During the announcement, Cuomo said the development of an adult-use cannabis industry in New York has, “The potential to create significant economic opportunities for New Yorkers and the state.” Its estimated the industry could bring in $350 million in tax revenue each year and potentially create 30,000 to 60,000 jobs.
With new jobs comes the need for an educational infrastructure designed to train for these new positions.
NCCC is now one of the only SUNY-accredited schools to offer a culinary-centric cannabis course.
“We were just anticipating – looking at places like California and Colorado and knowing that it’s been legalized in different states – we just knew that eventually New York would get involved in this, and so we started thinking about what we could do – particularly since we have our horticulture program.
Stanko said, “We have a horticulture program that’s been around since 1979 and all these years we’ve focused on traditional horticulture.
The department went on to debut four courses in fall 2019 – business of cannabis, cannabis production, biology of cannabis and cannabis pest management.
“We’ve been placing those students that have a cannabis focus into positions with local growers of hemp and retail CBD sites,” Stanko said.
Stanko said a local growing partner, Wheatfield Gardens, would be adding an extraction facility that will provide interns hands-on opportunities through a newly offered extraction class.
We always try to address the needs of our community and the needs of local industry, and this is just one more way where we’re able to do that,” she said of the cannabis curriculum.
Chef Nathan Koscielski, a certified culinary instructor at the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute, was – much like Stanko – fortuitous in his plans to develop a culinary cannabis and edibles course.
To underscore how unique the program is, last year Koscielski became one of the first 50 chefs in the U.S.
Looking ahead, Ulatowski said the college is in the process of creating a supply chain management curriculum as part of its business program.
“We’re looking towards the future,” Ulatowski said.