May 26, 2010
Madison County Agriculture’s Weekly E-Newsletter
May 26, 2010
Newsletter Includes:
Upcoming Events
- SUNY Cobleskill Offering Meat Processing Certificate Program
- Northeast Hops Alliance presents: NeHa Field Days
- Pollinators and Pesticides Symposium
In the News
- Madison County Hops used in Locally made Beer
- Oneida Healthcare Center Offers Staff Opportunity to Support Local CNY Bounty Food Program
- President Norton Welcomes New Dean
- New York Brew Fest Announces Seminar on NY Hops
- Heritage NY Underground Railroad Exhibit Opens at Gerrit Smith Barn
- Farmworker labor bill introduced again in state Senate
- New York Apple Growers, LLC Obtains License To New Apple Varieties
- Gillibrand Fights for Federal Loan Dollars to New York’s Family Farms
- Hop to It
- City Greenmarkets Growing Local
- Field Report: A Movable Beast
- AED Program Hires New Assistant
- Dairy Price Stabilization Act Introduced
- Wall Street Eyes Farmland: Investors Aim to Tap Ag’s “Super Cycle”
- Growing Success: Grape Industry an Economic Boom for Region
- One Moos and One Hums, but They Could Help Power Google
Opportunities & Classifieds
- Australian Shepherd Puppies for Sale
- USDA Rural Development Accepting Applications For Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Grants and Loan Guarantees
- Festival Seeks Local Wine Artisans, Farmers, & Craft Food Vendors
- Asgaard Farm & Dairy: Cheese Maker Wanted
- 2009 Summer/Fall born calves wanted for Carcass Value Discovery Program
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Meat Processing and Food Safety Certificate Program
PROGRAM DATES:
WINTER SESSION: January 3rd – Student Orientation – 9 am to 12 pm
Classes start on January 4-29th from 7:30 am to 4 pm.
SUMMER SESSION: *Date Pending – Student Orientation – 9 am to 12 pm – Room Check-in time is 1 pm.
Classes start on June 1-26th from 7:30 am to 4 pm. Dorm Check-out time is June 25th prior to start of class on the June 26th.
MEAT PROCESSING AND FOOD SAFETY – $2,995
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The Northeast Hops Alliance presents…..
NeHA Field Days
Hop in the Fields (come watch ‘em grow)
Wednesday, July 14th
5pm to dark
Pedersen Farms
www.pedersenfarms.com
1798 County Road 4
Seneca Castle, NY 14547
$15 NeHA members/$25 non-NeHA members includes tour, dinner & Ithaca Beer
Hop Pickin’ Picnic (come see the harvester in action)
Saturday, August 28th
Noon to 5pm
Foothill Hops Farm
www.foothillhops.com
5024 Bear Path Road
Munnsville, NY 13409
$10 NeHA members/$20 non-NeHA members includes tour, lunch & Empire Brewery Beer
NeHA membership is $40/farm/year. Become a member today!
http://www.northeasthopalliance.org/
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For more information about NeHA field days or to register, please visit:
http://www.northeasthopalliance.org/
or call 315-684-3001 x 125
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Pollinators and Pesticides Symposium
Alfred State College in Alfred, New York – July 22, 2010
A steady decline in pollinator species has been noted for decades. Additionally, the increasing loss of honey bee colonies suffered by the commercial beekeepers that provide pollination services to commercial growers indicates that many food supplies are imperiled. This symposium introduces attendees to some of the recent findings related to honey bee and pollinator losses.
Presenting from Penn. State University/Center for Pollinator Research:
Maryann Frazier, Pennsylvania state extension entomologist – A survey of recent research findings regarding honey bee health.
Dr. James Frazier, Professor, Department of Entomology – Synergistic and sublethal effects of pesticides on honey bees.
Presenting from the USDA-ARS Honey Bee Pollination Lab in Tucson, Arizona:
Dr. Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman, Research Director – Do pesticide contaminants alter the microflora in healthy honey bee colonies?
Dr. Diana Sammataro – Beneficial lactic acid bacteria microflora of honey bees.
Dr. Kirk Anderson – Microbiota in the stored food sources of social insects.
Dr. Mark Carroll – Varroa mite attractants; potential solution for varroa mite/viral challenges to honey bees.
The Symposium will be July 22, 2010. 10 AM – 11:30, 1 PM – 4 PM. Alfred State SUNY College of Technology, 10 Upper College Drive, Alfred, NY. For those wishing to bring a picnic lunch, a designated area will be announced at the meeting, other lunch options will be available on campus and in town.
There is no cost to attend; we do however require registration through the New York Sustainable Agriculture Working Group at the following e-mail – nysawg@gmail.com or at 716-316-5839. Include name, affiliation (eg. Grower, researcher/college, beekeeper/organization, etc), and phone # or e-mail address.
This Symposium is sponsored by
Alfred State SUNY College of Technology/Institute for Sustainability; Western New York Honey Producers Association;
New York Sustainable Agriculture Working Group with USDA RMA;
Bee Culture – the Magazine of American Beekeeping.
IN THE NEWS
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Madison County Hops used in Locally made Beer
Munnsville’s Foothill Farms will Continue to Provide Key Ingredient for Empire Pale Ale if Demand Remains Strong
By Aaron Gifford
(Munnsville May 5) Call it a throwback to an earlier era: Local hops used in a local beer, enjoyed by local people.
When the call came, Larry Fisher was shipping hops from his Foothill Hops farm in Munnsville to beer makers and brew pubs in California and Alaska. Then he found out that Empire Brewing Company, a popular Syracuse restaurant, had selected his Cascade hops for its new Empire Pale Ale.
“This is what we’ve wanted for a long time – local interest,” Fisher said. “I am surprised at how much demand there’s been for this beer.”
The first mugs of Empire Ale were poured at the Armory Square hot spot last month after a Northeast Hops Alliance meeting. Becca Jablonski, Madison County Agricultural Economic Development Economic Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, said Empire Ale is currently the only beer made with 100-percent Madison County-grown hops.
“They [beer experts] said Larry’s cascade hops are totally different than the ones grown out west,” Jablonski said. “When they first started, they weren’t sure how this beer was going to turn out. But it’s absolutely awesome. They’ll continue to brew it.”
Fisher grows 11 different types of hops in his four-acre field. He said Cascade hops produce a citrus aroma and are frequently used in pale ales and the more bitter India pale ales.
“It’s actually a dual-purpose hops,” he said. “It can be used for aroma or bitterness.”
Hops are flowering, perennial herbs that grow on vines. They are mainly used to flavor and preserve beer, but also have medicinal and decorative purposes. Madison County’s hop industry thrived in the 19th Century but fizzed over time because of prohibition, increased production in the northwest and decreasing hop prices. Fisher began growing hops in 2001.
The beer is currently available only at the Empire Brewing Company restaurant, but Jablonski said she’s optimistic that it will be bottled some day and sold locally. Fisher also said that the brewers of Saranac beer in Utica have expressed an interest in using local hops.
