Cornell AgriTech

10/20/2026

Picked apples this month? Here's how to store them so they stay crisp and fresh-tasting for weeks.

Apples don't stop ripening when they're picked. They continue to respire and produce ethylene, a natural ripening hormone. To keep apples crisp and flavorful, the goal is to slow those processes down.

✅ Store apples in the refrigerator, ideally in the crisper drawer. Cool temperatures slow respiration and help apples stay firm, juicy, and flavorful.

✅ Keep them in a perforated plastic bag. The bag helps maintain humidity so apples don't lose moisture and become soft or shriveled, while the small holes allow excess moisture and gases to escape.

✅ Wait to wash apples until you're ready to eat them. Extra moisture during storage can encourage mold and spoilage.

✅ Check for bruised or damaged apples. A bruised apple deteriorates faster and can speed spoilage in the rest of the batch. Maybe there's a little truth to the saying, "One bad apple spoils the bunch."

🍏 Fun fact: Commercial apple storage facilities can keep apples crisp for months by storing them just above freezing in high-humidity, low-oxygen rooms that dramatically slow ripening. Your refrigerator can't replicate the low-oxygen environment, but it can mimic the most important part: keeping apples cold.

10/16/2026

Colorful blooms are still lighting up the fields and gardens at our Cornell University Long Island Horticultural Research & Extension Center (LIHREC). These are a few sights from a beautiful autumn day yesterday.

The pink flowers are a product of innovation at LIHREC, and the dahlias are part of a beautiful garden collection maintained by local flower enthusiasts who help bring even more color to the facility.

10/09/2026

Apple picking season is in full swing across the Finger Lakes and much of Upstate New York!

Varieties commonly being harvested right now include Empire, Jonagold, SnapDragon, Cortland, Macoun, Fuji, Crispin and more.

Several of these favorites have roots in the AgriTech apple breeding program:

🍏 SnapDragon – sweet, juicy, and exceptionally crisp
🍏 Empire – the classic Cornell cross of McIntosh and Red Delicious
🍏 Cortland & Macoun – longtime fall staples at Upstate orchards

Harvest timing can vary slightly by location, but there's no shortage of great apples to pick this weekend.

09/23/2026

Could consumer attitudes toward hybrid grape w**es be shifting?

New research led by associate professor Anna Katharine Mansfield of the Cornell Craft Beverage Institute - CCBI, found that consumers showed no consistent bias against w**es made from interspecific hybrid grape varieties, even when those w**es were evaluated alongside traditional vinifera w**es like Pinot Noir.

A Cornell-led study finds that w**es made from disease-resistant grape varieties, long dismissed by traditionalists, appeal to consumers as much as those made from classic European grapes.

09/22/2026

Healthy vineyards start with discovery.

For Ph.D. student Aliyah Brewer, that discovery means uncovering the genetics behind resistance to downy mildew, one of the most significant diseases affecting grapevines. Through her research at Cornell AgriTech, she's helping lay the groundwork for healthier, more resilient vineyards and a stronger future for New York's grape and w**e industry.

09/14/2026

Could your next favorite b**r be made with signature New York hops?

At Larry Smart's lab, Ph.D. student Nathan Lewis and the Cornell AgriTech hops team are growing and evaluating dozens of hop varieties, from heritage New York hops rescued from old farms to new commercial and experimental selections. Their goal: give growers the information they need to decide which varieties are worth planting.

One of the most fun and important parts of the work comes after harvest. The team gets those hops into the hands of brewers, who put them to the test in pilot batches and new b**rs.

Read more in the comments below.

09/11/2026

09/04/2026

Science is "buzzing" all around us.🐝

08/31/2026

Thank you, Senator Jeremy Cooney for visiting Cornell AgriTech today!

We appreciated the opportunity to share how our research, innovation, and student training programs support New York's farm and food economy while helping strengthen food and agriculture businesses in the Rochester region and beyond.

08/31/2026

This summer, University of Wisconsin-Madison student Mirielle Sherman spent her days studying grapevine bud development and frost vulnerability as part of our Summer Research Scholars Program. Her work contributed to research that could help growers address future challenges.

"The summer has really made me decide that I want a Ph.D. in breeding," Sherman said about her experience.

Sherman was one of 29 students from 23 colleges across 15 states who spent the summer at Cornell AgriTech, contributing to research projects spanning plant breeding, food science, entomology, plant pathology and horticulture.

Read more about Mirielle's experience:

Mirielle Sherman leaned over her scientific poster, making a few final adjustments before presenting her work at Cornell AgriTech’s Summer Research Scholars symposium in July.Photographs of grapevines covered the poster. Some showed cameras mounted inside a greenhouse; others captured grapevine bu...