Director Aaron MacLeod discusses the Center with ESD Regional Director Ken Tompkins and ESD staff Christian Mercurio, while Otsego Now CEO Sandy Mathes looks on.
Director Aaron MacLeod discusses the Center with ESD Regional Director Ken Tompkins and ESD staff Christian Mercurio, while Otsego Now CEO Sandy Mathes looks on.

Otsego Now CEO Sandy Mathes and COO Elizabeth Horvath made arrangements for a couple of important regional movers and shakers to have a tour of New York State’s first Center for Craft Food and Beverage, at Hartwick College.

Like the Otsego Now Regional Workforce Training Center, Hartwick’s Center for Craft Food and Beverage is a relatively new addition to the community’s economic profile. According to the Hartwick College web site, “The Center is a resource for testing, business development, and education that supports small and mid-sized breweries, wineries, distilleries, farms, and other craft food and beverage producers. The Center offers testing services for product quality and improvement, it provides technical assistance and business planning services, and under its auspices, the College is developing opportunities for training and education.”

It isn’t difficult to see the exciting possibilities for developing the local and regional economy with this additional resource, particularly at a time when craft brewing in New York can grow by 59% in a single year and the total economic impact in the state is estimated at $3.5 billion.

Center Director Aaron MacLeod discusses a student project with ESD Regional Director Ken Tompkins.
Center Director Aaron MacLeod discusses a student project with ESD Regional Director Ken Tompkins.

Otsego County has its own illustrious history of pursuing prosperity through beer and the county is poised to retrieve that history. The establishment of the Center for Craft Food and Beverage is an important step in that direction.

Otsego Now is a firm partner to Hartwick College on a number of different fronts, so it was very natural for us to arrange for Ken Tompkins, Mohawk Valley Regional Director for Empire State Development, and Christian Mercurio, ESD staff for the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council, to tour the facility. For the second time in about a month, both gentlemen were both impressed and excited by what they saw here in Oneonta.

It’s good when we have a chance to feature the innovative and interesting things happening in Otsego County. We may not be the population center that Utica is but that doesn’t prevent us from having cool economic development projects to show off and brag about!