Andrew Holden

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County’s Lake Erie Regional Grape Program has added Andrew Holden as its business management extension educator.

The position helps provide growers and processors with educational programs and resources that address specific needs and opportunities for the grape industry. The Lake Erie Grape Belt extends all the way from Erie County, Pa., through Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Erie and Niagara counties of New York. The business management extension educator is part of an extension team consisting of Jennifer Phillips Russo, viticulture extension specialist with Cornell, and Megan Luke, viticulture and tree fruit extension educator with Penn State Extension.

Holden was hired by Penn State Extension and started in his position at the beginning of March. He comes with a background in agriculture having grown up on a dairy farm in Pierpont, Ohio. His family farm was diverse and included milking cows, cultivating row crops, managing timber, producing maple syrup, making hay, and even growing a small amount of Concord grapes for personal use.

Holden pursued his education at Ohio State University, earning a B.S. in agribusiness and applied economics and later obtaining an M.S. in agricultural and extension education. In his previous role he served as the Ashtabula County Agricultural Extension Educator with Ohio State University Extension for the past five years.

Holden said he is eager to bring his passion for agriculture, grapes, and wine along with his economic knowledge to this new position and to the growers in the Lake Erie Grape Region. His office is located at the Cornell AgriTech campus in Portland.