41 new FFA chapters since 2017, with total membership up 60%

Press Release, New York Department of Agriculture

Photo by Tom Rivers: Makayla Heideman, a Medina student, brought her hedgehog, Sonic, to the Medina FFA’s Animal Appreciation Day on April 26, 2018. The hedgehog is about 2 months old. This was the first time a hedgehog was part of the Medina FFA animal showcase.

New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball congratulated the New York FFA on its significant growth in membership since 2017, helping to further agricultural education and strengthen the State’s future workforce.

The New York FFA is a youth organization that helps middle and high school students become leaders in a variety of career fields, including agriculture. Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, New York State dedicated nearly $5 million over the last three years to support agricultural education programs.

A record $3.6 million was invested in the 2017-18 Budget to support the New York FFA, New York Agriculture in the Classroom, and to expand the number of agriculture teachers. In November, the New York FFA received national recognition for its membership increase in the 2018-19 school year, a 60 percent increase from the previous year and the highest increase in the nation.

“It is such an exciting time for New York FFA, which is experiencing substantial growth and leading the nation in program expansion,” said Commissioner Ball. “I want to congratulate New York’s FFA members and thank its leadership for their passion and dedication to building the future of agriculture, and our Governor and Legislature for continuing to support this important program at record levels. FFA is a powerful program that helps our young people learn more about the industry and obtain the skills they need to succeed in meaningful careers in agriculture and related fields. The program is clearly a model for the nation, shining a spotlight on the many strengths of New York agriculture.”

The New York FFA currently has 7,084 members across the state, up from 4,300 in 2017. As part of the growth in young people joining the FFA, the number of new FFA chapters is also on the rise across the state. This year, the New York FFA celebrated the addition of 13 new chapters in high schools across the state, for a total of 41 new chapters added since 2017. The New York FFA is on track to meet its goal of developing 100 new chapters statewide.

FFA Educational Center Under Construction

The 2017 State Budget also included $2 million to build a state-of-the-art test kitchen and food science lab at the New York FFA Leadership Training Foundation’s Oswegatchie Educational Center in Croghan, NY.

The facility, which is currently under construction and expected to open this summer, will offer instruction in food safety, basic food preparation skills, and agricultural-related careers in food processing. It will also provide space for producers to test new processed food products. Training will be available to FFA members, agricultural educators, farm owners, beginning farmers, and other members of the public.

By educating current and future New York farmers about emerging trends in food safety, the test kitchen will serve as a valuable resource to increase participation in the New York State Grown & Certified program. In order to participate in the program, farmers must be located in New York and have food safety and environmental stewardship plans in place on their farms. More information about New York State Grown & Certified is available here.

“The 19-20 NY FFA State Officer Team set a goal at the beginning of this year to increase our membership and the number of chapters throughout the state to give students the opportunity and experiences that agricultural education and FFA can offer,” said NY FFA State President Peyton Fontaine. “We were very excited to be a part of this extraordinary achievement for New York FFA. We are working to sustain this growth by continuing to provide the resources and education to individuals that may not know about these programs. Although we have made significant progress, we still have room to grow and more students to reach!”

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U..S. Sen. Charles Schumer wants the federal government to increase mental health resources in rural communities, especially for farmers, who have a suicide rate 3.5 times the general population.

Sen. Schumer

Schumer was at a Wyoming County dairy farm on Nov. 27 for a news conference about the issue. Schumer said farmers face a number of stressors that can negatively impact mental health, including financial issues, climate and weather challenges, farm or business problems, and fear of losing their farm.

To address this escalating issue, which is doing real damage to farmers in the GLOW Region of Upstate New York, Schumer launched a two-pronged plan. First, he called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive study of suicides among farmers. Second, he called on Congress to expediently pass the Seeding Rural Resilience Act, which would establish a number of initiatives designed to quell farmer suicides.

“On a good day our family farmers work long hours on tight margins,” Schumer said. “Our farmers are beset by enormous pressures, and so many factors out of their control—from bad weather to bad government policy to giant swings in the economic cycle—that for too many it becomes too much and tragedy ensues. That is why we need to break through the silence, and why we must together confront this challenge, offer better avenues for our farmers who are hurting to getting help, and do more studies so we have a real handle on the depth of the mental health challenge we face,” said Senator Schumer.

