agriculture

As a former hog and crop farmer and Genesee County Farm Bureau President and a current member of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, I work very hard to ensure that our farms, agriculturalists and rural quality of life are protected.  Newly introduced legislation, Assembly Bill 1867, seriously threatens our farmers and farm workers and I would like to take a moment to share with the public the provisions of this bill.

I have already received many letters, calls and e-mails from residents of the 139th Assembly District expressing their opposition to this bill, which is known as the Farmworkers Omnibus Labor Standards Bill.  While this legislation attempts to establish benefits and bargaining rights for farm workers, the bill threatens the very existence of farm workers by imposing expensive labor mandates which will force more farms, many of which are struggling in this tough economy, to go out of business.

To explicitly outline our concerns with this legislation the entire Assembly Agriculture Committee and I drafted, signed and sent a letter to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.  Paramount among our concerns is the fact that for the last 30 years, both state and federal laws have been strengthened to protect farmworkers from injustices and unfair treatment, with most farms undergoing a review or inspection on an annual basis.  Any problems that occur on farms are quickly caught by the authorities, making this new legislation redundant and an unnecessary expense to place on farmers and our agricultural community as a whole.

I urge all members of the public to write Speaker Silver as well as the legislation's sponsor, Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan to express your concerns with this measure.  You can write to Speaker Silver at LOB 932, Albany, NY 12248 or e-mail him at speaker@assembly.state.ny.us; or contact Assemblywoman Nolan at LOB 836, Albany, NY 12248 or e-mail her nolanc@assembly.state.ny.us to express your opposition to this bill.

As The Batavian reported two months ago, Genesee County's dairy farmers have been squeezed by falling prices and higher production costs -- with prices being driven from excess milk supplies during the recession.

The New York Farm Bureau, lead by local dairyman Dean Norton, has convinced the federal government to increase dairy exports, which should help tighten supply and bring prices back in line with production costs.

The move comes after months of advocating from Farm Bureau's farmer/members who directly lobbied USDA with Congressional visits in Washington, sent e-mail messages and called or wrote hundreds of letters to Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack.

"Our members should be proud of their hard work in lobbying for USDA to activate the Dairy Export Incentive Program to help alleviate our dairy crisis," said Dean Norton, president of New York Farm Bureau and a dairy farmer from Batavia.

An Angus calf has been roaming around Batavia-Townline Road for two days, according to Jonathan Lamb.

Lamb and neighbors have tried to capture the young animal, but it runs any time anybody approaches it.

"Maybe you remember Woody from last year -- I don't know if we have another Woody on our hands, but I've called all the neighbors and nobody knows who it belongs to," Lamb said.

The calf is wandering in a field near the road, Lamb said.

If anybody is missing an Angus calf, Lamb said the owner should e-mail him at jonathanl (at) lambfarmsinc dot net.

A bunch of teenagers in red T-shirts spent Friday toiling in the sun to fix up an old barn off Route 77 in Corfu. And they did so willingly, even enthusiastically.

They spent the day scraping off old paint, powerwashing, brushing on new red paint, replacing worn out two-by-fours and doing landscaping. They'll do the trim and wrap things up Saturday and then enjoy a well-deserved banquet Sunday.

The workers are students from BOCES in Batavia and Albion High School in Orleans County and the barn is one of only five chosen nationwide to get an overhaul thanks to a generous donation from the Campbell's Soup Company.

It's all part of a project to help sustain family farms and aid the next generation of farmers. It also provides scholarship money for a prestigious six-week leadership conference this summer in Washington, D.C..

The Campbell's initiative is being done in conjunction with the national Future Farmers of America (FFA) Alumni Association, FFA student chapters, farm families and the agricultural community.

The soup maker ponied up $250,000 for the coast-to-coast campaign called "Help Grow Your Soup." Of those funds, $75,000 was set aside to refurbish five specially selected barns (at about $5,000 each) and provide scholarships to FFA students.

The barns, iconic symbols of family farms, had to be visible to the community and belong to a multi-generational farm family that produces something used to make soups.

The local one belongs to the Reynolds family, who operate a 600-cow dairy (for cream of broccoli, maybe?). The Reynolds also own 1,500 acres of land on which they grow feed crops. They sell their milk to Syracuse-based Dairylea Cooperative.

The other "Help Grow Your Soup" barns are in Illinois, Oregon, Tennessee and Kansas.

The hulking Allegheny Road structure is about 60 feet long and 40 feet wide and built sometime in the 1800s, no one seems to know exactly when. It's been used for hay storage but used to be where cows were fed and milked by John Reynolds' late parents.

