A group of business people hope to turn Binghamton into a hub of food processing, growing and shipping vegetables and fruit while putting hard-to-employ people to work running year-round greenhouses and food-packaging operations.
The group is led by George Slilaty, a consultant who formerly ran Hansmann’s Mills pancake-mix company, and Angelo Mastrangelo, a Binghamton University management professor who formerly ran Adirondack Beverages. They’ve enlisted other Binghamton University faculty members’ expertise and are tapping research at BU and Cornell and the city of Binghamton’s economic development office.
They’re beyond the idea stage but still in planning. They see two parts: A food factory where year-round greenhouses grow crops such as lettuce, greens and tomatoes, and where they’re prepped and packed for markets, and where packaged foods including sauces and specialties by local restaurants now packed elsewhere are prepared.