agriculture

More than 1,000 people -- when organizers considered 700 fans a good turn out -- showed up at the tractor pull at the Genesee County Fairgrounds on Saturday evening.

Competitors brought their machines -- small, medium and mighty -- to compete in various classes of competition, from stock, street-legal trucks and modified law tractors up to souped-up full-sized tractors.

If you're unable to view the slide show below, click here. To purchase prints of these photos (or previous fair photos) click here.

A possible farming accident has been reported in the area of Transit Road and North Byron Road.

A person may have fallen off a tractor, or a box may have fallen somebody in a cabbage field.

It's unknown yet whether the location is in the Elba Fire District or Byron Fire District. Personnel from both departments are responding.

State Police are responding.

The call came through Orleans County and the caller doesn't speak good English.

UPDATE 12:03 p.m.: A thousand pound object fell on the victim. The patient is conscious and alert; however, Mercy Flight is being put on in-air standby is responding (Mercy Flight 5 out of Batavia). The accident is in Elba's district.  Byron and South Byron are cancelled.

UPDATE 1:47 p.m.: The patient was taken to Strong via Mercy Flight. His name is Ferando Jereonro, age 29.  ccording to Sgt. Greg Walker, Jereonro was working on a platform with three crates of cabbage. The welds on a chain apparently gave out and the platform fell and a 1,000-pound crate of cabbage fell on Jereonro. Workers quickly removed the cabbage and the crate. Jereonro was conscious and alert when we was transported.

Also, just as I arrived on scene for this (too late to get any pictures), there was a call for a motor vehicle accident on Route 5 in Le Roy, in front of the Le Roy Country Club. By the time I arrived on scene there, the accident was clear and the roadway was reopened. Minor injuries.

Rep. Kathy Hochul heard a good suggestion from constituents today during an agriculture roundtable she hosted in council chambers at Batavia City Hall: Young people need to be taught more about farming.

Lorna Klotzbach first raised the issue.

In the Oakfield-Alabama Central School District, Klotzbach noted that "there is no FAA and there wasn't when I was in school that I can remember. There are very few teachers with an agricultural background. There is no training for farm careers. There is very little of that in Genesee County altogether."

Klotzbach noted that she's heard students suggest that farm work is really only for illegal immigrants.

"The smartest, most skilled people I've known are farmers and we hold them in such low esteem," Klotzbach said.

Hochul said she could envision supporting some sort of pilot project to help fund agriculture training in local schools and getting support for an informational campaign to elevate farming as a career choice.

Domestically produced food is a key component of national security, said Hochul, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee.

"Congress has a roll to play in directing funds (to ag training)," Hochul said. "We need to help people embrace the patriotic sense you get from the American family farm. That's what we're all about, the entrepreneurial spirt that this country is built on."

Farm labor was a big part of the morning discussion, with much of it centered on the difficulty farmers have these days in finding qualified, legal labor.

Hochul noted that with the opening soon of the Alpina and Pepsi yogurt plants, the demand on local milk supplies will increase 15 percent, and that doesn't mean more cows and milking parlors. It means more farm workers will be needed.

"If we don’t get more people in this workforce, we’re not going to be able to capitalize on the opportunities that we have right here in Genesee County," Hochul said.

The congresswoman said she is looking at how to move some of the recent refugees -- who are mostly from agrarian countries -- in Rochester and Buffalo to work on Genesee County farms.

There is apparently a growing Burmese immigrant community in Buffalo, with many people from rural communities.

The problem Hochul said she wanted to tackle is transportation, but Matt Lamb said transportation isn't an issue.

"We can house these people," he said.

If the workers are qualified and willing to work, there's work and shelter available for them now.

Klotzbach said that if Burmese workers were going to be brought to Genesee County to work on farms, it needs to be approached in a comprehensive way, with assistance to school districts for appropriate classes and ensuring Burmese families have a chance to retain their culture while assimulating to a new one.

"It doesn’t do any good to bring one Burmese family to Pavilion," she said. That doesn’t work. They need a community."