The Reynolds built a new milking structure in 1997 and a new barn last year. Since the old barn was no longer essential, the family thought of tearing it down.

But family friend Barry Flansburg sort of intervened. He's also a Future Farmers of America alumnus and thought the Reynold's barn would be a good choice for the Campbell's opportunity. Apparently, his lobbying efforts weren't wasted.

"You're the first person I thought of, and you're right off Route 77," Flansburg said to Shelley Reynolds, who is delighted her family was chosen for the refurbishment project.

She likes what she and John do for a living, too.

"There's something about raising calves and seeing them become milk producers," Shelley said. "Sometimes you have to do chores on Christmas Eve, but you're responsible for it all and it's a good life. My kids never spent one day in day care. ... we operate as a family."

The family also includes Tyler, 18, MacKenzie, 17, and Andrew, 15.
Incidentally, MacKenzie is this year's Genesee County Dairy Princess and Tyler will be a freshman at Cornell this fall.

She says the kids say after college they'll come back to Corfu to run the dairy.

"It's their choice," she said, adding that it wouldn't be a bad one either.

Pictured above: Left: Christina Kirby, 11th grader at Albion; Right: Sarah Connor, 10th grader at Albion.

Genesee County farmers may soon have an opportunity to see their products sold in urban farmers markets in New York City, thanks to a bill unanimously passed by the State Senate last month.

The program creates a revolving loan program to help entrepreneurs open farmers markets in NYC's urban neighborhoods, providing residents in those neighborhoods with fresh farm products from New York State farms.

“One of our goals as a state must be to put quality New York produce from our farms on the plates of New York consumers,” said sponsor, Senator Darrel J. Aubertine (D-Cape Vincent), a retired dairy farmer who continues to raise livestock and grow crops on his farm in Northern New York. “This legislation is an important step toward achieving that. By giving consumers the opportunity to buy the highest quality and freshest products from New York farmers, we are giving our farmers new opportunities to sell their products, bringing healthy foods to underserved communities, and helping our environment by encouraging people to buy local.”

Hat tip to Lorie Longhany for finding this bill.

Commodity traders pushed down the price of hogs yesterday and the trend continues so far today, which has Charlie Miller, owner of Willow Ridge Farms in Darien, just a little worried.

Miller's operation sells 200 to 250 hogs every week, and the worldwide recession had already sent prices down from 80 cents per pound two months ago to around 70 cents. Yesterday, prices dropped to 66 cents.

The reason? Panic over Swine Flu.

Never mind that health officials state flat out that the disease cannot be transmitted from eating food. Commodity traders -- who place bets on the anticipated future price of items -- believe the flu scare will deepen a trend of over supply in pork.

Miller said as of this morning, the cash market, the current price of hog meat, had not yet been effected.

"We have six families involved in ownership and operations of the farm," Miller said. "When things don't go well in the market, it impacts more people beyond just individual needs. And it also impacts everybody we do business with."

The National Pork Producers Council reiterated points made by the National Center for Disease Control that eating pork cannot transmit the disease to humans. Further, there is no evidence that the current strain was contracted by humans from pigs.

Miller noted that the current outbreak shouldn't even be called Swine Flu because it is a different strain with more in common with Avian Flu. "It should be called North American Flu," he said.

The World Health Organization has identified only 79 cases worldwide, and the only reported deaths have been in Mexico, according to ABC Radio News.

"Often times things like this happen and people get worried and emotional," Miller said. "I encourage people to use the information from groups such as the Center for Disease Control to make their food-buying decisions."

Photo Illustration courtesy Flickr member The Pug Father.

Local dairy farmers are hurting, according to Dean Norton, president of the New York Farm Bureau.

Prices have plummeted -- because of decreased demand for dairy products at home and abroad -- while costs have increased substantially. 

Currently, milk is selling for $10.50 to $11.50 per 100 weight (about 8.5 gallons), while the cost of production is $15 and $16 per 100 weight.

Last year, milk sold for about $20 per 100 weight.

"The area economy stinks and it's a tough year," Norton said. "Receipts are down and individuals might be exiting the dairy industry."

Exports have dropped and domestic demand has been driven down as people eat out less during the recession, so there is shrunken demand for dairy products.

To help address the plunging prices, Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has initiated a herd retirement program, which will help reduce the number of milk-producing cows and lower supply.  Bids must be postmarked by May 1.