Aaron Gifford is contributing editor for the Madison County Courier. He can be reached at aaron@m3pmedia.com.
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Oneida Healthcare Center Offers Staff Opportunity to Support Local CNY Bounty Food Program
May 10, 2010- Oneida Healthcare Center is now providing their staff with the opportunity to support local growers and producers by teaming up with CNY Bounty. “We are proud and excited to offer support to our local producers and provide farm fresh delivery to our staff” said Mike Healy, Community Relations Director at Oneida Healthcare Center. “We encourage our staff to participate in healthy lifestyle choices and this seemed like a perfect match.”
“Oneida Healthcare is proud to support CNY Bounty and eager to offer this sustainable, healthy food program to our staff” said Oneida Healthcare Director of Human Resources and Wellness Coordinator John Margo. “The staff in our hospital deserves access to the high-quality food that our local farmers and producers are providing. Plus, as a customer, I can attest to the fact that the food is of high quality and it just feels right to be supporting our local businesses.”
“CNY Bounty staff and producers are very excited about the addition of the Oneida Healthcare as a Bounty drop site location” said Steve Holzbaur, Program Coordinator, CNY Bounty. Holzbaur explained that the hospital drop site is currently limited to orders placed by Oneida Healthcare employees and families. “Eventually, we plan to make it one of our main sites accessible to the entire community-and Oneida Healthcare is being a great partner in that effort.” he said.
CNY Bounty is a year-round online farmers’ market that supports over 90 local small and mid-sized farmers and producers. Over 900 locally produced products including grass-fed, hormone-free meats; organic dairy products and farm fresh produce are listed on the website: www.CNYBounty.com
Each week, Bounty staff coordinates weekly product availability with farmers and producers and upload the products, prices, photos and descriptions on the website. Each farmer/producer decides on its own price, and Bounty staff adds an additional 23% to cover overhead costs of marketing and distribution. Customers can go online at www.cnybounty.com before Monday at noon to place an order. Orders are collected from the farms on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning by Bounty staff, taken to the distribution center, orders are packaged and then home delivery is available to customers in Chenango, Madison and the eastern part of Onondaga County. There is no delivery fee and membership into the program is free.
CNY Bounty is made possible by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango, Madison, and Onondaga Counties, the CNY Resource Conservation and Development, Chenango County Economic Development Fund, Chenango Agriculture Development Council, Madison County Agricultural Economic Development Program, Chenango and Madison Counties, Greater Norwich Foundation, Gorman Foundation, CNY Community Foundation, New York Farm Viability Institute, Assemblyman Al Stirpe, and Gifford Foundation.
For more information on CNY Bounty, please visit www.cnybounty.com.
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President Norton Welcomes New Dean
New York Farm Bureau, the state’s largest family farm organization, welcomes Dr. Kathryn Boor to her new position as Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Dr. Boor will be appointed for a five year term on June 30th, 2010 to lead one of the most prestigious agricultural and life sciences colleges in the world.
Dean Norton, President of New York Farm Bureau, said, “Our farmer members could not be more pleased that Dr. Boor’s tremendous talents will be put to work in a new direction, that of leading the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences through a very challenging time. At no time have we seen such a confluence of events that will shape the future of the College for generations of students and alumni. From the difficult fiscal environment, the challenging farm economy, and the overarching need to ensure that students are educated to become the next generation of farmers and food entrepreneurs, it’s clear that now is the time for continued solid and inspirational leadership at the College.”
Jeff Kirby, Executive Director of New York Farm Bureau, said, “Dr. Boor comes to the Deanship with a very strong knowledge of both agriculture and New York State policy. Her family has a long established dairy farm in Central New York, and she has excellent relationships and knowledge of our farming community which will be invaluable to her as she leads the College forward. The general public is now much more interested in farming and food policy, the importance of nutrition and life sciences, and in buying locally, which is great for our farmers. However, state and federal resources for higher education and cutting edge research and extension are less available, and Dr. Boor’s agricultural background and knowledge will be real assets in advocating for and advancing the College’s land grant mission.”
Dean Norton continued, “The direction of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is critical to our family farms, as the College is one of the main reasons why family farms are able to be competitive in New York’s high cost environment. NYFB welcomes the opportunity to work with Dr. Boor in the months and years to come, and looks forward to her continuing to involve stakeholders to maintain Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences as a preeminent leader in the field of educating students and providing cutting-edge research for agriculture and life sciences.”
New York Farm Bureau also wishes to extend our deepest appreciation and thanks for Dr. Susan Henry, the outgoing Dean, who is retiring this year. Dr. Henry’s guidance, passion for agriculture, and hard work will leave a lasting and indelible impression on the livelihoods of farm families throughout the state and I wish to extend all of our appreciation for her efforts, continued Norton.
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NY Brewfest Announces Seminar on NY Hops
Between 1855 and 1909 New York was the leading producer of hops in the United States – reaching production yields of over 60 million pounds per year. When NYS hops growers were hit with downey mildew, aphids, and prohibition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the crop was forsaken. However, with the success of craft beer throughout the Northeast and the renewed conviction towards localism and terroir, the 21st century is beginning to witness the return of the hop industry to NYS.
Working with Pedersen Farms, the Ithaca Beer Company was the first NYS Brewery in 50+ years to brew a beer with 100% NY-grown hops. Their 2005 Double IPA was wildly popular. Dan Mitchell, owner of the Ithaca Beer Company, reflected, “we were all extremely satisfied to learn that hops could be grown in New York. At the time, we couldn’t have realized how unique, delicious, and popular our Double IDA was going to be.” Building on that success, the Empire State Brewing Company and Foothill Hops Farm recently announced another NY-hopped beer. The newly created Empire State Pale Ale will be available to audience members who attend the NYS Hops seminar at NY Brewfest (6-7pm, June 19th, governor’s island) and to those able to visit the brewpub in Syracuse, NY.
Tim Butler, Brew Master for the Empire State Brewing Company described the Empire State Pale Ale as made with 100% New York state, certified organic, cascade hops from Foothill Hop Farm in Munnsville, NY. “It is an American Pale Ale, light in body and color, but full of New York hop flavor and aroma. The hops have a beautiful floral, citrus and grapefruit characteristic that is typical for the style, but unlike any that I have ever brewed or tasted before. Fresh beer with fresh hops.”
Larry and Kate Fisher, owners of Foothill Hops, are both on the board of the Northeast Hop Alliance (NeHA). NeHA was established in 2000 to assist growers and would-be growers by providing educational opportunities through its “field days” events and courses in partnership with the Hops Institute (based in Madison County, NY). To learn more about the Northeast Hop Alliance, please visit: www.northeasthopalliance.org, come to the NY hops session at NYBeerfest, or register to attend one of the below events.
NY Hops at the NYBeerfest will include: Kate and Larry Fisher, Foothill Hops Farm & the Northeast Hops Alliance; Becca Jablonski, Madison County Agricultural Economic Development; and Tim Butler, Empire State Brewing Company.