Hochul said she will look into available options to help find qualified refugee labor and ensure any move of the labor force to the area is done the right way.

Some farmers complained about overzealous U.S. Border Patrol agents, even conducting raids when there was no apparent probable cause for illegal workers being on a property.

Hochul said she's spoken with the director the border patrol and suggested that the Western New York border with Canada has too many agents for the threat level and perhaps some agents should be transferred to Texas or Arizona.

"Our homeland is not in any danger or threat from our farmers," Hochul said. "We need a different attitude."

Will Greek yogurt mean a boom for local dairy farmers? Marwa Eltagouri takes a look at that question for the Buffalo News.

Local dairy farmers Gordon Offhaus and Dale Stein are featured.

In order to keep up with the Greek yogurt demand, it is estimated that milk produced by Western New York farmers must increase by 15 percent over the next four to five years, said Dave Dean Norton, president of the New York State Farm Bureau.

Since there isn't enough milk in the state right now to feed the Alpina Foods and PepsiCo plants, the plants will have to pay additional costs to freight the milk in from another state, likely Michigan, said Stein, the farmer from Le Roy.

The article is full of useful information to know if this segment of the local economy is important to you.

Elba's Maureen Torrey is featured in a story by McClatchy News Service on the shortage of farm labor:

With the peak harvest season at hand, Torrey’s concerns about a labor shortage are growing. A crackdown on illegal immigration, more job opportunities in Mexico and rising fees charged by smugglers are reducing the number of workers who cross the U.S. border illegally each year to help make up more than 60 percent of U.S. farmworkers.

The American Farm Bureau Federation projects $5 billion to $9 billion in annual produce-industry losses because of the labor shortages, which have become commonplace for farmers such as Torrey, who said there were 10 applicants for every job five years ago.

“In the last year that wasn’t the case,” she said. “We hired anybody that showed up for field work. It’ll be interesting to see how many people we have knocking on the door this year.”

Press release:

Representative Kathy Hochul (NY-26) announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Services Agency (FSA) can now file weather-related disaster reports for damage done by armyworms due to the fact that they have arrived earlier than expected and in unprecedented numbers because of the unseasonably warm weather this spring.

“I am pleased to hear the USDA Farm Services Agency will now allow farmers to file weather-related disaster reports for damage done to crops from armyworms," Hochul said. "This is an important step toward the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets declaring the armyworm infestation a disaster, allowing farmers whose crops have been devastated access to low-interest emergency loans to help in the recovery. I urge farmers that have been affected by armyworms to contact their local Farm Services Agency and report their loss immediately.”

Farmers should report their losses to their county Farm Services Administration to begin documenting the extent of the damage. If the FSA can document a countywide loss of 30 percent or greater for a single crop, they can then submit their data to NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets for a potential disaster declaration – allowing access to low-interest emergency loans.

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C-Batavia) recently attended the Assembly Minority’s annual Dairy Day celebration in the Well of the Legislative Office Building in Albany.

Hawley joined event sponsors Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb and Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush, as well as state agriculture representatives and members of New York’s dairy industry, to celebrate the benefits of dairy products to the health of the state’s economy and its citizens.

The event featured an award ceremony with Super Bowl champion, former New York Giants running back and Syracuse University alumnus Joe Morris, spokesperson of the NFL “Fuel Up to Play 60” program. He presented a plaque to students from a New York elementary school for their commitment to the Fuel Up to Play 60 program, which stresses the importance of consuming nutrient-rich foods, such as dairy products, and exercising at least 60 minutes each day.

“Every year, I circle Dairy Day on my calendar because I take such pride in promoting the myriad of positive impact our local dairy farmers have on all New Yorkers,” Hawley said. “From the healthy food products they offer our families to the economic support they provide the state through job creation and revenue, dairy farmers are a vital component of our identity as New Yorkers.