Schumer explained that suicide has increasingly become a major public health crisis in Upstate New York and the GLOW Region. In New York State, the suicide rate has increased by more than 28 percent over the past two decades. Specifically, Wyoming County has the 8th highest suicide rate in New York State, and the highest in the Rochester-Finger Lakes Region.

According to the New York State Department of Health, 22 individuals died by suicide in Wyoming County from 2015 to 2017, representing a rate of 18 deaths per 100,000 people. Nationwide, a total of 47,173 Americans died by suicide in 2017, well above 2016’s recorded total of 44,695. Schumer said that this follows an alarming trend that has seen the national suicide rate increase by 33 percent since 1999.

“Farmers face a number of unique circumstances that can negatively influence mental health, including a constant fear of losing their farm,” Schumer said. “These stressors, which can be exacerbated by stigma and inadequate access to mental health services in underserved, rural areas, have manifested in a disproportionate rate of suicide among farmers. We need better mental health care for farmers, better information on how they can access that care, and better data on the nature and extent of the problem.”

The CDC has previously acknowledged that its 2018 report on suicides was limited in scope, as it only considered data from 17 states participating in the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) in both 2012 and 2015. Also, it is estimated that the 17 states included in the 2018 study only represented roughly one quarter of farms across the country. Now that all 50 states participate in the NVDRS, Schumer explained the CDC now has data that is representative of the entire nation and the farmer population.

Second, Schumer urged Congress to expediently consider and pass the Seeding Rural Resilience Act. Introduced in the Senate by Senators Jon Tester [D-MT] and Chuck Grassley [R-IA], this bipartisan legislation would establish three initiatives designed to help farmers cope with issues of mental health, including:

• Establish a requirement for USDA to offer voluntary stress management training to employees of the Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency and National Resources Conservation Service.

• Authorize the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and USDA to execute a $3 million public awareness campaign about mental health issues on farms and ranches and to destigmatize mental health care in rural areas

• Require the Secretary of Agriculture to collaborate with stakeholders from state and local governments, as well as the agricultural industry, to issue best practices to address mental health issues on farms and ranches.

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Photo by Tom Rivers: These soybeans in Albion are pictured in October. The federal government has provided tariff relief payments for farmers who grow soybeans, corn and sweet cherries in Orleans County, as well as dairy farmers.

The federal government has approved a new round of tariff relief payments for American farmers hurt in a trade war.

The U.S. Agriculture Department is distributing another round of tariff relief payments.

In Orleans County, this year the relief payments will add up to $1,895,536 for about 150 farmers who grow corn and soybeans. Milk producers and sweet cherry growers also are receiving some of the payments in Orleans County, said Larry Meyer, director of the Farm Service Agency in Orleans County.

Last year the tariff relief totaled $2,139,065 for farmers in Orleans County, Meyer said.

The payments help make up for a drop in prices for corn, soybeans and the other crops.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue on Friday announced the second round of 2019 Market Facilitation Program payments.

The funding will be released beginning the week before Thanksgiving. Meyer, the FSA director in Orleans, said the local farmers have all signed up for the new round of funding.

“This second tranche of 2019 MFP payments, along with already provided disaster assistance, will give farmers, who have had a tough year due to unfair trade retaliation and natural disasters, much needed funds in time for Thanksgiving,” said Secretary Perdue. “President Trump has shown time and again that he is fighting for America’s farmers and ranchers. While we continue to have confidence in the President’s negotiations with China, this money shows President Trump following through on his promise to help and support farmers as he continues to fight for fair market access.”

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23,000 acres weren’t planted in Orleans due to wet spring

Photos by Tom Rivers: These soybeans in the Albion FFA Land Lab have benefitted from the warm weather in the fall, without a hard frost.

Farmers in Orleans County who took a chance by planting crops later than usual are getting some nice warm weather to help the crops mature.

Normally a hard frost has hit by now, with shuts down corn and soybeans.

