News

Construction to begin on Agriculture Consumer Science Center


JENNIFER GUSTAVSON PHOTO Senator Ken LaValle at an announcement Tuesday that construction will begin this winter for a new wine and agricultural processing center in Calverton to assist small businesses on the East End to commercialize products.


Construction will begin this winter on a new wine and agricultural processing center in Calverton to help East End businesses commercialize products.
A planned 8,500 foot extension for an Agriculture Consumer Science Center at the Stony Brook University Calverton Business Incubator on Route 25 will give farmers and wineries a facility to commercialize their crops.
State Senator Ken LaValle, who secured a $3.5 million state grant for the project, said the center will give Long Island’s agricultural community the tools needed to develop “new marketable consumer items and enhance their product lines.”
Mr. LaValle was joined by SBU president Samuel Stanley, Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter and the Long Island Farm Bureau’s newly elected executive director Frank Beyrodt of DeLea Sod Farms.
“With this new technology, there’s no limit of what can be accomplished,” Mr. Beyrodt said.
Local businesses will be able to rent space at the Agriculture Consumer Science Center for $25 an hour. Entrepreneurs will have access to fully equipped commercial kitchens to research and develop food production lines, such as soups, sauces and baked treats.
While construction will generate about 70 to 80 jobs, officials said it was “difficult to determine” how many permanent jobs the new facility would create.
Construction for the center is scheduled to be completed in about 14 months, officials said.
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