"Especially in Western New York, we reap the benefits of our dairy farms each and every day, and I encourage all New Yorkers to support their local farm. Not only is it good for the economy’s health and your own health as well, but the dairy products in New York simply cannot be beat!”

According to the New York Farm Bureau, there are approximately 35,000 farms in New York and 99 percent are family owned.

New York State is home to nearly 5,700 dairy farms and 610,000 cows. In 2010, New York dairy cows produced 12 billion gallons of milk, or 20,807 gallons per cow. Dairy and animal production in New York provided $2.39 billion value of production to farmers in 2010, while distribution and processing is approximately $10 billion statewide and $50 billion regionally on an annual basis.

New York State is currently fourth in the nation in dairy production.

Assemblyman Hawley is a past president and 35-year member of the New York Farm Bureau. He formerly owned and operated Hawley Farms and has served on the Assembly Committee on Agriculture for the entirety of his six-and-a-half years in state government.

Armyworms are on the march and Cornell Cooperative Extension is alerting area farms and residents to be on the look out for the potentially destructive pest.

The worms come out in mass every four or five years, but Jan Beglinger, agriculture outreach coordinator for Cornell in Batavia, said this season's infestation is "one of the worst outbreaks we've seen in years."

The worms munch on grasses and pose a threat to wheat and corn.

Farmers are well aware of armyworms and how to deal with them, Beglinger said, but that doesn't mean they won't have their hands full.

Typically, farmers need to spray infected areas and a border area of 20 or 30 feet to knock back an infestation.

Residents with large lawns should be on the look out for infestations, too. The worms eat grass, but don't eat roots, so lawns should recover; however, homeowners should look in to a lawn-specific pesticide formulated to kill armyworms to help control the infestation.

If a homeowner lives next to a farm and sees an infestation moving toward a field, the courteous thing to do is notify the farmer so he can possibly take protective action, Beglinger said.

Armyworms have been reported from Erie County to Monroe County and every place in between, Beglinger said.

"It's a cyclical insect that comes out every four to five years, but it seems a lot worse this year than it normally is," Beglinger said.

Resources:

• Cornell Cooperative Extension
• University Illinois armyworm fact sheet
• Oklahoma State armyworm fact sheet
• Armyworm as a pest of field corn
• Armyworm on wheat

Statement from Rep. Kathy Hochul:

“I was pleased the United States Department of Agriculture has agreed with our request to declare all seven counties of the 26th District disaster areas following this spring’s devastating frost, freezes, and unseasonably warm temperatures that dealt a considerable blow to agriculture in the region. Farmers in these counties are now eligible for assistance from the Farm Service Agency to help them recover. Western New York is home to more than 3,000 locally owned farms and produces more than $700 million in goods every year, and I encourage farmers in my district to contact their local FSA offices for more information on the available assistance to keep their businesses viable.”

The early spring cold snap was a set back for some of the strawberry plants at Duyssen Family Farm in Le Roy.

The plants growing in the hoop houses, however, are coming on strong, according to John Duyssen. He expects strawberries ready for picking by Memorial Day.

The different growing cycles of the two groups of plants, however, should extend the amount of time strawberries are available at the farm.

The farm is located at 9187 Bater Road, Le Roy, and as soon as the strawberries are ripe, customers will be welcome to pick their own.

Previously:

• Duyssens keep 'the family' in family farming
• Strawberry and honey farm in Le Roy going solar

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C-Batavia) recently joined a number of his Assembly colleagues, requesting that the governor petition the federal government to make a federal disaster declaration for much of New York’s farming community. Due to the unanticipated early thaw in March and April that was followed by an extended frost period, many fruit crops in Western New York have been irreparably damaged. Statewide data collected by the Federal Farm Agency indicates that losses already meet the threshold for disaster assistance in many areas.

“Fruit crops in Western New York, and throughout the state, have been decimated by this year’s bizarre and destructive weather,” Hawley said. “Farmers who rely on the sale of grapes, apples, sour cherries, peaches, apricots and strawberries now have their livelihood hanging in the balance. Helping our farmers in this time of need is precisely what federal disaster funding was created for, and I sincerely hope the governor will petition the federal government to do right by New York’s agricultural industry.”

