aims to increase investment and jobs in agriculture and food systems to enhance the viability of farms through expansion, value-added production, diversification, and distribution of locally produced farm goods. Through a coordinated effort, Cheryl partners with community organizations, economic development organizations, government entities, Cornell faculty, and agricultural producers to develop programs designed to strengthen the regional food system, both in direct-to-consumer and wholesale markets. Cheryl earned her Bachelors from Penn State, and her Masters of Public Administration from Cornell University, where she concentrated her studies in Environmental Policy. While attending Cornell, Cheryl conducted food systems planning work, both domestically and internationally. Prior to attending grad school, Cheryl worked in the corporate food system sector in New York City.


calendar of events

Upcoming Events

Indoor Specialty Mushroom Cultivation Course

February 26 - April 2, 2019
Tuesday evenings, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
New York, NY

The six-week course combines mushroom growing and marketing instruction with discussions about the ethnography of mushroom production. 
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GreenThumb GrowTogether Conference

March 30, 2019
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
New York, NY

Kick-off the community gardening season in New York City at this full-day event packed with workshops on garden related topics including food systems education, kids' activities, vegetable growing techniques, and community garden design for the present and future.
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Growing Tomatoes for Market

April 8, 2019
Monday, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
New York, NY

In this workshop we'll discuss systems for growing tomatoes at a small market scale. Jason Grauer will share his tomato growing techniques, from selecting varieties and propagating seedlings to trellising and pruning. We will also review some of last year's worst tomato pests and diseases in NYC and what to do about them. With guest speaker Jason Grauer, senior crops manager at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.
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Announcements

NYS Agricultural Soil Survey

In order to better understand the unique soils used in New York City's urban farms, Cornell Cooperative Extension's urban agriculture program launched the NYC Survey of Agricultural Soils in 2018. After obtaining soil and plant tissue analysis from ten urban farms in NYC, we are expanding the survey in 2019 with the goal of informing best management practices for unique productive urban soils. See our preliminary findings and more information, including a how-to tip sheet for NYC urban farmers on collecting soil samples and getting a soil test.

Food Safety: Critical for the Success of NY Farms

The CDC estimates that each year 48 million people get sick from a foodborne illness with over 128,000 hospitalized. According to the Center for Food Integrity, "food safety" is the third most common food topic searched online. The threat to human health from contaminated foods also represents a major financial risk for New York agriculture.

Harvest NY specialists are leading the effort to keep consumers safe and NYS farms and processing businesses successful in the emerging world of food safety. Despite the diversity of sectors we serve, each of our program areas touch on this topic; from the 4,600+ NY dairy farms, the 64,000 dairy processing jobs, to the 8.5 million residents of New York City. Although we focus on many other issues, Harvest NY recognizes that food safety is essential for New York farmers and consumers.

Read a report about our food safety work across NYS

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