Dairy farmers throughout the nation are hurting according to The Rural Blog:

“The number of dairy cows being sent to slaughter has risen by about 20 percent from last year, as desperate farmers cull their herds and sell at fire-sale prices,” Sue Kirchoff writes for USA Today. “Adding to the problem, banks are less willing or able to extend farmers’ loan payments amid the financial turmoil.” John Murawski reports for the News & Observer in Raleigh, "Several dozen dairy farms in North Carolina are expected to go under this year." (Read more)

The National Dairy Federation has called on President Obama to aggressively address the problem, or thousands of jobs could be lost.

“There are several reasons for the implosion: oversupply, falling export demand and continued high prices for supplies such as feed,” Kirchoff explained. “The dairy sector in the past has been less prone to huge price swings than other areas of agriculture, but that’s changing as the industry relies more on the markets and less on government programs.”

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a program to buy 200 million lbs. of nonfat dry milk surpluses for domestic low-income programs.

Neighboring Wyoming County is being especially hard hit by the downturn in the dairy market, according to a story by Tom Rivers.

The $60 million in reduced revenue is compared to 2008 prices, when dairies averaged about $17.50 per hundredweight. This year the prices are forecast to average $12.80 for the year. The prices are expected to climb above the current $11 level and top $14 in September, which is still below most farms' production costs.

The county's 47,970 cows, which outnumber the county's residents, produced $178.9 million worth of milk products in 2007, by far the most in the state.

"The market is saturated and these prices are likely to be with us until mid-summer," Norton said.

Cattle thieves were strung up by their necks once upon a time.

“Yes, they were,” Sarah Noble-Moag acknowledged softly with a smile.

Nowadays the law investigates the matter and hopefully justice is found, maybe even the livestock.

That's the hope of Noble-Moag and others at Noblehurst Farms, Inc., after thieves made off with three female Holstein calves, valued at about $500 each. Because they will become profitable milk cows, they are more valuable than bull calves.

Their pens along York Road in the Town of Pavilion were found empty mid-morning Monday. Genesee County Sheriff Deputy J.L. Baiocco is investigating the larceny.

“They'll be looking at the livestock market (auction), the one outside Pavilion toward Pearl Creek,” Noble-Moag said. “(The calves) are tagged in their ears, and the tags would probably be removed (by the thieves), but you'd still be able to tell they'd been tagged.”

Noblehurst Farms, whose corporate headquarters is in Linwood, also had several calves stolen three years ago. Genesee County sheriffs solved that case, Noble-Moag said.

The black and white female calves taken this week were among 615 cows at the farm. The calves raised to be milk cows are initially kept in individual pens to prevent the spread of disease. Once their immune systems are strong, they are put into small groups until they are two years old and ready for milking.

The individual pens are about the size of a large dog house and the calves are about the size of a large dog, 100 pounds. The calves are collared to a lead that hooks on top of the structure. The pens are only a few feet from the roadway.

What about security?

“We have a light out there at night,” Noble-Moag said.

PHOTO: Used for file photo purposes. It is not a photo of one of the stolen calves. Copyright Ian Hayhurst.

The Genesee County Sheriff's Office is investigating the theft of three Holstein calves from the Noble-Hurst Farm in Pavilion, according to a statement issued this morning. The theft occurred between 8 a.m. Sunday morning and 9 p.m. Monday night. The investigation is being led by Deputy J.L. Baiocco.

Four-legged critters had the Town of Batavia's public works department scurrying around Monday morning.

First there was the passel of sheep munching on trash in the front yard of a house at 2905 Galloway Road, creating a bit of a traffic hazard.

A dozen sheep and a lamb were spotted chomping garbage shortly after 10 this morning. A cow mooed encouragement from the back yard. Forty-five minutes later only crumbs remained.

A public works employee for the Town of Batavia showed up and said the foragers lived behind the two-story white house and had gotten out of the pen again. Usually the owner's home to round them up, the worker said.

The commotion caused the sheep to mosey away from the road and head toward the rear of the property.

A Sheriff's deputy arrived. They reported shortly thereafter that the wooly ones were shooed into their pen, which was then jerryrigged to stay shut. Hopefully.

Meanwhile, a skunk was lolling about in a park tennis court. On the scanner, authorities considered how best to remove it. One suggested shooting it. Another said it would be saved for lunch, prompting another to recommend roasting the skunk. None of the options were exercised.

The next critter call was about dogs in the road someplace, hampering traffic.
 