During some of the darkest days of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wondered why agriculture, such a vital industry to the well being of the nation, was represented in the federal government by only a clerk.

At his prompting, Congress created the U.S. Department of Agriculture and 150 years ago today, the USDA was born.

The USDA now handles a wide variety of rural issues and is the primary conduit for a rural voice in the federal government. The USDA has a significant presence in Genesee County through its office on Liberty Street.

Local USDA staff celebrated the anniversary -- as USDA offices all over the nation did -- with cake, cookies and punch.

Photo submitted by David M. Klafehn.

Dean Norton, president of the NYS Farm Bureau, and Elba resident, provided the following statement on the Department of Labor's decision regarding proposed rule changes for children working on farms:

We at NYFB are extremely grateful for the public outcry over the regs that UDOL had proposed and appreciate the action by the farming community to make their collective voice heard on what would have been some very intrusive rules for farm families. It is refreshing to see that common sense was achieved in the withdrawal of the proposed rules.

As provided by Norton, here's the statement from the DOL:

“The Obama Administration is firmly committed to promoting family farmers and respecting the rural way of life, especially the role that parents and other family members play in passing those traditions down through the generations. The Obama Administration is also deeply committed to listening and responding to what Americans across the country have to say about proposed rules and regulations. As a result, the Department of Labor is announcing today the withdrawal of the proposed rule dealing with children under the age of 16 who work in agricultural vocations. 

The decision to withdraw this rule – including provisions to define the "parental exemption" – was made in response to thousands of comments expressing concerns about the effect of the proposed rules on small family-owned farms. To be clear, this regulation will not be pursued for the duration of the Obama Administration. Instead, the departments of Labor and Agriculture will work with rural stakeholders – such as the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Farmers Union, the Future Farmers of America, and 4-H – to develop an educational program to reduce accidents to young workers and promote safer agricultural working practices.”

This is the fifth story in a six-part series about the 2011 winners of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce awards.

As much as a good idea and toil played a role in growing Baskin Livestock from a company with four employees into one with 40, the word serendipity can't be left out of any story about Bill Baskin and Susan Blackburn.

The couple met because work brought them together.

The farm Baskin ran in Rhode Island forced him to find creative ways to feed his 700 head of cattle. The feed he used opened up a business opportunity in Western New York. The farm they bought in Batavia -- perfectly suited for their business, but not for dairy operations -- came available at the right time through a bank foreclosure. The location proved critically centered to a host of vendors and customers.

A combination of a business acumen and a bit of serendipity proved to be the right mix and today, Baskin Livestock is one of Genesee County's most successful ag businesses. It is, in fact, the Agriculture Business of the Year, according to the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

"It’s a great ag community with a lot of businesses that are more sophisticated and successful than we are," Baskin said. "I’m flattered to be considered in that group. It’s just, it’s humbling … just wow! It's a great feather in our cap."

Baskin grew up in Massachusetts with a father he describes as a "frustrated farmer." He ran a small farm and a owned a tire and fuel business. After college, Baskin moved to the Midwest where he worked as a hog buyer and later exported livestock.

When he returned to the East Coast, he took over 70 acres of rocky farmland -- pasture but no tillable soil to grow feed -- and ran 700 head of cattle.

"All you could see was rocks," Baskin said.

Blackburn was a Pennsylvania farm girl whose life goal was to be a veterinarian and work with cows and horses.

When she was offered a job in Rhode Island as the state vet, she took it.

"The problem was, I was working 110 hours a week and here was an opportunity for a state job that was 45 hours a week and a couple thousand dollars more in salary," Blackburn said.

Once in Pennsylvania, part of Blackburn's job was to travel to the state's farms and administer tuberculosis test on import/export cows.

The test requires injecting the cows on day one and checking the results on day three, and with as many cows as Baskin was bringing in and sending out, Blackburn was visiting the farm three and four days a week.

