Putnam County farm hosts July picnic
By MARILYN HOWARD, mhoward@NYFB.org

Dutchess Putnam Westchester Farm Bureau (DPWFB) had a fabulous picnic in July in Putnam County at Maria Disalvo’s beautiful horse farm with about 100 people showing up. Not all were members, and so far several have joined and asked for more applications.

We also had great resolutions for Annual Meeting. Mark Adams, DPWFB president welcomed everyone and introduced guests, Eric Ooms Dist. 10 Director, local politicians Assemblyman Greg Ball of the 99th district, Westchester Legislator Michael Kaplowitz, and representatives from Congressman John Hall’s office. Gareth Howard led the Policy Development session with many speaking about problems that they were facing.

Quoting Eric, “The other thing I was thinking about on my ride home (while listening to my Red Sox expand their division lead over the Yanks), was that we were approximately 30ish miles from the largest metro area in the country and every issue was an issue that you would find somewhere else in the state, like land use, guestworker program, property taxes, etc.” Marge Thorpe, Chairperson of the Putnam Farmland Protection Board also addressed the crowd. Special thanks to Maria for her generous hospitality!

Mark Adams attended a meeting with Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Greenport.She was not able to attend in person due to votes in Washington so she was on conference phone and interacted with the audience. Mark thanked her for her good job on behalf of NY Farmers on the Farm Bill. The next weekend North Wind Farm in Tivoli, New York held its 25th Anniversary celebration.

According to a news release, more than 500 hundred people gathered at Memorial Park in Tivoli for an “old fashioned country picnic.” Rich Biezynski said, “This was a celebration to thank the community and customers who have supported North Wind for all these years.”

Orange County has been busy with hearings with Rep. John Hall, D-Dover Plains, and Sen. Charles Schumer keeping the Farm Bill conservation on muck soils, crop insurance reform and immigration reform in focus.

An update from previous column; Congratulations to OCFB board member John Crowley’s daughter, Kelsey. She was a member of US Pony Club International Mounted Games team for 2007 who won their mounted games competition on July 27th in Lexington, Ky. First time since 1994 that the USA won! Great Britain was second, followed by Australia and Canada. Off to the fair. Summer is flying by...

County FBs turn out for fairs throughout Southern Tier
By LINDSAY WICKHAM, lwickham@NYFB.org

County Fair Season has come and gone for another year. All my counties had a large presence at their respective fairs, but perhaps none as much as Chemung County Farm Bureau. Along with the county Soil and Water Conservation District and Federation of Sportsmen, they moved into their new home on the fairgrounds. Though not quite finished, it was definitely a huge draw as people wandered in and out of it all week to view the displays and play with the Foundation Ag Master Game.

Broome County has been busy as usual. The hosted their annual night at the B-Mets in beautiful NYSEG Stadium. They gave away over 170 tickets to members and their families. BCFB is also spearheading a real grassroots effort to keep their FSA office open. They have sent out two rounds of postcards alerting members to the issue and have helped spread the word to their Legislators and Congressmen.

Chenango County hosted their annual Ice Cream Social to an enthusiastic crowd looking for Fletcher’s homemade toppings, Marge Secrest’s baked goods, and some locally made Ives’ Cream. They continue their hard work on bringing a community methane digester to the county, and had their most successful Farm Bureau Consignment Auction to date. Look for a new ag scholarship from the county FB, funded by the proceeds from their auction. Tioga County hosted their annual Rural Urban Picnic at the Country Café in Candor. A chicken BBQ with a host of fabulous side dishes and great fellowship greeted everyone, all despite a torrential downpour for a good chunk of the dinner. Thank gooodness for pavilions. TCFB also reached out to its members in the Town of Barton to get involved in a zoning proposal. Thanks to longtime member Don Foster for spearheading that and letting us know what was going on.

Steuben County is gearing up for their Farm City Day, Sept. 22, this year located at the Robert and Nadine Palmer Farm in Howard, and as always hosted by the county Farmland Protection Board and Cornell Cooperative Extension. They also hosted another gas leasing seminar at the Prattsburgh Central School, and donated 250 Ag Activity Books to board member Phil Bennett’s conservation field day. Finally, my latest gas leasing update. After 10 years of hard work, public outreach, patience on the part of some landowners, new legislation that has brought in more companies, and just darn perseverance, we now have, in some cases, doubled the 1/8 or 12.5 percent royalty leases that some falsely advertise as “standard.”

A company is now offering up to 25 percent royalties. We had seen 15 – 18.75 percent leases over the last few years, but the market is working and continuing to drive the price up.

As the word spreads, it is forcing other companies to also bring up their rates. And I haven’t even mentioned the $500 - $1,000 per acre (over 5 years) that goes with it.

We are still in the infancy of this play. Stay tuned, be patient, ask questions, and call us.