‘Adding even more costs and reducing markets for American agricultural goods could create an economic burden some farmers may not be able to bear.’

Photo by Tom Rivers: These apples are in a bin at a local farm from the fall 2023.

The leader of the American Farm Bureau Federation is concerned tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China will hurt agriculture in the United States.

The Trump Administration is imposing 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 10 percent on China. All three countries will be imposing retaliatory tariffs on American goods, including many farm products.

Zippy Duvall, the Farm Bureau president, on Tuesday issued this statement on the tariffs.

“Farmers support the goals of ensuring security and fair trade with other nations, but additional tariffs, along with expected retaliatory tariffs, will take a toll on rural America.

“Farmers and ranchers are concerned with the decision to impose increased tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China – our top trading partners. Last year, the U.S. exported more than $83 billion in agricultural products to the three countries.

“Approximately 85% of our total potash supply – a key ingredient in fertilizer – is imported from Canada. For the third straight year, farmers are losing money on almost every major crop planted. Adding even more costs and reducing markets for American agricultural goods could create an economic burden some farmers may not be able to bear.

“We ask the president to continue working with our international partners to find ways to resolve disagreements quickly, so farmers can focus on feeding families in America and abroad.”

NY urges farmers to notify state about potential impacts from tariffs with Canada, Mexico and China

Gov. Kathy Hochul convened a roundtable in Albany on Tuesday with agricultural leaders in the state. She said the tariffs are projected to increase costs by as much as $1,200 a year for the average New Yorker, while hurting many businesses that send products to China, Mexico and Canada.

Hochul encourages businesses, including New York’s farms, to report the effects of these tariffs on their work to TariffImpact@esd.ny.gov.

“From the North Country to the Southern Tier, farmers are the backbone of New York State,” Hochul said. “Many of our farmers rely on export sales of their products, and I’ll continue to do everything in my power to fight against this misguided tariff policy and ensure the government is doing what it is supposed to do, which is help, not hurt, New York farmers.”

Hochul said agriculture is a cornerstone of New York’s economy. The state’s investments in agricultural priorities are up 60 percent since 2022, she said.

“We appreciate Governor Hochul’s willingness to invite our members to the table to discuss the issues most important to New York agriculture, including how tariffs will directly affect farmers’ bottom line,” said New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher. “By telling our stories and sharing our real, everyday challenges, we make our voices heard so that we can continue to provide healthy, accessible food for all New Yorkers – and keep farming sustainable and successful.”

Press Release, Niagara County Farm Bureau

LOCKPORT – On March 14 the annual Agribusiness Outreach Forum will be held at the Niagara County Cooperative Extension.

It is sponsored by the Niagara County Center for Economic Development, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Niagara County, Niagara County Farm Bureau, the Niagara County Small Business Development Center and National Grid. As with past years,  there will be two parts to the program.

First is a series of workshops. These include building your agribusiness through marketing and networking, mastering the art of find, writing and being awarded Ag grants, understanding state and federal priorities for CCE, and recruiting and retaining H2A workers.

Throughout the day, various agricultural organizations will have displays and personnel on hand to answer your questions. In the past year, these have included to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Niagara County, Empire State Development, Farm Credit East, NCCC Small Business Development Center, National Grid, NY FarmNet, NYS Department of Ag and Markets, NYSERDA, NC Dept of Economic Development and IDA, Niagara County Farm Bureau, NC Soil and Water Conservation District, Niagara USA Chamber of Commerce and the Farm Service Agency.

This year’s facilitator is Niagara County Farm Bureau President Kevin Bittner.

“This event is designed to bring together farmers across the region for educational sessions on topics important to agriculture,” he said.

In addition to learning about the various topics, he enjoys the networking with other farmers, companies and agencies. Because this is geared to new and growing farms,  there are many long term benefits to the community.

Every year this forum has concentrated on various topics.  Past presentations have focused on energy, creating business  plans, health care for migrant workers, and ag district laws and regulations. At the end of the day, participants are invited to give suggestions for next year’s program.

Registration is free. Click here for information to sign up.