Bios:
Larry and Kate Fisher own and operate Foothill Hops, a split certified organic and conventional in transition to organic hop farm in Madison County, NY. They have approximately four acres of hops in production at this time. The Fisher’s began their hop farming enterprise in 2001 after learning about Madison County’s history as the 1808 birthplace of commercial hop farming in New York State. Shortly thereafter, they met with other interested parties to form the Northeast Hop Alliance (NeHA). Today, Larry and Kate are both officers of NeHA and are active advocates for the hop industry in the Northeast. They were chosen to be the hop king and queen of the 2004 Madison County Hop Fest for their work in promoting the hop heritage of the area. The Fishers are regular speakers on behalf of hops growing, most recently presenting a program on Growing Organic Beer at the NOFA-NY convention in January 2010. Their hops have been used by homebrewers and microbrewery customers from Maine to Alaska. Their recent collaboration with Empire Brewing Company to create the Empire State Pale Ale has helped to promote regional hops as a viable enterprise for small farm and brewery partnerships.
Becca Jablonski is the Agricultural Economic Development (AED) Specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County. Becca received her BA from Cornell University and her MSc in Agricultural Development from the University of London. Since 2001 Becca has worked in agricultural development in various capacities, including: as a vineyard worker and winemaker apprentice on a vineyard in the Burgundy region of France; as a fellow for the US Environmental Protection Agency addressing problems related to non-point source pollution; as a farmworker on a CSA and farm-to-market vegetable farm in Whitefish, Montana; as a Research Associate at the California Institute for Rural Studies and California Cooperative Extension, working on issues surrounding farmworker rights; and, as a research assistant for an NGO in Nkambe, Cameroon addressing erosion issues on farms. Becca has been working with the NeHA and the NYS Brewers Association since 2008 and is the reigning hop queen. Becca wrote and received a grant to purchase a hop harvester from NYS Assemblyman Bill Magee and is currently working with members of the NYS Assembly and Senate to write and pass legislation to allow farm brewery licenses in NYS. In partnership with the NeHA and the NYS Brewers Association, Becca helped to establish the NYS Hops Institute and currently acts as the administrator for the Institute as well as the NeHA.
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Heritage NY Underground Railroad Exhibit Opens at Gerrit Smith Barn
Exhibits installed last week through the Underground Railroad Heritage Trail, a program of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, will be open to the public Saturday, May 29 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the Gerrit Smith Estate Barn Sale. The Barn Sale is part of the annual Peterboro Community Yard Sale. The exhibit in the barn on the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark shows the commitment of the Smith family to end slavery in the United States, identifies the national figures who came to Peterboro to work against slavery, and describes the freedom seekers who sought a haven in Peterboro. The exhibitions were designed, manufactured, and installed by The Exhibition Alliance in Hamilton NY, in cooperation with the UGRR Heritage Trail project and the Smithfield Community Association in Peterboro.
The public is encouraged to visit the new exhibits, shop at the Barn Sale and the Peterboro Mercantile, and to pick-up preservation information on methods and funding for older home repairs. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Nell Ziegler, Barn Squad, 315-374-9605.
Proceeds from the event support the preservation and promotion of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark which is a site on both the New York State Underground Railroad Heritage Trail and the National Park Service Underground Railroad Heritage Trail. The Barn Sale is one of series of programs provided by the Stewards for the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark during 2010 and partially supported by a PACE grant from the Central New York Community Foundation. For a complete listing of programs, contact SmithfieldCommunityAssociation@centralny.twcbc.com, 315-684-1058, and www.sca-peterboro.com
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Farmworker labor bill introduced again in state Senate
By Debra J. Groom / The Post-Standard
Albany, NY — A group of senators from metro New York City have reintroduced the Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act in the state Senate.
The bill did not make it to the floor of the Senate earlier this season when it was voted down by the Senate Agriculture Committee. But agriculture officials vow to fight the bill again.
The bill would grant collective bargaining rights, workers’ compensation and unemployment benefits to farmworkers. It also provides at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week, an eight-hour day for farm laborers and overtime at a rate of one-and-a-half times the normal rate.
Farm groups, such as New York Farm Bureau, and individual farmers have fought the bill, stating it would cost farmers millions of dollars statewide, which could cause some farmers to go out of business. They believe it also would drive farmworkers out of New York to other states.
Farmworker groups, including the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign, fought for the bill, arguing that farmers have denied farmworkers basic rights that other workers enjoy.
The Senate Labor committee passed the farmworker bill in January, sending it to the codes committee. At that time, Sen. Darrel Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Sen. Catharine Young, a Republican who represents southwestern New York, asked the labor committee chair to have the bill sent to the agriculture committee for review.
The committee chair denied the request. Aubertine took his request to Senate leader Sen. Malcolm Smith, who sent the bill to the Ag committee. The Ag committee voted the bill down in mid-April.
Aubertine said Wednesday reintroduction of the bill, which is identical to the defeated one except for some cosmetic changes, is an attempt to subvert the legislative process that the bill already went through earlier this year. He said he will fight this attempt to push the bill through.
“It’s disheartening that advocates for this legislation after suffering a defeat refuse to accept the fact that this bill went through an open process, was considered and defeated by a majority of senators,” Aubertine said.
“Up to now a majority of senators who have voted on this bill, voted against this bill. The process was set up by the Senate to deal with these bills and the process worked. There really is no substantive change between this legislation and the legislation that went down to defeat,” he said.
The bill was reintroduced by state Sen. George Onorato of Queens.
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New York Apple Growers, LLC Obtains License To New Apple Varieties
May 11, 2010
NYAG LLC, better known as New York Apple Growers, has completed negotiations with Cornell University to obtain the exclusive license to two new apple varieties.
These two varieties, currently known as NY 1 and NY 2, have been developed by the Cornell Apple Breeding program led by Dr. Susan Brown. Both apples have excellent appearance, flavor, and crispness.
NYAG has surveyed all New York growers regarding their interest in joining NYAG. There have been positive responses from 170 growers, including 70 grower direct marketers. These growers expressed a desire to plant about 1,000 acres of the NY 1 and NY 2 cultivars. Currently, only New York growers are eligible to join NYAG and to plant, grow, and market the licensed varieties.
NYAG will be contracting with grower members to manage the distribution of the acreage and ultimately the packing and marketing of the fruit. NYAG will be sublicensing packinghouses and marketers in order to offer premium returns to growers for the sale of this fruit. Revenues derived from royalties of these initial varieties will be shared with Cornell University to provide funding for breeding work to create future selections suited to the New York climate. As a result, NYAG growers will be funding directly into the apple breeding program.
For more on the new apples, http://growingproduce.com/americanfruitgrower/?storyid=2858
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Gillibrand Fights for Federal Loan Dollars to New York’s Family Farms
WASHINGTON, DC – With farms across New York struggling during these tough economic times, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today urged Senate leaders to include $80 million for the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to continue its critical service through the Farm Operating and Farm Ownership loans program. The FSA makes direct and guaranteed farm ownership and operating loans to family-size farmers and ranchers who cannot obtain commercial credit from a bank, Farm Credit System institution, or other lender.
