ITHACA, NY Chickpea plants are putting their roots down in Central New York, and successful harvests would pack not only a nutritional, but also an economic punch in the Ithaca area and beyond.Â
A partnership between Schuyler County, Cornell, Ithaca Hummus, and other groups launched the chickpea-growing initiative last year. Before actually placing chickpeas in the local New York soil, the seeds of the ongoing partnership were planted to help Antithesis Foods â the Ithaca-based maker of Grabanzos â simplify its supply chain and cut costs. Â
The Schuyler County Partnership for Economic Development organizes and manages the chickpea-growing project for Antithesis Foods. The Partnership is a collaboration between public and private sectors to both spur the growth of and offer continued support to various âclustersâ of businesses across the county.Â
John Munson/Cornell University
A Schuyler County-Cornell pilot project could help New York farmers diversify their crops with chickpeas and give regional food manufacturers a cost-effective, local source for the popular legume. Regional partnership takes a chance on New York chickpeas
June 9, 2021
Carl Taber knelt down at the edge of a field on his 500-acre farm, took a wrench to his planting machine, and did something he had done only a few times before. He calibrated the equipment to plant chickpeas – a crop rarely grown in upstate New York.
“I’m pretty excited about the potential for a new crop,” says Taber, who planted 1,000 pounds of chickpeas in May on a 5-acre test plot on his farm in Mecklenburg, in Schuyler County, New York, about 30 minutes west of Ithaca. “Just because it hasn’t been tried here doesn’t mean it won’t work here.”