A day to combine service with education on the agricultural field, Urban Rural Day welcomed an accomplished guest this year to speak to the audience.

See SPEAKER, Page A3

The keynote speaker, Jennifer Phillips Russo, shared her work on studying the invasive species known as the “Spotted Lanternfly,” which has impacted farmers in the region. The species can quickly overtake an area, like a farm or vineyard, and poses a nuisance not only to farmers but also to people in their everyday lives. She spoke to the need to report sightings of the Spotted Lanternfly, to be aware of it so people know what to look for, and urged the audience to kill them if they are found so they do not cause more damage to the environment.

Later in the lecture, Russo spoke to her career in agriculture and the wide range of job possibilities with a tie to agriculture, from financial advisors to coding experts to assist with technological advancements in the field. “Agriculture is a very large industry, and it has a lot of different people working in it,” Russo said. “… We need innovative thinkers.”

The Lakeshore Assembly of God in Westfield welcomed a large audience to attend Urban Rural Day.

Russo is Cornell’s Viticulture Extension Specialist for the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program. She received her BA in Biology from SUNY Fredonia and continued with her graduate degree in Biology/Environmental Science.

Russo received the 2022 Unity Award for Researcher of the Year from the New York Wine and Grape Foundation. Her work at the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program brings local experience and research-based solutions to the Lake Erie region, the largest grape growing region in the eastern U.S. Approximately 31,500 acres of vineyards and 582 farms are within the region. “The Great Lakes are a climate moderator,” Russo said. “We have a perfect grape growing climate here.”

One of Russo’s projects developed the Cornell Grape Counting machine to improve crop estimation of berry count within 99.95% accuracy. Her work provided significant savings to processors to allow for early projection of revenues, optimized scheduling of labor, efficient coordination of space for fruit and juice, improved delivery, and reliable reporting to distributors and government agencies.

Russo also spoke about how she has traveled around the world giving presentations for her work after growing up in Westfield and attending SUNY Fredonia.

“What little old me from WACS, just loving science and creating solutions to problems can do, you can all do as well,” Russo said.