Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 817. It's FLX Morning Wednesday. It's brought to you by Enstech Automotive and Trailer, your go-to destination for hauling and vehicle services. 2567 Edwards Road, Waterloo. Online at EnstechAutomotive.com. It's our monthly Zoom with Cooperative Extension of Keuka County and the CEO Dan Welch is with us. Good morning. Good morning, Ted. How are you today?
Dan Welch: I'm doing well.
Paul Szmal: We're gonna hear about a dairy processing boot camp that's coming up next week. Before that, any other news or things you want people to know about Cooperative Extension these days?
Dan Welch: Well, this is a time of year we have a little less programming as folks are, you know, busy with their holiday preparations and less likely to come out for that sort of thing, but we do have right before the end of the year our dairy processing boot camp that Hannah Moyle and Taylor Poucher, who are workforce development specialists with the dairy foods extension program at Cornell campus, are going to be instructing.
Paul Szmal: All right, good morning ladies. Good to talk with you.
Hannah Moyal, Taylor Pelcher, Dan Welch: Good morning. Thanks for having us.
Paul Szmal: So whoever wants to take these questions one at a time, the first thing is I didn't realize there was workforce development within the Cornell dairy program. So we're going to talk specifically about the dairy processing boot camp, but tell us overall what you do to try to help find workforce for the dairy industry.
Hannah Moyal, Taylor Pelcher, Dan Welch: Yeah, so this became a pronounced issue in 2020-2021. Our main constituents, we are at Cornell University, our main constituents are the dairy industry, so the processing plants, and they were facing huge workforce shortages in 2020-2021. So we developed a boot camp where we basically teach people about the different career opportunities within dairy processing. So we hold several day boot camps. We cover topics from what dairy processing is, good manufacturing practices, food safety, and we get to talk with HR and hear from employees directly about what it's like to work in the dairy industry. So that is how we're kind of tackling this workforce issue.
Paul Szmal: So this next boot camp comes up next Tuesday the 17th and Wednesday the 18th from 9 to 3 in Auburn. Is this for people who want to get into the industry or people already in it or both?
Hannah Moyal, Taylor Pelcher, Dan Welch: This is for both. We have people who, we've invited people who are considering it, who may be interested but want to know more. We also, a big part of our mission as the Land Grant University is to give back to the community, so raising awareness and education is, are also really important to us. So really it's open to anybody who is interested, who wants to know more.
Paul Szmal: So this will be held in Auburn. You'll find out where when you sign up. So when you sign up you can go to ccekuga.org and you'll see under the events the dairy processing boot camp. People who go to this earn a food and dairy processing certificate from Cornell University's Department of Food Science.
So let's talk about some of the curriculum. You mentioned a little bit about it. What will people be learning in this boot camp?
Hannah Moyal, Taylor Pelcher, Dan Welch: Yep, so like I said they'll be learning about food safety, good manufacturing practices, careers in the dairy industry. We also have an online component that's about a 10-hour course. It gives you an industry-recognized credential if you complete it. We also are offering a stipend for people who do both parts of the boot camp. So we try to give some foundational skills for people who can get started in a career like this.
Paul Szmal: Is there a pretty big demand right now in in processing plants in our area? Do they need workers?
Hannah Moyal, Taylor Pelcher, Dan Welch: Yes, Kiyuka milk ingredients, I don't want to speak too much for them, but they are expanding and they will be hiring a few dozen people in the next coming months.
Paul Szmal: I was gonna say which is great for dairy farmers. I would assume that the more processing plants you have and the bigger they are nearby, that's a good thing.
Hannah Moyal, Taylor Pelcher, Dan Welch: Yeah, the dairy industry is growing in New York State. There are lots of dairy plants that are expanding. It's a huge sector in New York State's agriculture industry.
Paul Szmal: Again, this Cornell dairy processing boot camp is next Tuesday the 17th 9-3 and next Wednesday the 18th 9-3. Determination or location will be determined when you sign up. It is in Auburn and I can probably guess where it is, but you'll find out when you sign up and you can download a flyer at the website ccekiyuka.org.
So we've talked a little bit about food safety. One of the things that you cover is what's called GMP, good manufacturing practices. Tell us a little bit about that term and what it means.
Hannah Moyal, Taylor Pelcher, Dan Welch: So good manufacturing practices basically are being clean and sanitary to make sure that your products are going to be safe to consume. That's things like hair washing or hand washing, hair covering, making sure that there's no materials on the ground, nothing's leaking in or out of the product. It's a big thing. Basically it's about protecting the quality of the food.
Paul Szmal: So again, there's the online or the in-person component, the two days we've talked about. There's also an online hybrid course. You get a $360 stipend when you finish that. And I saw a picture from a previous boot camp of a pretty good group of people. So about how many people have gone through these events in the past?
Hannah Moyal, Taylor Pelcher, Dan Welch: So we've had about a hundred and twenty people complete the boot camp. The bulk of them have been over the last year and a half.
Paul Szmal: Are there similar events in other parts of agriculture? This is for dairy of course. Does the Cornell program do other similar sort of workforce things in, for example, raising corn, raising cattle, etc.?
Hannah Moyal, Taylor Pelcher, Dan Welch: Not to my knowledge. We are on the Dairy Foods Extension team. Cornell's really big. They have other workforce things happening at Cornell, but to my knowledge there are no other like workforce boot camps for people to attend.
Paul Szmal: Well, if you attend this one you'll be ready for a job in the industry. You'll get your certificate, dairy processing, a food and dairy processing certificate from Cornell University's Department of Food Sciences being run by the College of Ag and Life Sciences. There are free samples and prizes if you go. Again, that $360 stipend, if you complete the hybrid part of the program, you have to be at least 17. It's free. You'll get your lunch and then when you sign up, and you don't have to have any background in the industry or any experience whatsoever, when you sign up you'll find the exact location in Auburn next Tuesday the 17th and Wednesday December 18th.
Taylor Pelcher, Hannah Moyle, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.
Hannah Moyal, Taylor Pelcher, Dan Welch: Thank you so much.
Paul Szmal: Alright, and Dan, thank you. It was good talking with you today. We appreciate your time as well.
Dan Welch: Thank you, Ted. Have a great day.
