Laura McDermott has been hired to fill the eastern NY position. She will be covering counties in the north-south corridor of the state. Laura will also be assisting the Northeastern New York Fruit Program and the Hudson Valley Fruit Team in their support of berry growers in counties covered by their programs. In addition to supporting these existing programs, Laura will help berry growers across her region with information on all aspects of berry production.

Previous to this appointment, Laura has been the Horticulture Resource Educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension in Washington County. In that position she worked with commercial vegetable farmers, nursery and greenhouse growers and the landscape industry. She also coordinated the consumer horticulture program for the county.

Laura’s previous research projects included an examination of compost based mulches in an intensive vegetable plasticulture system and a Forest mushroom production study. She has coordinated field demonstrations on photodegradable and biodegradable mulch and worked on several Agricultural worker training programs.

Laura holds a masters degree in Fruit Crops from the University of Florida and a B.S. from Cornell University in Plant Protection. Laura lives in Hebron, NY with her husband John and their four children.

Cathy Heidenreich has been hired to fill the western NY position, covering counties in the east/west corridor of the state. She will also be assisting the Lake Ontario Fruit Team and the South Central Agriculture Program in their support of berry growers in counties covered by their programs.

Cathy previously served part-time as Extension Support Specialist in the Department of Horticulture at Cornell University, and as Research Support Specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva.

She will continue to work part-time as a key resource person for berry crop production in New York State under the direction of Dr. Marvin Pritts. Her responsibilities include collaborating and providing leadership for certain statewide outreach activities involving faculty, regional specialists, extension educators, consultants, and grower organizations. She coordinates annual updates to Cornell Pest Management Guidelines and manages content for the recently updated berry pages on the Cornell Fruit Resources website. Cathy currently serves as interim editor of the New York Berry News monthly on line berry production newsletter. She also responds to requests for information from commercial growers, serves as liaison with grower organizations, and gives presentations at meetings, workshops and field days.

Cathy’s previous research projects included a strawberry soil compaction survey with Dr. Marvin Pritts and a strawberry powdery mildew biology and epidemiology study with Drs. Bob Seem and David Gadoury of Geneva, and Dr. Arne Stensvand of Norway. Other areas of research included small fruit diseases, (including strawberries, brambles, blueberries, and ribes), tree fruit diseases, and fungicide testing with Drs Bill Turechek and Tom Burr of Geneva.

Cathy holds a masters degree in Forest Pathology/Mycology, from State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and is a graduate in Horticulture from the State University of New York, College of Agriculture and Technology at Morrisville. She also holds a BA in French and Spanish from the University of Rochester. Cathy is a native New Yorker from the Adirondack region of the state and resides in Lyons, New York with her husband Gregg and their family of cats.