Julie Suarez
Attending Week 2
Julie C. Suarez serves as the Associate Dean for Land-Grant Affairs for Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). Her role is to facilitate partnerships between the Land-Grant mission of the College to New York State communities and policymakers. While at CALS, she’s played a leading role in establishing and expanding programs designed to assist NY’s farm and food system – from the creation of Innovation programs like Grow NY and the Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture, to the expansion of PRO-DAIRY, NYS IPM, and the establishment of the Cornell Small Farms farmer veteran and equity focused outreach programs and the Cornell Soil Health and Resiliency program. She serves on the Governor’s Council on Food and Hunger Policy, the Agricultural and Forestry Committee of the Climate and Community Leadership Protection Act, the Industrial Hemp Task Force for the Department of Agriculture and Markets, the Clean Energy for Agriculture Committee for NYSERDA along with the working group for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Agriculture led by Commissioner Ball. She is also on the Boards of the NY Wine and Grape Foundation and the NY Cider Association and has previously served as Chair of the Council of Agricultural Organizations. She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the State University of New York at Albany and is a graduate of Lead-NY, Cornell University’s Empire State Food and Agricultural Leadership program. She began her career as a New York State Senate Fellow, serving as the NYS Senate Agriculture Committee Director and moving from there to eventually helm New York Farm Bureau’s public policy division for fifteen years. She’s most proud of her two science-inclined daughters and flock of backyard chickens and happily resides in Schodack with her spouse.