Senator Pam Helming, the New York Farm Bureau and Cornell AgriTech partnered to bring state legislators together for a tour of Ontario County farms, businesses, and research institutions to showcase how local talent and innovation is helping protect and grow New York's agriculture industry. Stops included Delong Grain, Cornell AgriTech, Big aLICe Brewing, Finger Lakes Institute, J. Minns Farms, and Hemdale Farms.  

The tour highlighted how farmers and agribusinesses are promoting environmental stewardship, advancing responsible farming practices, and protecting the region's natural resources. Legislators saw how artificial intelligence and robotics are used to mitigate crop disease and how research is helping to combat invasive species and harmful algal blooms. There are 32,000 family farms in New York State and about 20 percent of the state’s land area is farmland.