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Page 4 Grassroots November 2011 The President’s message Grassroots Grassroots is published monthly by New York Farm Bureau as a member service. Production services by New York Press Service, Inc. Subscriptions are available through New York Farm Bureau membership. Non-member subscription rate is $12. EDITOR Julie Suarez jsuarez@nyfb.org ASSISTANT EDITOR Adam Specht aspecht@nyfb.org ADVERTISING MANAGER Doug Rea doug@nynewspapers.com NEW YORK FARM BUREAU MAILING ADDRESS P.O. Box 5330 Albany, NY 12205 PHONE/WEB SITE Phone: 1-800-342-4143 Web site: www.nyfb.org facebook.com/NYFarmBureau MANAGEMENT Jeffery Kirby Executive Director Julie Suarez Public Policy Elizabeth Dribusch Legal Affairs Kevin Cook Member Services Fred Perrin Member Relations Paul McDowell Financial & Info Systems Sandra Prokop NYFB Foundation NYFB BOARD OF DIRECTORS President, Dean Norton Elba, (716) 474-3901 Vice President, Eric Ooms Old Chatham, (518) 392-9594 District 1, Hal Kreher Clarence Center, (716) 741-8781 District 2, Paul Bencal Ransomville, (716) 216-4039 District 3, Jonathan Taylor Newark, (315) 331-0760 District 4, Ashur Terwilliger Lowman, (607) 733-3957 District 5, Darrell Griff Hamilton, (315) 691-9635 District 6, Eric Behling Mexico, (315) 963-8160 District 7, Robert Gleason Malone, (518) 483-1308 District 8, Jay Skellie Salem, (518) 854-7883 District 9, Richard Ball Schoharie, (518) 295-7139 District 10, Charles Larsen Germantown, (518) 537-6586 District 11, Kenneth Schmitt Melville, (631) 249-2616 Ann Peck Chair of Promotion and Education Committee Newark, (315) 331-7791 Andrea Schultz,Chair,Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee Ransomville, (716) 622-0279 REGIONAL OFFICES Western NY Resource Center 877-383-7663 or 585-343-3489 Central NY Office 866-995-7300 or 315-252-1367 Eastern NY Office 866-995-7300 or 518-854-7368 Long Island Office 631-727-3777 On Page One: Preston’s Alpacas in Otsego County is featured on our nameplate this month. The Prestons specialize in breeding and raising high-quality huacaya alpacas. Each month, we’ll highlight a different member farm on the Grassroots nameplate. Send a photo of yours to info@nyfb.org, and you might see it in a future issue! Give thanks for community spirit... Each fall I look forward to Thanksgiving — a time that recognizes the end of the harvest season for our farm families. It’s a time to reflect upon the year we’ve had, and a time to start catching up with our friends and neighbors in the Farm Bureau family we’ve had the chance to visit during our county annual meetings. While this year is no doubt the most challenging year for farmers that I’ve ever seen, there are still positives. The sight of a greenhouse turned into a community clothes donation spot, and the stories of farmers lending other farmers feed when they themselves have little to spare, are certainly reasons to be thankful for the community spirit that exists among Dean Norton NYFB President farmers in New York. I’d encourage you to keep working with your neighbors impacted by the flooding and the heavy rainfall that kept yields down for virtually all of our farmers. It’s only by helping each other that we will get back to the vibrant agricultural community that we once were, and I know we can succeed. Speaking of helping each other out, Gov. Cuomo keeps doing an excellent job at helping farmers and communities recover from the storm. While articulating the dire need for Congressional leadership to figure out the best way to shore up sorely needed disaster programs — for homeowners, municipalities and farmers — the governor has also been helping to release state funds, even in the middle of difficult budget times. The latest installment of the Agricultural Community and Recovery Fund is now out the door, View from Washington Thanksgiving has always been a special time for me and my family, whereby we take a day from our hectic lives to give thanks for not only the bounty of food on our table, but for the good fortune and security in which that food was provided. When I think of Thanksgiving, I can’t help but conjure up Norman Rockwell’s famous painting “Freedom from Want.” If a picture is worth a thousand words, Rockwell’s painting tells an inspiring story of a traditional American Thanksgiving celebration: family, security, joy and America’s great harvest. The painting was first published as part of a series in The Saturday Evening Post in 1943 at the height of World War II. Inspired to paint ‘The Four Freedoms’ series after hearing President Franklin Roosevelt’s speech of the same name, Rockwell invoked a sentiment in all Americans that has remained for nearly 70 years. We cherish our freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from fear and freedom from want. American farmers take these rights very seriously, especially when it comes to providing food for our nation. America spends less disposable with an application deadline of Nov. 7. Farmers can apply for assistance with feed and inventory losses. More information is on our website at www. nyfb.org. I’d also like to thank Commissioner Aubertine and his staff for their hard work and dedication in establishing an emergency program to help farmers clean up storm damage and address environmental impacts caused by the storm. Certainly, farmers could have used three times