Press Release, Roy-Hart Agriculture Foundation 

Provided photo: Matthew Sweeney, Roy-Hart Agriculture teacher and FFA advisor, welcomes retired Ag teacher from Barker School, Matt Costello, and his wife Fran, at the recent Roy-Hart Ag Foundation Pancake Breakfast at the Middleport Fire Hall.

MIDDLEPORT – At Middleport High School, the first Future Farmers of America (FFA) Club began during the 1939-1940 school year, when an addition was built onto the school which opened the agricultural field of study to the high school students.

The chief purpose of the club was to carry on studies and experiments supplemental to the agricultural course. The Middleport yearbook states, “Thus the F. F. A., newly formed this year, has made remarkable progress, and has created a field of diverse activity for Middleport students from rural communities, and so promises to become one of the school’s leading organizations.”

Despite protests from district farmers and community members, the Agriculture classes and FFA were eliminated from the school’s curriculum in 1987. In 2016, Agriculture classes were reinstated with Matthew Sweeney as the teacher and FFA advisor.

In 2020 the Royalton-Hartland Agriculture Foundation was established as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit entity to support the rapidly expanding agricultural education program benefiting students from K-12. The foundation conducts fundraising events and seeks donors to support the program.

Over the last nine years, the Roy-Hart students and Sweeney have had great success in community service work, honors and awards at the local, district, state and national level.

It was 85 years after the first Roy-Hart Agriculture class was taught, and with the support of the Roy-Hart Board of Education and administration, Royalton-Hartland Agriculture Foundation and Roy-Hart school community, groundbreaking for the first outdoor learning lab was held.

Jill Heck, Superintendent of Schools stated, “This is a three-year journey and reaching agricultural excellence has been designed to help hundreds of K-12 students who are exploring and learning about agriculture.”

Royalton-Hartland is the sole Niagara County school-based agriculture education program. Many of the accolades from the 2024 school year were on display at the Pancake Breakfast which featured local grown and produced foods. Over 700 people were served and more than 80 baskets/cards contributed to the success of the 3rd annual Pancake Breakfast to support Roy-Hart Ag Education.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Albion FFA today delivered 45,000 pounds of produce donated by local farmers to Community Action of Orleans & Genesee, and other local food pantries.

The top photo shows FFA members Loralei Gailie, Logan Scott and Jimmy Harris moving a big box of squash to a tractor trailer outside the Ag Shop at the high school.

“It’s helping the community,” said Harris, a senior who arrived at 7:10 this morning to load up the food.

About 20 Albion FFA members helped with the food drive, calling local farmers and arranging for pickups and deliveries of the food.

FFA members are pictured next to three vehicles filled with food before the delivery to Community Action at about 9 this morning.

The donors include Panek’s, Circle R, Lynn-Ette and Sons, Preston’s, Van Lieshout’s, Heberle, Nesbitt’s, Brightly’s, Kludt’s, Orchard Dale, Kreher’s, Intergrow Greenhouses (Sungrow), Save A Lot, Root Brothers, Martin Farms, My-T Acres, Poverty Hill, Partyka’s, Orleans County Farm Bureau, Lamb’s, CY Farms, Torrey Farms, Hu-Lane Farm, Kirby’s, Kirby’s Cider Mill, Barilla, Triple G, Farm Fresh First LLC, Margaret and Charlie Swan, Peter Gaylard, Christ Farms, Kast Farms and Haylett Farm Enterprises.

FFA President Kaitlynn Basinait, right, and FFA secretary Kaitlin Bennett carry a sack of cabbage.

Basinait said farmers were very generous this year, even though many suffered big losses from hail storms. Those farms still contributed to the effort. Other farms who didn’t lose crops to hail stepped up even more knowing some of their farming neighbors didn’t have as much to give this food drive, Bennett said.

“The hail storm hurt several of the farmers,” she said.

The 45,000 pounds topped last year’s drive with 37,000 pounds.

The FFA started the food drive in 2010 with 3,000 pounds in the first effort. The food drive record is 53,000 pounds in 2020.

Bennett said the FFA is proud to facilitate the food drive every year.

“It makes my heart feel happy,” she said.

