|
Mr. Paul Riede, Opinion Editor
The Post-Standard
101 N. Salina St.
Syracuse, NY 13202
January 8, 2009
Dear Mr. Riede:
The following letter is respectfully submitted for your consideration:
Farmers Critical Asset to Region’s Economy and Environment
The Post-Standard’s January 7th article, “Elbridge Farm State Winner,” provided a welcome profile of the Hourigan Dairy Farm. The Hourigans are a shining example of a successful local business that employs 30 people and demonstrates a strong environmental ethic in their management of more than 8,000 acres of land.
This remarkable family has worked with American Farmland Trust to permanently protect more than 800 acres in Elbridge and Lysander and tirelessly helped other area farmers learn about options for protecting their farms. They were also instrumental in creating a new organization, the New York Agricultural Land Trust, to enable more New York farmers to protect their land.
The Hourigans are just one example of the roughly 3,200 farms operating in Onondaga, Cayuga, Cortland, Madison and Tompkins counties. These farms are instrumental to the region’s economy and sell almost $505 million in farm products annually, while purchasing goods and services from other area businesses. They also grow the raw products used by area food processors, such as Byrne Dairy. Combined, farm and food businesses generate a $23 billion economic impact in New York annually.
Farms are also a dominant feature in the region’s landscape, comprising more than 774,000 acres in these five counties. For years, well-managed farms have been instrumental in protecting water quality, wildlife habitat and natural resources and can be key allies in addressing global warming. This positive connection between agriculture and the environment is well demonstrated in the Skaneateles Lake watershed, where farmers and the City of Syracuse are working together to protect unfiltered drinking water consumed daily by thousands of area residents.
For years, New York has invested in environmental programs that help farmers protect land and water. In 1996, the Hudson family in Camillus was among the first New York farmers to be awarded funding from the state’s Farmland Protection Program. This program provides grants to local governments and private land trusts to pay farmers to permanently protect their land.
Since then, the Farmland Protection Program has awarded more than $31 million to permanently protect 14,400 acres of irreplaceable farmland in these five counties. Farm families use these funds to reinvest in their businesses by building new barns, upgrading equipment, paying down debt and establishing retirement funds.
Unfortunately, the Farmland Protection Program and other programs funded by the state’s Environmental Protection Fund, New York’s principal environmental funding source, are being targeted for disproportionate state budget cuts. The fund is slated to receive an overall cut of 20 percent, while individual programs such as the Farmland Protection Program, could be cut by 40 percent or more.
New York can’t afford such dramatic cuts in environmental funding because of the statewide implications. These investments protect clean water and natural resources, invest in farm businesses and related green industries, and protect the land that can grow fresh, healthy foods and renewable sources of energy.
State legislators must take action and defend the Environmental Protection Fund and programs within it, like the Farmland Protection Program. Alternatives exist to such disproportionate cuts, such as expanding New York’s Bottle Bill law to cover non-carbonated beverages. Studies indicate that an expanded Bottle Bill law would likely generate more than $200 million in state revenue annually.
New York must continue to make investments that help farm families, like the Hourigans, to protect land and water while strengthening the economy. When this happens, we all win.
With kind regards,
David Haight
New York State Director
American Farmland Trust
112 Spring St., STE 207
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
|