Working that close together gave them plenty of opportunity to get to know each other.

"We were friends way before we were married, and we stil are, that’s the amazing part," Blackburn said.

To feed his cattle, Blackburn contracted with a man who would drive a small truck to the McDonald's muffin and biscuit factory, collect all their day-olds and mistakes and deliver it to Baskin, who would convert it into feed.

"It was a hard job," Baskin said. "He had a small truck and he went in and loaded it all by hand. One day he got mad and he said, 'I only got one truck and it's hard work and blah, blah, blah. I'm going to quit.' I said, 'Well, Johnny, you might be wealthy enough and old enough to retire, but I'm not.' "

So Baskin got his own truck and driver and found a large bagel factory with waste to recycle into feed.

The manager of that factory was then moved to the company's West Seneca plant, which didn't have a good waste-recycling operation.

So he contacted Baskin, who arranged to start a business in Western New York that would be run by a friend's brother.

Once the contracts were signed and the equipment bought, the would-be employee backed out.

"I told her, somebody has got to go take care of this thing and one thing led to another," Baskin said.

Once the couple bought the farm on Creek Road in Batavia, they were able to build facilities that could accommodate recycling tons of bakery waste into feed, with 40 or 50 truck trips a day of waste coming in and feed going out.

Baskin Livestock collects waste from more than 40 bakeries and ships out to feed companies all within about a 400-mile radius of Batavia.

According to Baskin, the amount of feed the facility produces annually replaces the need for about 16,000 acres of corn.

The process involves taking waste bakery products -- it might be a poorly mixed batch, or returns, or just factory rejects (Lay's Potato Chips rejects any bag that is as much as one chip too heavy or one chip too light).

The waste is dumped into a giant warehouse -- twice the size of a football field -- with a floor 10-feet below ground level. The wet material (uncooked dough, typically) needs to be dried out. The product is then all mixed together, dried further, churned and chopped and then moved to the loading dock for shipment to feed mills, which sell it to farmers.

The timing of pick up and delivery is critical, Baskin said.

"You don't show up when you're supposed to show up and they get backed up, you could potentially shut down a plant with 300 or 400 employees," Baskin said.

To keep his trucks running, Baskin runs his own repair and machine shop, with workers doing basic maintenance on trucks and heavy repairs.

The farm -- originally 874 acres, now more than 1,700 -- also runs 995 head of cattle locally, plus as many as 5,000 more at other locations. The cattle are raised as replacement heifers or meat cattle available locally or for export to places such as Turkey, Russia and Mexico.

Blackburn thinks the business her husband has been able to build is pretty amazing.

Often, Blackburn said, when people find out she's a vet, the common response is, "I've always wanted to be a veterinarian.

"Well, how many times have you heard that," she added. "But I say to them, anybody who can read and has great retention and pays attention can be a veterinarian. But what my husband does, not very many people can do, because he has it all just come out of his head."

A lot of the credit, Baskin said, goes to his employees, who all know their jobs very well.

"The other thing I preach is that I can be here working with you 12, 15 hours a day, side by side, but in 15 years, we're not going to have any business," Baskin said. " I need to be out growing the business and I'm depending on you guys to do the work."

The feed mill is in operation non-stop from 9:30 Monday morning to 9:30 Friday night.

If a business isn't growing, Baskin said, it's shrinking. It's never staying the same, so he's always looking for new opportunities and ways to grow.

Three years ago, they added 20,000 square feet of office space and this summer, they'll add another 5,000 square feet.

Customer service is the name of the game, Baskin said. He lives by and teaches his employees, "The customer is always right."

He prides himself on fixing problems and being able to get along with people others might find difficult.

It's a trait, he said, he picked up while working for his father.

"I fixed all my father's problems," Baskin said. "My old man'd get in a business deal, somebody get pissed off at him. I’d go fix it. I’d go talk to them. I’d go smooth it over. I’d go talk them into ... whatever."