“New York’s farmers are a critical part of our economy and we must ensure their success,” said Senator Gillibrand. “In this economic crisis, we can’t afford to let our farm families be pushed any farther to the brink. If we’re going to rebuild this economy, we need to keep families on their farms. I will continue working to ensure our farmers and rural businesses have access to the assistance they need to succeed and grow for the long term.”
Several states, including New York, have already exhausted the funds allocated for Farm Operating and Farm Ownership loans. A great number of loan applications have already been approved, but with no funding available to obligate. Nationally, there are approximately $79 million in loans that are approved and waiting for funding. Of this, $19 million are for Farm Operating loans and $60 million are for Farm Ownership loans.
New York’s FSA Farm Loan Program currently has $2,833,130 of loans approved with no available money to fund them. Of this, $656,000 are Farm Ownership Loans and $2,177,130 are Farm Operating Loans. Currently, New York has $17,024,900 in applications on hand, which is significant given FSA’s current lack of funds.
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Hop to it
Syracuse New Times
There is a French term for local flavor, terroire. As a brewer, I have been searching for that for years. How can I get terroire into my beers? On the West Coast it’s easy: Use West Coast hops. They’re local to them. For me, those hops are not local but have been my only choice until now.
New York state has been lacking in locally grown ingredients for brewers for quite some time. It takes creativity and hard working people to realize we have the ability to brew beers with local flavor, with terroire.
The hop situation in New York State has been a topic in the brewing community for the last few years. We have had no hop market to speak of in the last 150 years. The Pacific Northwest has been the dominant hop producer in the United States since the repeal of Prohibition, but Central New York was once a powerhouse in this industry, and for quite some time.
Empire Brewing Co., 120 Walton St., has become committed to using and sourcing as many local ingredients as we possibly can. It is widely known that many of our menu items consist of local organic meat, eggs, cheese and vegetables. Finally, we can add our beer to that list.
We have recently introduced a beer called Empire State Pale Ale made with 100 percent, New York state, certified organic Cascade hops from Foothill Hop Farm in Munnsville. It is an American Pale Ale, light in body and color, but full of New York hop flavor and aroma.
Terroire. The hops have a beautiful floral, citrus and grapefruit characteristic that is typical for the style, but unlike any that I have ever brewed or tasted before. Fresh beer with fresh hops. You have to taste it to experience the terroire.
We are also producing a unique beer that has a local flavor with a local ingredient. Called Deep Purple, it is made with New York state-grown Concord grapes from the Growers Cooperative Grape Juice Company in Westfield. It is a wheat beer with Concord grape concentrate added to the beer prior to fermentation.
The result is a purple beer, hence the name “Deep Purple,” with a huge grape aroma, but a surprisingly tart, dry finish. It has an easy drinkability and pairs nicely with soft creamy cheeses.
Terroire is all around you in Central New York if you just look for it. These two beers prove that. Eat Where You Live. Drink Where You Live!
—Tim Butler
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City Greenmarkets Growing Local
By MELANIE GRAYCE WEST
For the city’s 50 farmer’s markets, the hunt for ingredients has begun.
New rules for the Greenmarket, a program run by the nonprofit GrowNYC, mandate that all breads and baked goods contain at least 15% regionally grown and milled grain and flour. Eggs, dairy, meat, honey, maple syrup and any produce used in baked goods must also come from the region, an area defined as 250 miles to the north, 120 miles to the south and 170 miles to the east and west of the city.
“There were a lot of people howling about the baked goods being a blemish on our markets,” said June Russell, Greenmarket’s farm inspections manager.
New York is considered many things, but America’s breadbasket isn’t one of them, so sourcing in the region can be a challenge for the 11 bakers and 17 farm-based bakeries that participate in the Greenmarket program. The flour is sometimes hard to get and expensive to have delivered. Also, it can cost more and some bakers have had to adapt recipes for the new flour.
Samascott Orchards of Kinderhook, N.Y., sells dessert items at Greenmarkets around the city. Jake Samascott said the cost of the new flour, bought from Birkett Mills in Penn Yan, N.Y., is about the same but that the freight charges are nearly equal to the price of the flour. So a member of the Samascott family made the day-long round trip to the mill to pick up pallets of flour to deliver to the farm and a neighboring orchard.
Daniel Leader of Bread Alone, a certified organic baker based in Boiceville, N.Y., said there’s been a lot of trial and error involved in making the new flour he uses work for his recipes.
“The more of the local flour we use, the more our breads change,” said Mr. Leader. “We’re struggling with maintaining quality.”
He pays 48 cents a pound for the regional flour, compared with 31 cents for a flour made from Midwest grain. He said he can’t pass on the increase to the customer, yet. “It’s the worst thing that could happen…the bread and price to change at the same time,” said Mr. Leader.
The shift has been a boon for some local farmers. Farmer Ground Flour, which grows grain and mills it from Trumansburg, N.Y., says it is on track to triple sales this year, partly due to Greenmarket bakers trying to meet new regulations.
Officials say bakers have to get on board or leave the market. Audits begin July 1.
“No one has been kicked out, yet,” said Michael Hurwitz, director of Greenmarket, “but enforcement is happening now.”
Write to: Melanie Grayce West at melanie.west@wsj.com
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Field Report: A Movable Beast
David La Spina for The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23food-t-000.html?ref=dining
By CHRISTINE MUHLKE
It was hard to believe that these four innocuous-looking components may well be the answer to the prayers of livestock farmers.
Organic, grass-fed meat is much in demand in Manhattan restaurants, but little of it is local. It’s not that Hudson Valley farmers aren’t raising it. Who wouldn’t want the extra 25 cents per pound that a 900-pound organically raised cow can bring? But when it comes time to kill (or “harvest”) their animals, farmers have only four slaughter facilities available in the area to go to.
Instead, they drive to Pennsylvania or Massachusetts to plants that can process more than 1,700 cattle a day — when they can get a slot. “They have to schedule appointments 9 to 12 months in advance,” said Judith LaBelle, the president of Glynwood, a nonprofit in Cold Spring, N.Y., that focuses on sustaining the regional food system. “Because they’re raising them outside, they don’t have as much control over their growth as other people do on feed lots. So even if the animal’s not their optimal weight or condition, they have to keep their appointment.” The farmers must then return to pick up the meat, which can no longer be certified organic.
It’s understandable why so many livestockers have transitioned to dairy or poultry. If you’re going to raise your animal as humanely as possible, do you really want it to die on an assembly line?
The fact that regional slaughterhouses were the missing link in the supply chain was no secret among farmers. So in 2008, the task force at Glynwood began researching how to build a plant that could be moved to selected docking sites around the Hudson Valley, a portable abattoir able to be replicated anywhere in the country.
By the time Glynwood’s unit was ready for the regulators, the United States Department of Agriculture was more open-minded about helping farmers trying to build infrastructure. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told me his goal is to help repopulate rural America by creating more market opportunities for small farmers and strengthening the connection between local supply and demand. “We have to make sure that producers are capable of getting critical mass to meet consumer demand,” he said.