the funds, but the assistance to farms facing immediate needs is still particularly helpful. The collaboration between the governor, the Department of Agriculture & Markets, Soil & Water Conservation Committees, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and NYFB state and regional staff has truly been effective. There is some good news coming out of the nation’s capital, too. The much anticipated trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama were ratified by the House and Senate, and I thank those New York representatives who voted to help our farmers compete. Remember, these countries are ones that currently have tariffs on our products, even though we dropped our tariffs against their products years ago. These agreements are common sense measures and we anticipate shipping more dairy products, apples, grapes and wine to these countries, especially South Korea. I was pleased to attend many county annual meetings this year, and encouraged to see farmers talking to neighbors and making consensus decisions about what’s best for New York agricultural policy. I’m looking forward to celebrating 100 years of Farm Bureau next month in Binghamton. As always, I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving—one in which we celebrate the bounty of the season’s harvest and thank our friends and neighbors that helped us in our time of need. ...and for freedom from want Bob Stallman AFBF President income on food than in any other country. Compared to many other countries where nourishment has flat lined and food is hard to come by, where farmers are dictated what to grow and who to sell to — leaving much of their population with empty stomachs, our food security is a reason for all Americans to be thankful. One look at most grocery shelves in the U.S. shows just how blessed Americans are. In some ways, things have changed little since 1943; we have another war, another recession. Yet, while American farmers still embody that same patriotic and entrepreneurial spirit that their fathers and grandfathers had before them, our industry has changed greatly to keep up with the times. In the 1940s, a U.S. farmer had the ability to feed only 19 people per year. Today, an American farmer grows enough food to feed 154 people every year. Because of modern technology, farmers are providing safer and more nutritious food for Americans. We are producing a greater variety of food so that no Thanksgiving table is incomplete, whether you favor traditional turkey or something more exotic. So, as you sit down with your family to Thanksgiving dinner this year, please join me in giving thanks for the many blessings bestowed upon us. Let us all celebrate our many freedoms, and in particular, our freedom from want. Pass the cranberry sauce…
November 2011 Grassroots Page 5 Guest opinions We need a rational foreign worker policy By Robert A. Smith One of the few bright spots in our economy is agriculture. While some New York farms have had a very difficult growing season and were hurt terribly by Irene and Lee, net farm income nationally will be up over 20% and exports continue to be strong. American farmers continue to prove to be the best in the world, but it is never easy and without challenges. The effort in the House of Representatives to push immigration enforcement with mandatory E-Verify could hurt efforts to grow the US economy and American agriculture. Farm Credit East recently had the opportunity to testify before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration chaired by Senator Schumer (D-NY). Both Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have become good advocates for agriculture on this issue. Although our testimony focused on economic impact numbers, the key points were summarized in two paragraphs: “We believe this is a jobs and food security issue. If as a country we fail to find a workable solution to enable labor-intensive agriculture to maintain the necessary workforce, we will see another part of our economy (dairy, fruit, vegetable and other specialty crops) move off-shore where barriers to entry for new agricultural enterprises are minimal. To some degree we need to ask ourselves – do we prefer to have our food produced domestically with the use of some foreign labor or in other countries with foreign labor for all of the jobs.” and “An enhanced enforcement-only approach without an effective alien worker program to provide a legal workforce for agriculture is counterproductive to efforts to reduce unemployment –it will mean that American citizens involved in the food chain will be unemployed and more consumer dollars will flow out of the United States to purchase products that could have been grown in the United States.” What about the economic impact? Earlier this summer, Farm Credit East prepared a vulnerability analysis which shows: • Approximately 1,732 Northeast farms (1,049 in New York) are highly vulnerable to going out of business or being forced to severely cut back their operations due to a labor shortage caused by an effective enforcementonly immigration policy. These highly vulnerable farms are some of the most productive in the region; their total sales of farm product are estimated to exceed $2.4 billion ($1.5 billion in New York alone!). This is approximately 36% of the value of the region’s agricultural output. 