Friday, March 16, 2012
6:00 pm- Social Hour
7:00 pm-Dinner and Program
Steamboat Landing
205 Lakeshore Drive, Canandaigua, NY 14424
 
Canandaigua, NY -  During this winter, local agriculturalists would like to share their passion for farming with their neighbors and friends.
 
The community is invited to the Ontario County Agriculture Appreciation Celebration on Friday, March 16, 2012 at Steamboat Landing, Canandaigua. A diverse group of agriculture industry representatives will gather for this event to recognize the vital importance of agriculture in Ontario County and to honor industry leaders.
 
The evening begins at 6:00 pm with a social time premiering Ontario County wines and juices and a chance to participate in a silent auction to benefit the 4-H Scholarship Fund. The banquet will follow with a buffet dinner, which will include a dessert table featuring Ontario County desserts.
 
Awards for excellence and innovation in agriculture will be presented at the banquet including the Rodney Lightfoote Agricultural Viability and Innovation Award for Ontario County.
 
Suburban Syracuse native Karen Miltner is the staff food writer at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle covering home cooking, restaurants, food trends and local foods since 2000. Bolstered with a SUNY Binghamton English degree, Miltner schlepped for several years through various segments of Seattle’s food service industry before transitioning to journalism. Her work has garnered awards from the New York State Associated Press and the New York State Agricultural Society. A former vegetable gardening hobbyist, she is now married to a professional vegetable grower and lets him do all the hard work. The title of her talk with be “Rochester’s Locavore Appetite: A Sampler Plate of History, Trends and Expectations.”
 
Cornell Cooperative Extension, Ontario County Farm Bureau and Ontario County Agricultural Enhancement Board are sponsoring the Agriculture Appreciation Celebration. The cost for the evening is $20.00 per person or $35.00 per couple. For more information and reservations contact Cornell Cooperative Extension at 585-394-3977 x 427 or by email at nea8@cornell.edu.