In mid-April, the Modular Harvest System, or M.H.S., received U.S.D.A. approval, making it one of a handful in the country.
“The hardest part was being the first to do this,” said Joan Snyder, a Wall Street investment banker turned sheep farmer. She now heads LILA, or Local Infrastructure for Local Agriculture, which is the nonprofit owner of the M.H.S. and the manager of the project. (The Eklunds — Bill, Bill Jr. and Jim — act as the operating company; if you call LILA’s 800 number and press 2 for slaughter-scheduling, you’ll be transferred to Jim.)
“We had no models to follow,” Snyder said. “We were trying to miniaturize what is a very complex process and still keep it able to be legal on the road. It’s so well choreographed in there. It’s like the Rockettes: you can’t step out of line because you’ll bump into somebody’s saw.”
Yes, you will. The kill trailer is 8 feet wide and 53 feet long. In that space a cow, lamb or goat is stunned, killed, bled, skinned and eviscerated. The organs are rolled into the adjoining inedible parts trailer, to be composted or picked up by a renderer for disposal. The carcass is sawed in half and washed with a lactic-acid solution before it’s moved to a chilling compartment. Later, it will be transferred to the connecting refrigerated delivery truck, which can drive off to the nearest “cut and wrap” facility, or butcher. During the entire process, a U.S.D.A. inspector — in the Eklunds’ case, a ponytailed woman with a warm smile — stands in the kill trailer.
I wasn’t allowed in during a kill, but I was able to watch the Red Devon cow I’d just admired in the holding area be led calmly up the ramp and into the trailer. The wild thrashing that followed triggered primal fear and sadness, which caught me off-guard considering that I’m that obnoxious meat hipster who serves pickled pigs’ tongues at her wedding. Silence. Then blood began trickling from the pipe. When I entered the gory trailer at the end of the day, the quarters of four cows dangled neatly in the cooler.
LaBelle expects the demand for local processing to grow once farmers (and chefs) know about the M.H.S. “There may be a place that starts out with a mobile unit that at some point may say, ‘Gee, we have enough to be able to do a high-quality plant on our own now,’ ” she said. “We would declare victory and leave the field.”
The Eklunds, who are fourth-generation organic dairy farmers, were building a meat-processing plant when Glynwood contacted them. They said the response from farmers has been tremendous and positive. Even before they opened the M.H.S., they knew they’d made an impact.
“We had a farmer drive here over an hour,” said Jim, a sturdy, fast-talking 29-year-old with fresh guts on his boots. “He said: ‘I just wanted to see for myself. I sold my cows off three years ago. Couldn’t get ’em processed in a timely manner. It cost me too much to keep up. Saw you’re doing this. Think this is great. I’m gonna go home and buy cows again.’ ”
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AED Program Hires New Assistant
Madison County’s Agricultural Economic Development (AED) Program and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County are pleased to welcome Lindsey McDonnell – the new AED Program Assistant. Lindsey, originally from Kirkville, NY, is a recent graduate of SUNY-ESF (Environmental Science and Forestry). She received a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Studies – a newly created program with curriculum designed to take a comprehensive approach to solving environmental problems. While in school, Lindsey worked at the DoubleTree Hotel in East Syracuse. Upon completion of her degree, Lindsey received funding through a green jobs training grant to assist the hotel in putting together a sustainability plan. The plan enabled Lindsey to work with every department throughout the hotel, and spurred the hotel to develop environmental policies and new behaviors that reflect its desire to become energy efficient, conserve resources, and reduce waste disposal. Through her work on the plan Lindsey recognized many of the challenges hotels face attempting to procure locally-grown and processed foods and is excited to work with the AED Program to try to bridge this divide.
“The AED Program is growing,” said Bee Tolman, Chairwoman of the AED Program Committee. “The program is trying to meet the needs of the diverse range of farmers in this County. We were looking for an assistant who was passionate about agriculture, enthusiastic, able to understand our complex program very quickly, help us to implement the program, and work with us as the program grows in the future. Lindsey fits that bill. The AED Program Committee really appreciates the support given to us by the Madison County Board of Supervisors in funding this new part-time position. They clearly understand the needs of our farming community for programs that will help them to find new markets for their products.”
The mission for the Agricultural Economic Development Program is: to maintain, develop, and promote a viable agricultural economy that benefits Madison County. The priorities for achieving that mission: 1) marketing Madison County’s agricultural products and services by creating market opportunities and encouraging value-added enterprises; 2) maintaining an appropriate agricultural land base to support a viable agricultural economy in Madison County by assisting existing Madison County farmers and attracting and supporting new farmers.
If you would like to contact Lindsey McDonnell or the AED Program, please
email: lm523@cornell.edu or call: 315-684-3001 x 125
[Note: the AED Program has a new office space at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County. The office, shared with CNY Bounty, is located on the lower level of the building, 100 Eaton Street, Morrisville. Visitors are encouraged to park in the back of the building.]
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Dairy Price Stabilization Act introduced
By Dairy Herd news source | Thursday, May 13, 2010
Congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) today introduced legislation to protect American jobs and strengthen our nation’s dairy industry. The Dairy Price Stabilization Act promotes market stability and individual dairy farmers’ ability to grow their own business.
“While periods of boom and bust are not new to the dairy industry, our dairy families cannot afford another year of low milk checks that don’t even cover the cost of production,” said Costa. “The dairy price crisis is devastating our local economy and ability to create and sustain jobs. This bill will help the dairy industry get back on track and curb the milk price volatility that is driving dairy farmers in the Valley and our nation out of business”
In 2009, dairy farms throughout the country experienced one of the worst price crises of the last 40 years. Last June, prices dropped to an average of over $6.00 per hundredweight, dramatically below the cost of production. An inconsistent national support system and the absence of a national supply management plan has exacerbated the price instability and created an unsustainable business cycle for many dairy families. In 2009, America’s roughly 65,000 dairies lost over $12 billion. Sharp losses forced dairy farmers to lay off workers and, in many cases, shutter their operations.
“We have a real opportunity to make meaningful changes to prevent future dairy crashes like the one we’re in now,” added Costa. “Protecting the livelihoods of our dairy families is critical to promoting a full economic recovery and the nation’s access to healthy dairy products.”
The Dairy Price Stabilization Act would help stabilize dairy prices by better aligning supply and demand. Under the program, individual dairies would have the choice of either maintaining their current production level (plus an allowable year-over-year growth rate based on market indications) or expanding their production and increasing their share of the market.
Dairies choosing to increase their market share would pay a fee during the first year of expansion which is paid out to their fellow dairy farmers who are maintaining their current share of the market. This creates a rational system that allows the market to absorb increases in production by providing a tangible financial incentive for most dairies to manage their production growth.
The structure of the bill is based on unbiased economic analysis and modeling conducted in the past 18 months. Both the growth rate and market access fee would be determined based on market indicators including feed costs which are the largest cost factor for producers in states like California. A producer board of directors would be established to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on any necessary adjustments to program operations. The bill empowers farmers by allowing them to vote on whether to enact the program and, three years after it commences, to vote on whether to continue it.
