Anu Rangarajan is named new director of Cornell's Small Farms Program

Anu Rangarajan, Cornell associate professor of horticulture, has been named director of the university's Small Farms Program. She succeeds R. David Smith, Cornell associate professor of animal science, who has been appointed interim director of the New York Farm Viability Institute.

The Small Farms Program helps New York state farmers and small-farm organizations through research, education and extension. It provides workshops in professional development, a reference Web site and a Cornell Cooperative Extension grant program for innovative small-farm projects. In 2003 the program launched the Small Farm Quarterly, which now reaches 63,000 farm and rural families across the Northeast.

"Over the past few years, the college has expanded our work with small farms in New York," said Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "More than 90 percent of New York's 32,000 farms fall into the small-farm category. With this change in leadership, the Small Farms Program will continue to work with dairy and livestock operations, but we expect increasing involvement with horticultural operations like nurseries, greenhouses and small fruit and vegetable farms."

The Small Farms Program will move from Cornell's Department of Animal Science to the Department of Horticulture. Rangarajan will continue to co-chair Cornell's Organic Production and Marketing program.

"I look forward to this opportunity to work with small farms, particularly New York's livestock and dairy operations, and expand efforts with horticultural operations," said Rangarajan.

Smith, who served as director of the Small Farms Program for four years, will inaugurate the New York Farm Viability Institute, a new initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He will focus on improving the profitability of New York state farmers, through adding value to their commodities, in collaboration with Cornell, agricultural organizations and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.