BATAVIA—A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday to inaugurate work on the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park—the state’s first such facility.

The 200-acre park, between Routes 5 and 63 in the Town of Batavia, is flanked by the fairgrounds, where the ceremony occurred, and the O-At-Ka Milk Products Cooperative, a regional dairy processor.

Steven G. Hyde, president and CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Corp., said the park “will be a huge asset” to the county, which is largely agricultural.

He noted that more than half the county’s acreage is assessed as agricultural land. Infrastructure work will be done by Zoladz Construction Co. of Alden under a $759,000 contract, which will result in nearly 200 shovel-ready acres serviced by electricity, gas and rail.

The first tenant will be Whitecrest Mushrooms, a Canadian company that will develop the state’s first mushroom-growing operation. Work on Whitecrest is expected to get under way next spring.