But the freezing temperatures have stayed away, allowing crops to mature. Farmers would like about two more weeks of warmth for the corn and soybeans to reach good yields and high quality, said Larry Meyer, director of the Farm Service Agency in Orleans and Monroe counties.

In Orleans, there are usually about 125,000 acres planted each year with corn and soybeans. Meyer said the wet spring delayed planting with farmers deciding not to plant 23,170 acres. There were about 90,000 acres that went unplanted in Orleans, Genesee, Niagara and Monroe counties, Meyer said.

“There is still a lot of corn that is green,” Meyer said today. “But most of the soybeans are drying down. Most are looking good.”

Farmers who planted late will know in couple weeks if they have a quality crop with a good yield.

“If we can get a couple more weeks without a killing frost, we’ll catch up,” Meyer said. “It could turn out OK for people who did plant.”

The FFA Land Lab is on Clarendon Road behind the school campus. This year the FFA is growing soybeans after doing corn last year.

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Press Release, Sen. Charles Schumer

File photo by Tom Rivers – Honeycrisp apples are pictured in October 2016 at the Roberts Circle R fruit stand and farm market on Route 18 in Carlton.

Standing at the Boehm Farm and Orchard in Greene County, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer on Monday touted his recently-secured fix to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) as part of the federal budget extension.

Schumer detailed how a matching requirement for SCRI limited access to millions of dollars in grant funding for researchers, including the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, who had to provide an equal amount of matching funds to their own projects, which is often not possible for researchers working with constrained budgets.

This would’ve reduced access to funding to study specialty crops like apples and how to increase crop yields, boost resiliency and adjust to other 21st century challenges. Schumer explained that this would have been a major detriment to Upstate New York apple producers, like Boehm Farm and Orchard, which are a major component of New York State’s vibrant agricultural economy.

To address this issue that threatened Upstate New York’s access to this critical funding, Schumer successfully fought for a provision in the budget extension to eliminate this matching requirement, to ensure that the state’s specialty crop industry continues to have the support it needs to thrive and boost New York’s agricultural economy.

“New York State is the second-largest apple producer in the country, with apple farming having an estimated economic impact of $574 million to the state, and much of it is thanks to family farms like Boehm Farm,” Schumer said. “Even though we produce the highest quality product around, for the industry to continue being grown and cultivated, it depends on critical USDA research funding being sent to first-rate organizations like Cornell.”

Schumer pointed to a 2016 grant from the SCRI as a means of showing its value and importance to apple production in New York State. Cornell University received $4,218,618 through the program to advance research in the commercial apple industry.

This funding allowed Cornell to invest in new candidate rootstock and work to identify new genetic markers to select improved plant traits. These rootstocks can reduce the need for crop fumigation, improve disease resistance, reduce fruit disorders, and make orchards both more economically and environmentally sustainable. Considering that apple producers face annual costs of nearly $300 million to replant orchards to improve tree health in the face of persistent disease threats and changing soil conditions, this research provided to them through Cornell can make a major difference to their bottom lines.

Schumer explained that without the SCRI, Cornell would have struggled, financially, to execute such valuable research for apple farmers and other specialty crop producers.

New York is the second-largest apple producer nationwide, harvesting a total of 29.5 million bushels annually from over 650 farms and roughly 55,000 acres across the state. According to the New York Apple Association, there are 600 commercial apple growers, with the industry providing 10,000 direct jobs to New Yorkers, and another 7,500 indirect jobs.

The USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) was created in order to improve the quality and efficiency of farms through innovative research. Eligible projects must address research subjects like plant genetics to improve crop characteristics, invasive species, new technology, food safety hazards in production and more. Over the past 5 years, roughly $30 million in SCRI grant funding has been awarded to Cornell University for specialty crop-oriented projects.

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Press Release, Cornell Cooperative Extension in Orleans County

Photo courtesy of NYSIPM staff: A Spotted Lanternfly adult is about an 1 long.

There is an invasive insect wreaking havoc in southeastern Pennsylvania, and the risk of it spreading to New York is high.