These days, Blackburn doesn't do much vet work -- some here and there -- she's busy helping Bill with his business. She said he's the big-picture guy and she handles a lot of the details.

"Being a veterinarian is a great job, but I like helping my husband out more than I like the ego gratification of going in and telling somebody about heartworm medicine," Blackburn said.

Bill and Susan have a 17-year-old daughter who may some day join the family business, but Bill wants her to experience a little more of life first -- go to college, work for somebody else, see the world from a different perspective.

"I told her, you’ve got to want it," Baskin said. "If you want it, fine, I’ll show you everything. I’m not going to force you to do this."

To be successful in farming, Baskin said, you've got to love it.

He recalled being there for a family gathering during his first marriage and going into the bathroom to wash up for dinner a minute after his brother-in-law had done the same.

"I'm in there and he comes flying in, 'my watch, my watch, my watch,' and I said, 'what's the big deal about your watch?'

"He was a computer engineer for Hewlett Packard, big money in those days. He said, 'In my office, I don't have a clock. If I don't have my watch, I don't know what time it is. If I've got to sit there a minute past four o'clock that just makes me bananas.' He says, 'At four o'clock, I'm going home.'

"So I told my wife at the time, I said, 'You know, you don't like my work. You don't like the smell, you don't like the dirt and you don't like the people and you don't like the cows, but if I had to have a job where I just prayed for four o'clock coming, regardless of what I'm getting paid, it ain't worth it in my opinion.'

"I like the people," Baskin concluded. "I like the dirt. I like the cow business."

Baskin loves it, but he also knows serendipity played a role in what he's achieved in business and at home.

"I was lucky to find her (Susan), lucky to find this place, lucky to find a few opportunities along the way," Baskin said.

"I have no regrets," he added. "I've made a lot of friends, had a lot of fun. If you do what you like and have good people around you, and you're able to go home to a couple of people who love you. Life is good."

Last October, Empire Tractor moved to a new location at 5072 E. Main St. Road and has taken the past few months to get settled into the new, larger facility.  Today and tomorrow, Empire Tractor is holding a grand opening and open house.

Among the items on display is a newly released Oxbo Model 4334 self-propelled merger. The merger -- pictured below -- is made by Oxbo in Byron and is the only piece of equipment in its class in the world. Several aspects of the technology behind it are patented. The merger can gather hay on 250 to 400 acres in a day. It moves across a field at 8 to 12 mph.

Standing in front of the 4334, above, are Tim Call, president of Empire Tractor, Ken Krokowski, of Oxbo, Steve Werner, Dan Athoe, John Bannister and Bill Friese.

The open house continues tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Even two new Greek yogurt plants in Batavia won't be of much help to small dairy farmers, which are finding it harder to survive in a globalized market and stringent regulatory environment.

Dale Stein, who operates a large dairy farm in Le Roy, said his heart is with the small dairy farmer, but knows they need to make some tough choices to stay in business.

"I have great sympathy for the small dairy farmer," Stein said. "We were a small dairy farm once. My brothers and I did the milking while my father worked in the fields. He went 20 years without a day of vacation."

The Batavian spoke with Stein Thursday and asked him about a New York Times story that said small dairy farms throughout the state are struggling.

How could Robert and Fred — who produce so much more milk than their dad — end up making less money? There are a number of reasons, some obvious, others less so. Milk went from a local industry to a national one, and then it became international. The technological advances that made the Fulpers more productive also helped every other dairy farm, too, which led to ever more intense competition. But perhaps most of all, in the last decade, dairy products and cow feed became globally traded commodities. Consequently, modern farmers have effectively been forced to become fast-paced financial derivatives traders.

In other words, if a dairy farmer doesn't hedge -- buying options to bet against an increase in prices -- they can't make money. (In hedging, if prices increase, the farmer profits; if prices decline, the farmer offsets losses on product with gains on the options.)

Stein said his farm is big enough to manage the fluctuations in commodity prices, but small farmers simply can't do it.

