If you grow it, you must still get it to market. Obvious enough, yet a real challenge for valley agriculture as outlined in a new report.
And if you want to be growing into the future, beware unchecked growth.
A new study reveals that the Hudson Valley is historically an agricultural region, but it is faced with intense development pressure. Farming endures, according to the data, despite a 10 percent loss of farmland in a five-year period, with a corresponding 21 percent increase in the cost of food production.
Glynwood, the Cold Spring-based organization devoted to saving Hudson Valley farming, recently released “The State of Agriculture in the Hudson Valley.” The detailed report is based primarily on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture”™s most recent “Census of Agriculture,” as well as on what Glynwood terms “reputable regional sources.”
“As we work to save farming in our region, we regularly seek out good data that make the case that farming is essential to the region”™s economy, environment and landscape of our communities,” said Glynwood President Judith LaBelle in a prepared statement. “And yet, most often, we are confronted by a scarcity of regional data. This report was compiled to help fill that gap and has proved to be enlightening.”
Perhaps the greatest impediment to small- and mid-size farm viability is the absence of processing and distribution infrastructure necessary for farmers to get their products to market, according to thee report. It also documents how the industry is changing as farmers adapt to a shifting economy and to different market opportunities.
There are some bright lights on the horizon, according to Glynwood, notably the diversity of markets in the region and the region”™s proximity to major urban areas: “These traits offer lucrative niche opportunities for farmers.”
Data reveal the region has a higher-than-national average of direct-to-consumer sales. Meantime, the growth of greenmarkets demonstrates that consumer demand for fresh, local food exceeds the current supply.
Glynwood cited several value-added success stories: the Pampered Cow, a Northeast U.S. service that links cheese producers to wholesale and retail vendors; the Kingston-based Farm to Table Co-Packers, producing value-added products like tomato sauce, frozen vegetables and pesto; and the Modular Harvest SystemT recently launched by Glynwood, which is the first mobile slaughterhouse in the U.S. for in-unit processing of large animals.
Ventures like these “not only set the stage for expanded entrepreneurship, but also help rebuild the much-needed infrastructure as they do so,” Glynwood said.
The report features statistics and graphs about the Hudson Valley”™s farmland, land use and agricultural production. Additionally it breaks down statistics by principal crop production and by county for ease of use.
An online copy of the report is available at Glynwood”™s website. For a hard copy, contact Geralyn Delaney Graham at (281) 980-6643.
“The colorful graphs, tables and charts fuse the very dry topic of agriculture statistics with meaning and help the reader understand trends and patterns in agriculture that hopefully can be reversed ”“ or in other cases strengthened to help make local agriculture more profitable and successful in the coming years,” said John Brennan, an environmental analyst at the State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
