Growers learn about disposal methods
By KIRBY SELKIRK, KSelkirk@nyfb.org 

Clinton, Essex and Franklin County Farm Bureaus joined with their respective Cooperative Extension offices to hold two mortality management composting demonstrations.

Due to the closing of the North Country’s only rendering plant, farmers needed to find a proper means of disposing of their deadstock.

Jean Bonhotal, from Cornell’s Waste Management Institute, conducted the workshops which each included a classroom discussion and the construction of a composting pile enclosing the mortality.

The piles will be opened at the appropriate time and the contents examined to show the effects of proper composting practices. The workshop and demonstration materials will be made available to farmers who are unable to attend the demonstrations through the county CCE offices.

County Farm Bureau members donated the sites, materials and deadstock to make the demonstrations possible.

On a more pleasant note, throughout the region counties are preparing for summer promotion activities. Franklin County has, for several years, worked with the CCE Dairy Committee and the Dairy Princess Committee to create a large dairy promotion booth at the Franklin County Fair.

St. Lawrence County will once again conduct a farm tour this fall. These tours are always well attended by folks from the surrounding urban villages and college towns.

Essex will collaborate with Adirondack Harvest to create a “Taste of Essex County” exhibit at their fair in the Lake Champlain shoreline town of Westport.

Lewis County will show the Farm Bureau colors at both the Lewis County Fair and the Agricultural Field Days held at the fairgrounds in Lowville.

Recruiting growers, teaching youngsters
By SKIP JENSEN, SJensen@nyfb.org

The five counties in Region 4 have been continuing to work on signing up new members all spring and summer.

There are some real positive legislative results for membership workers to use like the Dairy Investment Act, roll back of the increase in ag value assessments to a 10 percent cap, reform of workers compensation as well as several others. Any one of these will generate enough savings to pay a Farm Bureau membership for several years.

My work in membership recruitment has shown me that we need to do a better job of telling the farmers of New York State what we are doing and how much we have accomplished to help them in their businesses. We have often commented about how much we could do if we had everyone as a Farm Bureau member.

Schuyler County Farm Bureau has been very proactive in promoting agriculture within the Odessa Montour School with their farm tours and educating sixth graders in the classroom as well. On May 10 all the sixth graders from the school, about 75 in all, spent a day at the Bergen Farm in Odessa.

The Bergens have a dairy of about 1,700 cows and 3,000 total animals. Before the tour, the Pro Ed committee visited the classrooms and talked to the students about what they would see and learn at the farm. The goal was to integrate what is done on the farm with the curriculum taught in the classroom.

Math problem solving related to feed mixing and weighing, science questions about soil and environmental issues, CAFO regulations and calculating how much manure and fertilizer to apply to individual fields, veterinary care and the normal care of the animals and repairs and maintenance of machinery were just some of the highlights learned by the kids. The rotary milking parlor was a real hit with everyone.

One of the most interesting activities was during lunch where all of the students were together and all of the participants and educators told what they did and explained their jobs and how much education they had. The goal of this activity was to stress to the students how important it is to do well in school and the need for a good well rounded education. Everyone considered the day a resounding success. The teachers were excited about what the kids saw and learned about Schuyler County agriculture and the Pro Ed committee was very happy to provide the tools to help teach the students.

Herkimer directors lobby at Capitol
By JOHN WAGNER, JWagner@nyfb.org

Recently two members of the Herkimer County Farm Bureau Board of Directors and I traveled to Albany to spend the day lobbying for legislation that would benefit the equine industry of New York.

Our group spent the day working side by side with New York Farm Bureau Deputy Director of Public Policy Jeff Williams who coordinated our activities for the day. Among the topics of discussion during our meetings was a bill that would give equine operations an exemption when it comes to paying sales tax on farrier services and legislation that would update New York’s liability insurance laws.

Oneida County Farm Fest
Oneida County Farm Fest June is Dairy Month celebrations kicked off in Oneida County on June 1 with the annual Oneida County Farm Fest.

This year’s event held at Tayl-Wind Farms in Cassville was a huge success with more than 1,000 people participating in the open to the public portion of the event and more than 500 local school children taking part in the morning educational seminars.

The event featured something for adults and children of all ages from the hay maze for kids to the evening square dance for adults. Special thanks again to the members of Tayl-Wind Farms for hosting this year’s event and to the staff at Cornell Cooperative Extension for putting on a great event and on behalf of the county Farm Bureau a big thank you to all our volunteers who assisted in bringing this vision of farm education to fruition. Ethanol facility tour Recently about 25 individuals from the New York Farm Bureau District 6 Region had the opportunity to tour the Northeast Bio-Fuels Ethanol facility in Fulton.

The group got a first hand look at the construction progress and a chance to discuss with the plant manager the process of selling corn into the plant and purchasing outgoing distiller’s grain from the facility.

The plant, which is slated to go on-line this fall, was a flurry of activity during our visit with concrete trucks rolling in and out all day as crews worked on construction of the grain unloading and storage areas. The district would like to extend a special thanks to Brian Roach, plant manager, and to Eric Behling, NYFB District 6 State Director, for organizing the tour.

Long Islanders prep for awards dinner
By JOSEPH GERGELA III, jgergela@lifb.com

As always, Long Island has been busy, busy, busy. There’s so much happening on Long Island, I’ll just get right to it. Happy summer, everyone.

Kristen Kennedy of Manorville joins Long Island Farm Bureau this summer as an intern. Kristen’s family owns W&K Farms in Manorville, where she is often found helping out in their retail and wholesale vegetable business. “I know that I want to work in a field where I help others,” she said, “but I’m not sure how just yet.”

Kristen has been a great asset to us for the last couple of weeks. She’s getting a piece of agriculture from every corner of the table, including marketing, events, politics, public policy and general office administration. We’re happy to have her with us. Kristen will return this fall to Cornell University as a sophomore where she is majoring in Agricultural Sciences.

This year, we’re celebrating our 90th annual Awards Dinner at Martha Clara Vineyards on Sunday, July 22. We’re proud to honor two admired leaders in our community: Charles Scheer of Half Hollow Nursery and Vincent Daley of Farm Family Insurance Company.

Their dedication and support to strengthen the agricultural industry has been overwhelming through the years. We hope you will join us on July 22 to honor Charlie and Vinnie and celebrate Long Island’s cornucopia of foods and wines. Tickets are available at the Farm Bureau office in Calverton. Please call for details (631) 727-3777.

Long Island Farm Bureau will host its 10th annual Golf Outing on Monday, Oct. 15, 2007 at Pine Hollow Country Club in East Norwich. Sign up today and show your support as a player or sponsor. This year, our awards dinner is also open to anyone who’d like to join us in an evening of fun and great food. Call (631) 727-3777 for details or visit our Web site, www.lifb.com.

LIFB is working closely with local towns and Suffolk County on regulations pertaining to lot coverage issues for building on land with development rights sold.

LIFB and NYFB are working on legislation to clarify that farm and commercial wineries have the ability to contract with caterers to provide food and beverages at winery events such as weddings, etc.

Included in the legislation, sponsored by Senator LaValle and Assemblyman Alessi, is a provision which would allow the winery tasting and sales room to remain open during the catered event. This legislation passed both houses of the Legislature and will now go before the governor for his approval.