"Margins are tiny and getting smaller each year," Stein said. "The only way to survive is to sell more product, and if the size of your herd is limited, the less you have to sell."

EPA regulations define a small dairy as 199 head of cattle or less. If a farmer wants to milk a 200th cow, the amount of equipment, technology and infrastructure required to comply with government regulations would cost at least $250,000, Stein said.

Few small farmers want to take that chance.

Especially in today's labor market with fewer qualified migrant workers available.

"It's very difficult for them to compete for labor and for land," Stein said. "We started small. My dad started with two cows. We've slowly grown our business so we can employ more people and give everybody a middle-class wage. It's not that we wanted to be big, but we had to grow to survive."

John Gould, owner of Har Go farms in Pavilion, decided to go a different direction in his effort to keep a farm going that his father bought in 1956.

It's a decision many small farmers have made to survive, according to the Times article.

As tough as it might be to grow from a small dairy farm to a large dairy farm, Gould made the equally daunting decision to switch his farm to certified organic.

Making the switch, which he began in 2005, took three years. It involved building fences (because cows would graze rather than be confined to feed lots), put in water lines and pave drive ways. It takes time for the herd to adjust to a different diet -- corn and soy raised without pesticides or herbicides -- so milk production can drop to nothing for a time. Fields that once relied on chemicals to be productive must be slowly turned back into fields that are mechanically tilled for weeds and can tolerate a few bugs.

"You've got to think those things through and plan how you're going to handle all of that," Gould said.

But Gould said he got what he wanted out of the switch to organic: A profitable and viable small dairy farm.

"It seems to have been a good decision for us," Gould said. "It's certainly a different lifestyle from the type of farming we had been accustomed to, but we continue to make very high quality milk, which is very important to us and important to our customers."

Gould is philosophical about the choice for small dairy farmers -- spend the money to comply with environmental regulations or take a loss for three years and switch to organic.

"Nothing in this business is simple or automatic," Gould said. "That's the life we chose. If we're going to be in the business, we have to make those kinds of decisions."

Small dairy farms that decide to grow would indeed help New York meet the anticipated demand for milk created by two new Greek yogurt plants in Batavia. But Stein said obstacles to growth for small dairy farmers will hold back the industry.

Even now, before Alpina and Pepsi open their plants, the local supply of milk is limited.

"Chobani (operating a Greek yogurt plant near Albany) already uses so much milk that we don't have any extra milk now in our market," Stein said.

It would help the New York dairy industry tremendously, Stein said, if it were easier for the small dairy farms to grow and help meet increased demand.

"We all want to protect the environment, but current environmental regulations are stopping growth of the dairy industry in New York," Stein said. "Pepsi's milk may well have to come out of Michigan because they have enough milk and we don't, which is a shame, because we could use the jobs."

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C-Batavia) hosted a statewide group of 4-H participants at the Capitol in Albany. The assemblyman, who has a lifelong connection to the agricultural industry and way of life, spoke to the young people about public service, improving state government and New York pride.

“It was a pleasure and a privilege to speak with these 4-H participants who are poised to be the leaders of tomorrow,” Hawley said. “I was happy to discuss many aspects of civic engagement, such as the value of community service, the process of how a bill becomes a law, and viewing public service as a vocation rather than an occupation.

"I not only encouraged, but challenged the young people to stay here in New York and help clear the path for economic growth by eliminating unfunded mandates and reducing excessive local costs like Medicaid spending, rather than fleeing the state and being a part of the problem. The group was responsive and energetic, and it does my heart good to know that these youngsters will be the next generation of great New York leaders.”

Hawley grew up on his family’s Hawley Farms, which he would later go on to operate. He is a past president and current member of the New York State Farm Bureau, and a former 4-H Club member of the Light Horse Club in Genesee County.

DEC officials and the owners of MY-T Acres have agreed to a $7,500 fine for the farm's Oct. 12 release of a pesticide that led to the evacuation of as many as 300 homes along West Main Road.