20,212 full-time, year-round positions and 29,894 seasonal positions on farms would be eliminated if these highly vulnerable farms go out of business. The reduction in the farm payrolls is estimated to be $528 million. This means significantly less spending and economic activity in local communities as funds generated do not churn through the economy as they currently do. The highly vulnerable farms operate over 1.1 million acres of cropland. If these farms were to cease or reduce operations, some of this acreage might switch into less intensive agriculture, but thousands of acres would potentially be converted to non-agricultural uses. The economic impact of the loss of over 1,700 farms, goes beyond the farm gate, and would undermine the region’s agri-business sector. We estimate that 55,311 off-farm jobs in agriculturally related businesses (processing, inputs and services) in the Northeast could be impacted. Many, if not most, of these positions are full-time jobs held by local citizens. The loss of labor intensive agriculture operations will mean increased imports from foreign countries. We will import more food and other farm products and the jobs and related income associated with food processing and farm services will be generated in other countries. The success of agriculture is based on many things, but at the heart of American agriculture progress is the fact that farm families make tough decision and risk their hard earned equity to invest in the future. The farm labor issue is creating uncertainty about the future and is hurting growth and development of our industry. It is time for Congress to move ahead and provide a reasonable approach that allows experienced farm workers to have a legal status and creates a system for new workers to enter and exit the country in an efficient manner. This will help address two important priorities – maintain and create jobs and expand local food production. Farm Bureau & DEC: a solid collaboration By Joe Martens The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s core job is to protect the state’s public health and environment. Since taking the reins as head of DEC eight months ago, I have reached out to the business and agricultural communities, environmental groups and municipalities to foster partnerships so we can achieve our mutual goals of making Robert A. Smith Farm Credit East Joe Martens Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation sure New York is open for business while promoting environmental protection. Under the leadership of Governor Cuomo, DEC is committed to finding efficiencies in how we deliver our environmental programs, reducing redundancy in government operations and working cooperatively with our stakeholder groups. As part of this effort, DEC invites the New York Farm Bureau community to communicate with me and my staff as issues arise. The Farm Bureau is a valuable partner in providing outreach and education to the agricultural community on important environmental goals. In addition, DEC will work with the Farm Bureau to help establish a regulatory environment that supports a thriving agricultural economy. While we may not always agree on the solution, we will work collaboratively so we can help the agricultural community remain a strong economic force in New York. We have made significant progress on several issues raised by the Farm Bureau. These include: Farm employees working on a farm in upstate New York, taking turns picking and packing lettuce for next-day delivery to markets up and down the Eastern Seaboard. n Providing an exemption from State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permitting for maple syrup producers that use the new reverse osmosis system; n Exploring opportunities for farm-raised Black Bass to be sold in the state; n Working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to resolve the Chesapeake Total Maximum Daily Load issue; and n Working with stakeholder groups on a general SPDES permit for New York’s winery industry. DEC also is collaborating with the Farm Bureau to evaluate whether the state’s pesticide registration process can better reflect the priorities of the agricultural community. Registration of new pesticide products and uses has been required for many years. Legislation established specific time frames for review of these applications to help ensure the review is completed promptly without compromising scientific integrity. Through discussions with the Farm Bureau, we will identify potential areas where the process can be improved. Another important area where DEC works with the farm community is to mitigate crop damage caused by resident wildlife. Our primary method to control damage by deer is to harvest antlerless deer during the fall hunting season. But we recognize site-specific options for landowners are needed as well. During the hunting season, qualifying landowners can receive Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) permits for more intensive, localized site control. DMAP addresses crop damage and forest regeneration problems through custom or municipal deer management. Outside of hunting season, Deer Damage Permits (DDPs) can be issued to reduce ongoing crop losses. Partnerships with organizations such as the Farm Bureau are important, too. I look forward to continued collaboration between DEC and the Farm Bureau.
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