Farmers and other interested agriculturists will be at the Agricultural Environmental Management Conference and Workshop, coordinated by Cornell University, May 28-29, at the Holiday Inn, 75 North St., Auburn, N.Y. The media is invited to attend.

Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) is a voluntary, multi-agency New York state program that provides farm operators with a means to steward land, protect watersheds and sustain their agricultural markets. The conference-workshop will explore critical watershed issues, define agricultural environmental management and find innovative approaches to enhancing community-environment involvement.

Nathan L. Rudgers, acting first deputy commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, will present the keynote address, "The AEM Initiative: History, Implementation and Its Importance to the Agriculture and Environment of New York."

The conference, coordinated by Cornell, is sponsored by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. For information, contact Barbara Bellows at (607) 255-4537, e-mail bcb5@cornell.edu.