The DEC faulted MY-T Acres for application of a restricted use of a pesticide by a non-certified applicator, use of pesticide contrary to the label and contamination adjacent the non-target area.

The pesticide used, Chloropicrin, is applied to potato fields prior to planting.

Oct. 12 was a humid, windless day and the pesticide hung close to the ground. One person was treated for minor exposure and residents who did not evacuate the area were encouraged to close their windows.

MY-T Acres waived a hearing on the violations and agreed to pay the fine.

Press release:

During a visit to Zuber Farms in Churchville today to discuss her opposition to burdensome government regulations for farmers --like the recently lifted ban on the wintertime application of manure -- Congresswoman Kathy Hochul announced she has joined the bipartisan House Dairy Caucus to better represent the farmers in New York’s 26th Congressional District.

“Dairy farms play an important role to the New York State economy, making up nearly half of our state’s $4.5 billion agriculture industry and yielding more than 12 billion pounds of milk annually,” said Congresswoman Hochul.

“Fighting against burdensome regulations, like the ban on the wintertime application of manure, and fighting to give them the workforce they need by supporting an expansion of a temporary guest worker program, are some of the reasons why I joined the House Dairy Caucus.

"We must continue to support commonsense initiatives that provide our farmers with the proper resources and right opportunities to grow and continue to be driving factors in the Western New York economy.”

With nearly 35,000 farms, most family owned, New York’s agriculture industry is one of the state’s largest small-business industries. New York currently ranks fourth in the nation in milk production and Wyoming County, in the middle of New York’s 26th District, leads the state with almost 200 dairy operations.

Congresswoman Hochul, along with Representatives Paul Tonko (NY-21) and Richard Hanna (NY-24), today sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack commending him for removing the ban of the wintertime application of manure.

In October, representatives Hochul and Hanna introduced a bill that would allow dairy farmers to bring in temporary guest workers through the H-2A visa program to address their labor shortages. Currently, dairy farmers are unable to apply for H-2A visas due to the year-round production of dairy. 

Joining Congresswoman Hochul on the tour today at Zuber Farms were Kim and Eric Zuber, co-managers of Zuber Farms, Scott Page, president of the Genesee County Farm Bureau, and seven other local dairy farmers from throughout Western New York.

Kim is also the former president for the Monroe County Farm Bureau and a member of the Executive Committee for the New York Farm Bureau's Western New York Regional Advisory Committee. Eric is currently a member of the New York Farm Bureau.

Zuber Farms is a dairy in Monroe County, home to 1,000 head of young stock. The 10 farmers present today represented more than 10,000 head of cattle.

Two brothers (Trystan and Max Sandvoss) bought a former horse farm in Bethany a year ago and are now raising goats and making cheese, according to a lengthy article in the Buffalo News.

No one was selling cheese they made from goats who grazed in the green fields of Western New York. "Here, between Buffalo and Rochester there's a bigger market than Seattle," Trystan said.

Spreadable chevre, in double cream, garlic, dill or other flavors? Fresh cheddar curds that squeak between your teeth? For those, First Light Creamery would have first dibs on local cheese fans' wallets.

So the Sandvosses moved to Genesee County in April 2010. They worked on their cheese labels, each bearing the name reflecting their double mission: First Light Farm and Creamery. They retrofitted the stables to house goats, built sanitary rooms for making, storing and packaging cheese. They reached out to nearby farmers to trade byproducts, like their whey (cheese runoff), for a couple of the pigs it would feed.

The Sandvosses aren't quite farmsteaders yet. Their young herd includes 45 goats, with 23 producing milk -- not enough yet to meet demand for their cheese, found at more than 10 farmers' markets this summer and outlets like Premier Gourmet, Farmers and Artisans and the Lexington Co-Op. So for now they blend their herd's milk with high-quality, organic Jersey cow milk from neighbor Brent Tillotson's farm.

So far they've sold pretty much everything they've made, Trystan said. Staffing their farmers' market booth puts them directly in touch with customers, and they appreciate the chance to explain the fine points of their labors.