Spotted Lanternfly is native to Southeast Asia and was first detected in Pennsylvania in 2014. It is a sap-sucking insect, inserting its mouthparts into the trunks and stems of various plants and feeding off of the sap flowing beneath the bark surface.

The preferred food source for this insect is Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), an invasive and problematic tree also native to Asia. While Tree of Heaven is the preferred food source, Spotted Lanternfly will feed on over 70 plant species. This puts many native, ornamental, and crop species at risk if or when Spotted Lanternfly becomes an issue in New York State.

Spotted Lanternfly can cause significant damage to apples and grapes – crops that are valued at over $350 million annually in New York State. Feeding damage can kill plants or weaken them significantly, leaving them vulnerable to attack from other deadly insects or diseases.

Photo courtesy of NYSIPM staff: Spotted Lanternfly adult females cover freshly-laid egg masses with a putty-like substance.

The insect secretes a clear sticky residue called “honeydew” as it feeds. This honeydew can reduce market value of crops in addition to creating a favorable environment for black sooty mold to grow.

In addition to severely impacting the fruit crop and ornamental plant industries, Spotted Lanternfly has hindered the quality of life of residents of Pennsylvania where the infestation is highest – honeydew covers plants, sidewalks, vehicles, or anything else beneath the feeding sites of the insect.

New York State DEC is working with the Department of Ag and Markets as well as USDA to try to slow the spread of Spotted Lanternfly and perhaps prevent it from invading New York. There are several things that New York residents can do to help.

First, if you are travelling from or through Pennsylvania, inspect vehicles and belongings thoroughly for any Spotted Lanternfly hitchhikers. The adults are large (about 1 inch long), with light gray spotted wings folded over their backs.

They are laying egg masses this time of year, and will lay them on any surface – including vehicles, tree trunks, potted plants, etc. Egg masses are brownish gray and mud-like. Spotted Lanternflies do not fly long distances, so their spread is directly linked to being inadvertently transported by people.

Photo courtesy of NYS Department of Ag and Markets: This shows a Tree of Heaven seed cluster.

The DEC is also urging NY residents to be aware of and report the presence of Tree of Heaven trees. These trees have long pinnately compound leaves (similar to Black Walnut leaves). They have yellowish-orange seed clusters at this time of year which are visible on the tree from a distance. The leaves also emit a foul odor when bruised or cut. Some native look-alikes are Black Walnut, Sumac, or Ash. Being aware of where Tree of Heaven species are located will allow officials to monitor and survey for Spotted Lanterfly.

If you find Tree of Heaven (or any other invasive species), you can record data on invasive species right from your smartphone by using iMapInvasives, New York’s invasive species database, available for iOS and Android. Click here to learn more about the app or to find a training hosted by your local Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM).

If you think you’ve seen Spotted Lanternfly, send photos and location info to spottedlanternfly@dec.ny.gov, or fill out an online report (click here).

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Photo courtesy of Zingler Farms: Zingler Farms in Kendall started picking SweeTango apples on Friday to kick off the fall harvest.

Apple growers in Orleans County have started their harvest, about a week later than usual due to the damp spring, and then some cool summer nights.

It will be a busy 8 to 10 weeks for the apple growers who expect other later-season varieties to mature on schedule. That will compress the harvest season and make for some long days to get all the apples picked.

New York is the country’s second-leading apple producer behind Washington State. New York harvests about 30 million bushels of apples each year.

Orleans County is a big apple growing county in New York, behind only Wayne County.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – This painting – “The Cherry Pickers” by Juan Cavasos in 1989 – is part of an art show at Hoag Library in Albion. The artwork has been on display since early August and will continue to be in the library until Saturday.

Canvasos worked as a migrant worker from Mexico before going to the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he completed a degree in graphic arts in 1996. His artwork has been featured in national traveling exhibits.

“I want to demonstrate the courage that we farmworkers have dedicated to hard labor, and that it not only means financial gain, bit also a reward which helps us survive and keeps us alive,” Cavasos said in an artist statement. “The majority of farmworkers lack the knowledge or skills to get other jobs. But we make an immense contribution to society, to the country and the community.”