FFA members Matthew Bloom and Hailey Lonnen fill boxes with Pink Lady apples.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley helped unload the vehicles this morning. He has attended the food drive delivery for many years.

Community Action and other volunteers from local food pantries helped sort and move the food on a chilly morning at the Community Action site on East State Street.

The food is shared with about 20 different food pantries, churches and other organizations in Orleans County.

Barry Flansburg is one of several Albion FFA alumni who help with the food drive each year. Pete Gaylard from the Albion Central School buildings and grounds moves a pallet for of tomatoes into a tractor trailer from Panek Farms.

White House photo: President Joe Biden on Monday pardoned two turkeys in a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House. He was joined in the annual ceremony by John Zimmerman, chairman of the National Turkey Federation, and his son Grant.

The average cost for a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 has declined from $61.17 a year ago to $58.08, the American Farm Bureau Federation reported in its annual Thanksgiving dinner survey. In 2022, the cost was an average of $64.05.

The cost for this year is still up significantly from the $53.31 average in 2021. The cost jumped nearly $12 from 2021 to 2022, but has been coming down since then.

“Two years of declines don’t erase dramatic increases that led to a record high cost of $64.06 in 2022,” American Farm Bureau stated in a news release. “Despite the encouraging momentum, a Thanksgiving meal is still 19% higher than it was in 2019, which highlights the impact inflation has had on food prices – and farmers’ costs – since the pandemic.”

The average price for a 16-pound turkey is $25.67, which $1.60 per pound, down 6% from last year, the organization reported.

Farm Bureau volunteer shoppers checked prices Nov. 1-7, before most grocery store chains began featuring whole frozen turkeys at sharply lower prices. This year’s national average cost was calculated using surveys completed with pricing data from all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

Farm Bureau volunteer shoppers checked prices in person and online using grocery store apps and websites. They looked for the best possible prices without taking advantage of special promotional coupons or combined purchase deals, American Farm Bureau stated.

The Thanksgiving dinner survey was first conducted by American Farm Bureau in 1986.

Individual Prices

• 16-pound turkey: $25.67 or $1.60 per pound (down 6.1%)
• 14-ounces of cubed stuffing mix: $4.08 (up 8.2%)
• 2 frozen pie crusts: $3.40 (down 2.9%)
• Half pint of whipping cream: $1.81 (up 4.7%)
• 1 pound of frozen peas: $1.73 (down 8.1%)
• 1 dozen dinner rolls: $4.16 (up 8.4%)
• Misc. ingredients to prepare the meal: $3.75 (down 5.1%)
• 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix: $4.15 (down 6.5%)
• 1 gallon of whole milk: $3.21 (down 14.3%)
• 3 pounds of sweet potatoes: $2.93 (down 26.2%)
• 1-pound veggie tray (carrots & celery): $.84 (down 6.4%)
• 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries: $2.35 (up 11.8%)

Organization weighs in on many local, state and federal issues

Provided photo: Pictured from left include President Kevin Bittner, Vice President Mark Russell and Treasurer Max Russell.

Press Release, Niagara County Farm Bureau

LOCKPORT – Niagara County Farm Bureau held its annual meeting on Thursday evening.  The agenda including adopting resolutions concerning local, state and national issues.

Locally, this included supporting funding for Niagara County’s Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Niagara County Soil and Water Conservation District. Also, the group supported establishing a county wide drainage district.

On the state level, the resolutions covered a wide range of topics. They supported including backyard chickens in the definition of urban agriculture, expanding the deer damage (aka nuisance) permits, improving cellular service and improvements to the electrical grid.

Other state issues included NYS finalizing grant contracts and their reimbursement on a timely basis. The NYS Strategic Interagency Task Force Lessening Obstacles to Agriculture Working Group (SILO committee) was also supported.

Federal issues also covered a variety of issues. There are a myriad of GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) certifications. Niagara County Farm Bureau supported retailers who accept SNAP benefits us the USDA Harmonized Plus GAP only.

Mancozeb is a product used in apples, grapes and onions. There is a proposal to restrict how it is used that does not align with current scientific research. Farmers who use these products want the current regulations to stay in place. The third issue dealt with the electrification of farm vehicles and the need to support those with incentive programs available to other motor vehicles.

