Farming is still the No.1 industry in New York state and to ensure it remains a potent economic engine, the state”™s Association of Counties has appointed a panel to assess the state of agriculture in the Empire State and to make continuing recommendations to improve its standing. It is the association”™s first such body devoted to agriculture.
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The panel was announced Feb. 17 after a resolution to create the body was adopted by NYSACÂ during its annual legislative conference in Albany Feb. 10.
“People who don”™t live here think of New York as all bricks and mortar and don”™t realize how much farming and open space we have,” said NYSAC President and Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli, who cited various agricultural regions from the Hudson Valley to the Finger Lakes to western New York.
That last region is home to the chairman of the blue-ribbon committee, Douglas Berwanger, chairman of the Wyoming County board of supervisors and a farmer.
“I feel pretty good about this,” said Berwanger, who expressed appreciation at the high level of interest and engagement NYSAC members and officials have taken in aiding agriculture. “In Albany, like everywhere else, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. NYSAC can now present unified, educated well-written resolutions presenting our views on the issues we”™re facing. I think we can make a big difference.”
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Among the issues facing the agricultural industry in New York, said Berwanger and Santulli, are the moves toward creating a mandatory overtime regimen for agricultural workers, a law that farmers see as a potentially devastating byproduct of office-bound lawmakers who don”™t understand the seasonal factors and weather and other variables that drive agricultural work.
“That issue is right on the front burner; that is one of our big concerns,” said Santulli.
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Another issue is the proposed sale of wine in grocery stores. “I have been hearing great arguments for and against the sales, so in order to make an educated resolution to forward on to the Legislature we need to have a consensus,” Santulli said, saying  the new committee could play the role of fact-finder on this and other issues and help generate a NYSAC position.
There are 17 members on the committee, which is primarily made up of legislators from upstate counties, with Ulster County Executive Michael Hein as the lone Hudson Valley representative. Dutchess County executive William Steinhaus said through his office that he is on the board of directors of the National Association of Counties and expresses concerns about agricultural issues in that forum.
Hein, who grew up on his family”™s farm in Esopus called agriculture “an enormous economic engine” in the region.
“I come at it from the perspective of what is the impact on the Ulster County agriculture community,” said Hein. “So to me the primary issue would be concern about additional state fees and cuts to research aimed at helping farmers.”
He said the committee could have an educational component as well as a policy impact. “Without question, I think we can be effective, driving home the importance of family farms and what family farms really mean, not only in terms of ensuring an adequate food supply, but in terms of an economic impact,” Hein said.
Berwanger said that he intends to move quickly in convening the agriculture panel to make cogent recommendations to the Legislature in time to influence decisions likely to be made this session.
“There are big issues being considered, so I may call for a meeting of the agriculture committee in the next month or two,” said Berwanger. “We need to get some resolutions approved soon to influence the debate. I”™m a farmer myself, and if we wait too long it would be like closing the barn after the horse has got out. We”™ve got to move this along.”