Farmworkers last year did portraits of each other that are on display in the exhibit. This one is by Omar Lopez Cruz.

The Geneseo Migrant Center and Hoag Library are teaming to put on the exhibit, “Hand Picked: Art Expression of Farmworkers Who Feed Us.”

Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, the traveling exhibit features 30 drawings by migrant workers of their hands, faces, stories (retablos), and poetry. The art show is designed to raise awareness of the inner and outer lives of migrant farmworkers in eight counties of Western New York.

This artwork from Javier in 2018 shares his experience being detained in an immigration facility after he said he was stopped by law enforcement who he said falsely claimed his back twilight was out.

Javier chose to take a voluntary departure and went to Mexico. He said he was grateful to be free and not behind bars.

“I am not a criminal!!” he writes. “Every night I prayed and gave thanks to God and the Virgin of Fatima because she gave me a chance to get free. Whenever you pray to a saint with the heart, it is very likely that she will grant you the wish.”

Maria in 2018 made this drawing after her daughter gave birth to a son.

“After the baby was born then I prayed to the Virgin of Guadalupe and to the Divine Mercy. They listened to me and my daughter healed. I am happy and thankful.”

This drawing is by Filbert and Nestor. They give thanks to the Rosa Mystica Virgin. “My nephew and I were in grave danger … while trying to cross the border we were kidnapped, and while we were being tortured I commended myself to the Rosa Mystica. In those moments are kidnappers stopped torturing us and understood that we were just trying to reach the United States, and we were freed. Thank you to the Rosa Mystica for giving us another opportunity in life.”

Maria made this drawing of Estados Unidos

“This is what this picture means to me: My country is Mexico and the United States is where I am living now with all my family,” she writes. “When we were coming to this country I was very excited ti get to see more places, but I was also sad to leave my country, my friends and everything I used to know. Now that I am here, I have seen many beautiful places and I feel very good because, thank God, we have done very well and, hopefully, it will always be like that.”

Maribel created this drawing last year.

“My drawing is about a very sad time in my life. It is about my Mother,” she writes. “A few months ago, she was sick in the hospital because she was working, she hurt one of her toes. It had to be amputated and she was doing badly. Christ represents the strength to keep going forward because they day she went in the surgery room, she just thought about Christ. The Virgin represents the faith of all our family, and the flowers represent happiness because everything went very well, thank God. Also, the flowers represent all the support we have in our family. My Mother is fine now and we are very happy.”

Among the displays in the artwork are several poems, including this one by Ana Rio:

I miss touching

I miss touching my kids and my grandchildren

And my great-grandchildren that are far away

I miss touching my island Puerto Rico

I miss touching my doggies

I miss touching my friends from childhood

I miss touching my mother who I no longer

Have

I miss touching my father his soft face

I miss my childhood with friends

I miss touching my siblings

I miss touching coffee beans recently

Roasted

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Photo courtesy of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Orleans County: This tomato from a home garden in Carlton has been confirmed to have Late Blight.

CARLTON – Late Blight was confirmed in Orleans County on August 23. It was found in a tomato from a home garden in Carlton, the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Orleans County reported.

Late Blight is a serious disease of tomatoes and potatoes and can kill plants in less than two weeks. Disease spots are often dark gray to brown in color and tend to be surrounded by pale green tissue. Disease lesions can be found on all parts of the plant – stems, leaves, fruit, tubers.

“If you find late blight it is probably too late to save your plants,” said Katie Oakes, Extension horticulture educator.

Bag up diseased plants ASAP, preferably when the sun is shining and if possible, when the plants are dry. Let them cook in the sun in garbage bags, then dispose of them. Do not compost plants.

The spores are airborne so leaving your plants alive will infect your neighbors as well as local farmers whose livelihoods will be severely affected, the Extension said in an advisory.

For help identifying Late Blight, bring a sample to a Cornell Cooperative Extension office – preferably in a clear, plastic bag.

Since this disease is aggressive, spreads easily, and can be very damaging to area farmers, Cornell Cooperative Extension asks that anyone suspecting they have Late Blight please contact their local CCE office for assistance.

In Orleans County, the office can be reached at 585-798-4265.

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