Video of Congressman Costa speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives today in support of the Dairy Price Stabilization Act can be viewed here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GY_6nmGIQQ.
Costa was joined by four other Members of Congress from across the country in introducing the bill, including Congressmen Peter Welch (D-VT), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Rick Larsen (D-WA), and John B. Larson (D-CT).
“After the worst year in recent memory, the time for comprehensive dairy reform legislation has arrived,” said Rep. Joe Courtney. “I am pleased to join with Congressman Costa and others on this effort that will help stabilize dairy markets and protect our farming families.”
“The Washington state dairy industry is the tenth largest in the nation. The 128 dairy farms in Whatcom County, in my district, produce the 2nd greatest amount of milk in the state,” said Rep. Rick Larsen. “This means many local jobs and hardworking families depend on stability in the dairy industry. Every day, countless farmers and families throughout my district suffer through the roller coaster that is the dairy market.
“Rep. Costa’s bill makes important steps toward stabilizing the price of milk, which is a top priority for dairy farmers. While I recognize this is only a first step in responding to the concerns that dairy farmers have around the country, this is an important step, and I am happy to support Rep. Costa’s legislation today.”
“Continuing volatility within the dairy industry has devastated Vermont’s hardworking family farmers and their counterparts across the country. We have responded with important short-term support measures, but we must not delay in finding a path to long term reform,” said Rep. Peter Welch. “This bill sets an important marker as we find consensus within the industry about how to ensure the survival and prosperity of dairy.”
Added Rep. John B. Larson, “I believe in reward for a hard day’s work. But, because of the volatility in milk prices, small dairy farmers in Connecticut, New England, and throughout our nation have been denied a decent living. We need to bring commonsense reform to the market that protects the livelihood of our small dairy farmers, and the food that average Americans put on their table.”
Source: Office of Congressman Jim Costa
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Wall Street Eyes Farmland: Investors Aim to Tap Ag’s “Super Cycle”
NEW YORK (DTN) — In a New York City ballroom actor Michael Douglas made famous with his “greed is good” speech in the movie “Wall Street,” 400 pension and fund managers, investment bankers and some of the world’s largest farmers gathered this week to discuss the latest hot prospect in institutional investment: farmland.
Underlying the frenzy in investing in farmland is the knowledge that global food demand will double by 2050 and skepticism that seed companies and agribusiness can engineer higher yields to solve the problem. (DTN/The Progressive Farmer file photo)
The Who’s Who of Wall Street financiers now interested in channeling billions of new dollars into cropland ownership in the U.S., South America, Eastern Europe and even Africa include heavy hitters like UBS, Franklin Templeton, Morgan Stanley, TIAA-CREF, Rabobank and John Hancock.
Underlying the investment frenzy is the knowledge that global food demand will double by 2050 and skepticism that seed companies and agribusiness can engineer higher yields to solve the problem. In that case, millions of new acres will need to be brought into cultivation and current cropland pushed to its max for productivity, which is why investors are interested in both farmland and virgin land that can be planted to crops. The need to bring more land into soybean production is especially acute as China and India improve their diets and yield advances have lagged corn.
“People really do believe agriculture is headed for a super cycle,” said Kenneth Van Heel, global director of Dow Chemical’s pension fund, which is stepping up its land investments, primarily in the U.S. “Across the industry, there are so many investments to be made.”
Many of the would-be farmland owners are no neophytes to U.S. or global agriculture. Gary Taylor, former president of Cargill Cotton, spent 38 years immersed in the commodities business worldwide and already owns 7,000 acres in his personal portfolio. Now he and a partner have launched a farm real estate investment firm to purchase farmland in the Mississippi River watershed. They favor corn, soybean, cotton and rice land with good access to water and the benefit of Mississippi River basis for the best market prices. With what he knows about growing world trade in agriculture, Taylor expects U.S. farmland to double in the next five years.
A soon-to-be-released study by the World Bank found that institutional investors already have announced plans to acquire up to 125 million acres in global farmland, about the land mass of Germany. In the big scheme of things, that might not sound like a lot, but the issue is that it’s just the beginning, said John Lamb, World Bank agribusiness team leader.
Foreign ownership of land is so sensitive in some countries that news that an Asian corporation wanted to buy 3.25 million acres in Madagascar in 2008 led to riots, the death of 130 people and the overthrow of the government. Now the World Bank is trying to develop ethical standards for investors so they don’t turn Third World countries into neo-colonial plantations. “It’s like the California gold rush. The initial investors are not the most savory characters in the world,” Lamb said.
Insurance companies and pension funds romanced U.S. farmland in the 1970s, only to exit the business when values cratered during the 1980s debt crisis. What’s different this time is interest is more widespread, Lamb added. For example, Saudi Arabian interests are securing land bases in Islamic countries instead of growing wheat with fossilized irrigation water in the desert, Brazil is attracting corporate-style farming with firms traded on public stock markets and the former Soviet Union and Eastern European bloc now offers a frontier for private investment that didn’t exist during agriculture’s last golden age in the 1970s.
One constraint that keeps investors as pure landlords and not operators in the U.S. is investors of this scale are ineligible for U.S. farm programs. What’s more, a handful of states such as North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa outlaw corporate ownership of farms. What gives institutions hope is that Nebraska’s anti-corporate farming law was recently overturned by the state Supreme Court, and they believe other states could lose if challenged. In the European Union, there are no eligibility or payment limits on farm subsidies, so farms like Spearhead International, Europe’s largest farming corporation with 150,000 acres in the United Kingdom, Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic, can collect EU farm subsidies worth about $90 per acre annually.
“We’ve waited 40 years for something like this,” said Tom Hertz, of Nevada, Iowa-based Hertz Farm Management as he eyed the enthusiastic crowd during a coffee break. But he doubts outsiders will hike U.S. farmland values as high as some expect, since institutions need cash returns of about 5 percent and rarely can afford to outbid established farm operators in prime grain belt locations. Farmers still buy and own the vast majority of America’s farmland, he said. Institutions like to step in to buy only when there aren’t two bidders at an auction.
“Maybe they’ll just keep land from the price correction everyone in agriculture’s been expecting,” he said.
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Growing Success
Grape Industry An Economic Boom For Region
By Dave Emke demke@post-journal.com
POSTED: May 20, 2010
With a history that dates back more than 150 years, grapes have been a longstanding tradition in Chautauqua County.
The Concord Grape Belt is approximately 60 miles long, stretching along the Lake Erie coastline from the Town of Hanover all the way to the Town of Ripley and into Erie County, Pa. Andrew Dufresne, executive director of the Concord Heritage Grape Belt Association, said that the economic impact the growth of grapes has on the region is major.
Major processors that are based in the area – including Welch’s, Cliffstar, Growers’ Cooperative and Mogen David – are responsible for shipping locally grown grape products around the country and world, Dufresne said.