Updates from Kevin Bittner, John Wagner, Brad Macaulay, and Matthew Sweeney completed the evening. Bittner reviewed the year, including updates on State Annual Convention, PX Days, County Fair Corn Booth and The Ag Literacy Week.

The Corn Booth was the most successful ever and during Ag Literacy weeks many farmers participated by going to schools and reading the selected book.  He thanked outgoing board members Cassie Voelpel and Jeannette Miller for their service.

Wagner talked about the upcoming State Annual Convention and Young Farmers and Ranchers Program. A new feature of the State Annual Convention is bring a non-member.  Nationalwide Insurance will sponsor a county resident who is not currently a member of Farm Bureau but would like to learn more at that gathering.

Macauley talked about the changes at New York Farm Bureau with the new Executive Direction Deanna Fox. He reviewed some of the legislative policy successes and encouraged everyone to attend the convention and the PX (Policy Execution) lobbying days.

The expansion of the Royalton Hartland Ag Program was Matthew Sweeney’s topic. There is now a youth FFA, called the Green Team, in the elementary school. He described many community interactions with the students and announced they have two teams going to compete at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. One of the most exciting new features of the program is the college credit course now offered. Working with Cobleskill, students earn 9 college credits when successfully completing the course.

The evening ended with the Board Elections. In addition to Bittner’s re-election, Mark Russell will continue as Vice President. New directors are Josh Bieber and Nick Sparks.  Trevor Ganshaw, Kelly Raby and Max Russell were all re-elected to their positions.

Farm Bureau membership is open to those who farm, those who are involved in agribusiness and anyone who eats. For more information about membership or how you can volunteer, call (716) 735-7791 or email niagcofb@yahoo.com.

Photos courtesy of Soil & Water Conservation District: Two Orleans County fruit farms will get frost fans to help prevent damage to their orchards during a spring frost.

ALBION – The Orleans County Soil & Warer Conservation District has been awarded a $361,311 state “Climate Resilient Farming Grant” to assist three farms.

Two of the grants will go towards frost fans, while the other grant will help a farm in Kendall remove numerous ash trees along a waterway at the farm and establish a riparian buffer. The farm will replant the area with healthy, native trees, said Katie Sommerfeldt, the Soil & Water district manager.

The grant to replace a series of smudge pots with frost fans will help two farms, one in Gaines and one in Carlton, prevent frost damage to their orchards which can devastate crops, Sommerfeldt said.

The frost fans have automatic weather stations. They will blow warmer air from above through an orchard to fight a freeze in the spring when fruit buds are vulnerable to frost.

Farms now set up numerous smudge pots and power them with diesel fuel. It’s very labor-intensive, often needed manpower throughout a chilly night.

The frost fans will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and require far less manpower, Sommerfeldt said.

Many of the local fruit farms have been using smudge pots to try to warm up chilly orchards, a labor intensive effort.

Press Release, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Office

SYRACUSE – Governor Kathy Hochul, last week at the Great New York State Fair, signed three pieces of legislation expanding resources and protections for the State’s agricultural industry.

Legislation S.6320/A.6821 allows the leasing of State land to be used for sap production and tree tapping for ten years to increase the return on investment for producers, including maple producers. The legislation authorizes the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation to enter into contracts for the lease or use of State lands for the purpose of tree tapping and sap production for a term of up to, but not more than, ten years.

Legislation S.9232/A.10199 would allow licensed farm wineries to use apples grown outside of New York State to manufacture or sell State labeled cider, in certain circumstances. This legislation provides crop loss determination for farm wineries to authorize the use of apples grown outside of New York State to be used for state-labeled cider when needed due to a loss of crops.

Legislation S.9248/A.7020A establishes the Beginning Farmer Advisory Board on Agriculture. The legislation establishes the Beginning Farmer Advisory Board on Agriculture with the goal of implementing a plan that moves forward the State’s efforts to bring new entrants to the farm.

“As we celebrate the State Fair, we recognize that New York’s agriculture is a central component to our State’s economy,” Governor Hochul said. “With the signing of this legislation, we continue our mission to uplift this community and prove we are here to support them every step of the way.”