I know you Silicon Valley people think that farmers are a bunch of hicks and an easy target to be disrupted.<p>No f-ing way.<p>Cornell University has many departments that are good,  but when I look at the agriculture and vet school they are beyond anybody else.<p>Ag schools do research which is relevant to the technological and business problems of their industry.  They do plenty of work on genetic engineering,  chemistry and work closely with the likes of Monsanto.  They are doing a lot for big ag.  They also do research to help small farmers beat pests without pesticides, produce and market (delicious!) Halal meat,  even help householders same money and have a better lawn.  &quot;Organic&quot; and &quot;Alternative&quot; innovations diffuse into the mainstream.  Pesticides are expensive to buy and to apply;  if there is a cultural tweak that&#x27;s cheaper,  they&#x27;ll do it in a flash.  When corn prices got high,  Cornell promoted dairy farmers to plant cabbages and other crops as an alternative forage.<p>They are always beta testing new crops in our area;  Cornell and UNH are finding variants of plants that perform well in the cold Northeast climate,  have expanded Wine production and are commercializing new fruits such as the Paw Paw.<p>Their research is relevant,  and it is also communicated directly to the public and industry.  Cornell Agricultural Extension has an office in every county of the state that you can walk up to and call and get questions answered,  go to an event, etc.  They work with trade publications,  local government.<p>And it is not just New York,  they do research on tropical agriculture and run a program to get access to agricultural literature to anyone in poor countries that need it.<p>I would point to that as being a much more real &quot;technology transfer&quot; than the people who are concerned about copyrights and patents.