”We have several very large food processors that are doing a lot of exporting of our grape product,” he said. ”It has a great impact.”
And while Dufresne said the juice industry is what truly drives the grape business in Chautauqua County, the wine industry has been growing rapidly and has become an important aspect of the field. There are currently 21 wineries along the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail, and Dufresne said another is scheduled to open in July. An easy trail to travel – mostly along routes 5 and 20 – and a short drive from several regional cities, the trail is bringing a lot of tourism recognition and dollars to the region, Dufresne said.
”(Visitors) come up and visit the wineries, dine in the restaurants, spend the night in the hotels or the bed and breakfasts,” he said.
Dufresne said that the local wine trail has been receiving a lot of attention on the national media scene, including recent stories in the Chicago Tribune and the American Automobile Association magazine. Combine that relatively new tourist attraction with the already existing features of Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua Lake and others, he said, and something special is growing.
”It’s been giving us some good, free publicity,” Dufresne said. ”With the collaboration with the other tourism venues, it fits in nicely and gives people a reason to come here.”
CHANGES OVER THE YEARS
Grapes were first planted in Chautauqua County in the mid-1800s, Dufresne said. Planted for wine consumption, many of the grapes were European varieties – and the harsh local winters devastated the crops.
Concord grapes – native to America – were introduced to the region shortly thereafter, and the hardiness of the variety allowed it to survive what Mother Nature offered it. It soon became the dominant variety of the region, which is now the largest Concord grape-growing region in the world.
The market in the early years was for table grapes, Dufresne said, with as many as 4,000 traincar-loads of baskets of grapes being shipped out of the county each year in the early 1900s. But while the region had become a hotbed for the table grape industry, another industry was about to spring forth and change the business once again.
”About that time, Dr. Thomas Welch developed the process of pasteurization of grape juice to make an unfermented juice rather than wine,” Dufresne said. ”By the early 1900s, we had pretty much switched to a Concord variety of grapes – probably 80-90 percent of the grapes, which is still the case today – and the principal use became juice, used for making jams and jellies, and juice consumption. The industry has continued that way.”
While wineries continued to exist during the early part of the century, the onset of Prohibition in the 1920s put them out of business. The market became focused even more intently on table and juice consumption, Dufresne said, and continue to grow that way even after Prohibition was repealed.
It wasn’t until the Pennsylvania Limited Winery Act of 1968 and the New York Farm Winery Act of 1976 allowed individual grape farms to establish small wineries that the wine industry began to grow in the region again. Today, the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail, extending from Silver Creek to North East, boasts 21 wineries that produce unique and diverse vintages that are enjoyed by consumers across the state, nation and world.
MECHANICAL REVOLUTION
Though changes have happened in the type of grape grown in vineyards and in the predominant product made in the region, perhaps the biggest change over the years in the grape industry has been the method by which the crop has been cultivated, Dufresne said.
And while grapes have been grown in the region for more than 150 years, it has only been in recent decades that the labor management process has began to see a major change, he said.
”In the early development of the grapes, of course everything was done by hand – the picking of the grapes, the work maintaining the vineyard, the harvesting,” Dufresne said. ”In the 1970s, we introduced mechanization of operation.”
With labor becoming more of a challenge to find, Dufresne said, the industry may have altogether faded away had mechanical harvesting methods not been developed. Today, he said, nearly all grapes are harvested using large machinery, and other labor-intensive aspects of the growing process are also mechanically aided.
”What we’ve seen occurring in recent years is an increase in the mechanization of the trimming operation – all of the grapes have to be trimmed back every year to control the size of the crop,” Dufresne said. ”And we see mechanically assisted pruning, which again is having quite an impact on the grape industry.”
Dufresne said that while he would estimate that about 98 percent of grapes in the region are harvested mechanically, grape farmers are in three camps when it comes to mechanical trimming.
”Some grape growers 100 percent trim by hand – you have a skilled trimmer, you’re going to get better results, but it’s going to cost more per acre,” Dufresne said. ”Some people use a combination of a trimmer, like a hedger, to trim back some of the long vine growth, and then a hand trimmer comes through to finish up the job with less hours of labor. Third, some vineyard operators have gone completely to mechanical pruning with no, or very little, follow-up handwork.”
Using mechanical trimming and pruning techniques allows grape farmers to better control cost and labor, Dufresne said, and also gives them the opportunity – should they choose it – to shoot for a larger crop.
”Growers are basically starting out aiming for a larger crop, and then if you get frost damage, you’re OK,” Dufresne said. ”If you don’t get frost damage, you can come back and do a little more mechanical work in the middle of the season so you don’t have too big of a crop that won’t get ripe. But some farmers are being able to increase yield by having a little more flexibility.”
More flexibility means more grapes. And more grapes mean more success for one of the most important agriculture industries in Chautauqua County, Dufresne said.
”We did a study with Cornell University and Penn State University a couple years ago, and the economic impact in Chautauqua County and Erie County (Pa.) was $340 million a year, so it’s a major economic engine,” Dufresne said. ”A lot of that is because of the great value that is added through the processing and marketing of grapes in the area.”
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One Moos and One Hums, but They Could Help Power Google
By ASHLEE VANCE
Published: May 18, 2010Linkedin
America’s dairy farmers could soon find themselves in the computer business, with the manure from their cows possibly powering the vast data centers of companies like Google and Microsoft. While not immediately intuitive, the idea plays on two trends: the building of computing centers in more rural locales, and dairy farmers’ efforts to deal with cattle waste by turning it into fuel.
With the right skills, a dairy farmer could rent out land and power to technology companies and recoup an investment in the waste-to-fuel systems within two years, Hewlett-Packard engineers say in a research paper to be made public on Wednesday.
“Information technology and manure have a symbiotic relationship,” said Chandrakant D. Patel, the director of H.P.’s sustainable information technology laboratory, which wrote the report. “And having these data centers locally will give farmers a new opportunity.”
Companies have historically tended to build their large computing centers — often called server farms — in or near large cities and industries. As this practice has continued over the years, it has become difficult for companies building the largest data centers to find enough cheap electricity and real estate to meet their needs.
The rise of higher-speed data transfer networks, however, has given technology companies a chance to move farther from large populations and still be able to get information to them as quickly as they need it. So companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon.com and Microsoft have been engaged in a mad dash to find spots in the United States that have plenty of electricity and land. As a result, more data centers have been built in states like Washington, Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma. If those locations are near dairy farms, so much the better.
Rather than being an alternative energy convenience, this approach could benefit companies operating in countries like China and India that need to find an economical way to power their computing centers.
Back on the farm, dairy producers have increasingly been looking to deal with their vast collections of smelly cow waste by turning it into something called biogas.
To make biogas, a farmer needs to buy specialized equipment that runs the manure through an anaerobic digestion process, which results in a large quantity of methane that can be used as a natural gas or diesel replacement.