It’s that time of year again. As the days grow warmer and the nights stay cold, the sap starts to flow.  Did you know that New York State is the third largest producer of maple syrup in the world? Maple producers are celebrating that fact at this year’s 14th Annual Maple Weekend™. This year the event takes place on March 21-22 and 28-29 from 10am - 4pm each day. Maple producers throughout New York State will open their sugarhouses to demonstrate the making of maple products "from the tree to your table." Almost 50 maple producers throughout

Western New York will participate. You can check this website for a list of participants: http://www.mapleweekend.com/locations.htm.

This free, family-oriented event gives you a chance to see how New York maple producers make some of the world's finest maple syrup and maple products. Visitors can see all aspects of maple making, from tapping the trees to get the sap, to boiling sap into maple syrup. Some producers will also demonstrate the making of maple syrup into other products including maple cream, maple cotton candy and maple sugar.

The public is encouraged to visit more than one farm as some producers use traditional methods while some employ new methods. Many of the farms will also have a variety of other activities including horse and wagon rides, snowshoeing, guided walks in the woods and kids' corners.

Mark your calendars for March 21-22 and 28-29, 2009 and take the family out to experience New York State maple!

On this particular Wednesday morning in February, a thermometer posted outside the School for the Blind in downtown Batavia reads an air temperature of nearly five degrees below zero. Cold enough to freeze the spit in your mouth before you can even get out the words: cold enough...

Cold enough that the steering wheel on my '93 rustbucket of a wagon needs more coaxing than usual to make a full left turn. Still. I make it to Porter Farms whole. Shivering, but whole. I'm not sure what to expect, though I've got an image of farmhands tucked into woolen socks, sitting around the fireplace thumbing seed catalogues and dissertations on soil conservation. I've got what you might call a novelistic imagination that doesn't often sync up with the way things really are.

Of course, there's too much work to be done to sit around the fireplace.

The farm's patriarch, Mike Porter, looks over paperwork in the cab of his pickup. He's got the engine running for heat. Inside the barn behind where he's parked, the hundred or more sheep mill about in their stalls, caterwauling like the dullards that Porter assures me they are.

After he shuffles a few of them out into the bleak white light of day, they start to cough. Agitated from the rush to get outside, they stir up some of the dust in the feed they just sucked down. They sound like old men, hacking up a lifetime's worth of lung tar.

I ask Mike what life is like on the farm in the middle of a desolate upstate winter. He shrugs. It's much the same as what life is like on the farm in the middle of a grueling humid upstate summer. Only, you get home by 6 o'clock instead of 10 o'clock.

"We're busy in the winter, but not as busy," he says. "I don't get here until between seven and eight, and I'm home by six. That's a short day."

Winter work is much like work the rest of the year for Mike. Only he's not in the fields pulling or planting crops in addition to doing everything else he does. As I said, I came expecting quiet study indoors while the fields outside crackled in the frost. Not so.

"We have livestock," he says, "so we're busy every day of the year."

They've got lambs and beef cattle. They're also still packing and shipping onions and cabbage. Plus they'll be starting the greenhouses in a few weeks. Then there's the work on the farm equipment that is about due to start... and the renewal for the organic certification... and all the planning. Always planning. Planning on what to plant, when to plant it, where to plant it.

So yeah. They're not sitting around darning socks and learning about soil erosion. "It's always a work in progress," he says. "If you stand still, you go backwards."

Porter Farms also maintains a Community-Supported Agriculture program that keeps folks busy throughout the year. They're about to start their 14th season. They wrapped up last year with 650 members. A CSA program allows folks in the community—some join from Rochester and Buffalo, too—to pay a lump sum to receive 22 weeks of farm fresh produce. They can pick up a bag of mixed vegetables from the farm every week from about the middle of June up until the week before Thanksgiving.

They grow everything for the program: beets, bell peppers, poblano peppers, summer squash, pumpkins, beans, lettuce, roma, heirloom and sun gold tomatoes, swiss chard, butterscotch melons, cucumbers... I could go on. You get about 10 to 12 pouns per bag. Plus they give you recipe suggestions and a weekly newsletter about the selection.

Mike's daughters take care of most of the work for the CSA program. He's busy with the livestock and the day-to-day running of the farm. A couple times of month, he makes the trek down to New Holland, Penn., where most of his sheep go to auction. Those are the really long days, he says. Some nights he may even end up staying over and driving back in the morning... to start it all again.

If you want to find out more about the CSA program, please check out the Web site for Porter Farms, which has all the info you need on how it works and how you can do it.

And now... some sheep butts for your viewing pleasure: