This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Christine Smart, the director of Cornell AgriTech.
Smart studies plant pathology and disease control at Cornell University's center for agriculture and food research, and she works with farmers across New York to develop disease management options.
Much of Smart's work utilizes agricultural intelligence, which blends artificial intelligence with human research.
"In many people's minds, agriculture and technology don't actually dovetail," Smart said. "In reality, you can't do ag without technology."
She also studies hemp.
This research is aided by Cornell's partnership with USDA to house the hemp germplasm repository.
"It's essentially like a giant vault where seed of all the different varieties of hemp would be stored," Smart said. "It's an incredible resource to the community."
Smart also teaches plant science courses and is a student adviser.
"The students that are entering land-grant universities, they want to be part of a solution," Smart said. "It's completely inspiring to talk to undergraduates."
She also partners with elementary schools to bring ag education to younger children.
"Having that connection to food, I think the younger we can start students, the better," she said.
Connecting the ag research community and general public is a priority for Smart, so she schedules as many speaking engagements as possible to explain her work and how it helps both the ag industry and the food supply.
Smart didn't grow up farming but she loves being part of the ag industry.
"I think that farmers are the most creative, ingenious, entrepreneurial people I know because of the breadth of the work that they do," she said.
Learn more about the article mentioned in the episode here:
Red Cat Farm's Sustainable Niche Grain Products Find a Market
View a photo of Candice's garden full of forks here.