“The average cow makes enough waste per day to power a 100-watt light bulb,” said Michael Kanellos, editor in chief at Greentech Media, a research and publishing firm. According to H.P.’s calculations, 10,000 cows could fuel a one-megawatt data center, which would be the equivalent of a small computing center used by a bank. Mr. Kanellos has tracked both the data center and green technology industries and agreed that there was some convenient overlap. Computing equipment produces a lot of heat as a waste product, and the systems needed to create biogas require heat. So, there is a virtuous cycle of sorts possible.
“The cows will never replace the hydroelectric power used by a lot of these data centers,” Mr. Kanellos said. “But there is interest in biogas, and this presents another way to make manure pay.”
While many strapped farmers initially tried to create their own biogas plants, they have since found that it’s more economical to sell their manure to a shared biogas producer.
“It turned out that the small projects didn’t make sense,” said Rocky C. Costello, the president of R. C. Costello & Associates of Redondo Beach, Calif., which provides design services for people looking to create biogas plants.
California and Texas could benefit from the manure idea, Mr. Costello said, because they have large numbers of dairy cows, ties to the technology industry and centralized biogas centers. California, Wisconsin, New York, Idaho and Pennsylvania were the top dairy producers last year; according to the Agriculture Department.
Still, Mr. Costello cautioned that this form of alternative energy faced familiar practical challenges. “This just becomes less enticing as the price of natural gas gets lower,” Mr. Costello said. “Natural gas is so easy to get.”
H.P. has long experimented with different ways to operate data centers more efficiently, including having robots that travel around buildings keeping tabs on the temperatures of computers.
Mr. Patel said his grandfather in India burned cow manure for fuel in his village; the hope is that a more modern take on this practice could help support the build-out of India’s technology infrastructure.
It would cost a dairy farmer about $5 million to purchase the equipment needed for the biogas system and $30,000 to run it each year, Mr. Patel said.
H.P. has yet to construct its own manure-burning system, but may consider one for data centers in California or Texas, he said. “Stay tuned,” Mr. Patel said. “We are pushing ahead.”
OPPORTUNITIES
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10 Austrailian Shepherd puppies for sale. If interested, please contact David or Suzi Taylor at tabano@juno.com
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Accepting Applications For Renewable Energy And Energy Efficiency Grants and Loan Guarantees
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Agency is accepting grant and loan guarantee applications for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) supports farmers and rural small businesses. The program offers grants and loan guarantees, or combinations of the two, and projects requesting $20,000 or less have the best chance of success. Eligible projects include renewable energy systems such as wind turbines, solar, geothermal, biomass, anaerobic digesters, hydroelectric, and ocean or hydrogen systems. Funding may also be used to purchase energy-efficient equipment, add insulation, and improve heating and cooling systems.
“Renewable energy and energy efficiency projects can help New York farmers and rural small businesses reduce energy costs, while contributing to our nation’s energy security and environmental well-being,” said Jill Harvey, USDA Rural Development New York State Director. “I urge interested farmers and businesses to contact one of our renewable energy representatives to find out how they can apply for this program.”
Interested applicants should contact New York’s Rural Energy Coordinator Scott Collins at (315) 736-3316, extension 4 for more information. Business specialist Gary Pereira can also assist applicants and may be reached at the same number. Applicants in Western New York can contact Tom Hauryski in Rural Development’s Bath office at (607) 776-7398, extension 4. Information on REAP funding also is available in the April 26, 2010 Federal Register.
Further information on rural programs is available by calling the state office at (315) 477-6400 or by visiting USDA Rural Development’s web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/ny <http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/ny> .
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FESTIVAL SEEKS LOCAL WINE ARTISANS, FARMERS, & CRAFT FOOD VENDORS
Just in time for the fall foliage, Wolf Oak Acres will be holding its annual harvest festival for seven weeks during September and October. The highlight of this year’s event will be a Pride of NY Farmer’s Market and Hot Air Balloon festival during the peak of color in Central New York. Oct. 15 will open a three day long balloon festival, while Oct. 16 &17 will feature the best of wineries, breweries, foods, and products made in NYS. from 10-5pm each day “RAIN OR SHINE” under the tents. Visitors can sample wines and foods such as: salsas, jams, syrups, honey, candies, and more, and have the opportunity to purchase all they enjoy. Those interested in participating as a vendor or sponsor of the event may contact: Wolf Oak Acres, 315-762-3090 or katrina@wolfoakacres.com.
This weekend will also feature five Hot Air Balloon launches throughout the weekend. Reservations are now being accepted for those interested in taking flights. Nearly a dozen balloons, including the ReMax balloon will be on site. The festival provides a savings of $50-$150 per person, by booking during our special event, compared to flying with companies at other times throughout the year.
For more information on the harvest festival, or this particular weekend event, visit: www.wolfoakacres.com <http://www.wolfoakacres.com/>.
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Asgaard Farm & Dairy
Cheese Maker Wanted
Small but growing dairy goat farm seeks ambitious and hard working individual to take responsibilities in the production of a variety of cheeses from the milk of a herd of Alpine and Nubian goats. Products are sold through local farmers markets and direct to specialty food stores and restaurants.
Responsibilities will include, depending on training and experience:
- Ensure quality and regular testing of the milk delivered to the creamery from the dairy herd.
- Produce a variety of cheeses following strict procedures developed for each type of cheese.
- Ensure a meticulously clean environment, cleaning and sanitizing equipment and the cheese facility through each use.
- Daily monitoring and management of cheeses through the aging process.
- Hand packaging of cheeses in containers or wrapping.
- Preparation of cheese orders for purchase at the farm, markets and deliveries.
- Manage the herb garden and proper preparation of herbs for use in soft cheeses.
Previous experience a plus.
Health insurance offered.
Position is located on an historic farm in the town of Jay, near Au Sable Forks, New York.
A new Creamery facility was completed in 2008. An expanded kidding facility and milking parlor will be completed in Summer 2010. Dairy goats will be transitioned to organic when the target herd size is reached.
Asgaard Farm & Dairy has a range of diverse activities dedicated to the production of local food and other agricultural products. Fields and field crops are certified organic.
Sustainable forestry practices are used to manage surrounding woodlands.
Additional information on Facebook page Asgaard Farm & Dairy
Please send letter of interest and qualifications to rhonda@asgaardfarm.com, or call 518-647-5754.
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2009 Summer/Fall born calves wanted for Carcass Value Discovery Program
Looking for quality feeder cattle.
There is still room for participation in a new education and marketing program. Due to the development of a new natural market, Cornell University Beef Extension program will once again offer a Feedlot and Carcass Value Discovery Program for calves born July-November, 2009. Qualifying cattle from this program will be marketed to Cornell Dining and receive a $0.17/lb (hot carcass weight) premium. Producers of these calves will receive all feedlot and carcass data such as average daily gain, feed efficiency, market weight, ribeye area, marbling score and backfat Calves are to be weaned June 1 and delivered to the Cornell Beef Teaching and Research Center in Harford, NY on July 1, 2010. Cattle are not to have been implanted or fed antibiotics (e.g. Rumensin, Bovatec, Aureomycin). Details can be found at: http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/beef/events.html
Sponsors
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