Move made to protect against avian flu

File photo by Tom Rivers – These turkeys were part of last year’s meat auction at the 4-H Fair in Knowlesville. The state has banned turkeys, ducks and other fowl from fairs this year.

KNOWLESVILLE – The annual 4-H Fair in late July will be missing some mainstays – turkeys, chickens, ducks, peacocks and other fowl.

New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets has banned the birds from all county fairs and the state fair this year. Richard Ball, state agriculture commissioner, issued the order on Tuesday, saying the state needs to be proactive in fighting the potential spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza.

“Avian influenza has not yet been detected in New York State, but it is a very serious threat to poultry and all breeds of fowl and is continuing to spread,” Ball said on Tuesday. “Despite the efforts of the best poultry health experts in North America, we do not fully understand the cause of the rapid spread of this virus. This commonsense step will help limit the spread of the influenza to other farms and chickens.”

Orleans County had 126 entries in fowl events in last year’s fair from 27 kids in the 4-H program. The news from the state is disappointing to the 4-H’ers, but the kids will still work to educate the public about poultry, said Cara Wachob, the poultry superintendent along with her husband Jim.

“It’s definitely a disappointment, but we want to do our part to stop the spread of avian flu in New York State,” she said.

Robert Batt, the 4-H educator in Orleans County, said kids in the poultry program may do photography displays of their chickens, turkeys and other fowl. They may also have other educational displays about the birds.

Batt said the ban is the first he’s experienced in a 4-H career going back about two decades. He understands the need to safeguard the poultry industry.

“It’s absolutely a safety thing,” he said.

Wachob said the local 4-H’ers will put some of the energy they would have used in preparing the birds for the fair into educational displays about the industry and poultry sicence.

The ban covers all breeds of fowl, including chickens, pigeons, turkeys, pheasants, guinea fowl, bantam poultry, geese, and ducks. Exhibitors who have already registered fowl for the 2015 New York State Fair will be contacted and will receive a refund of their entry fees.

“This is a disappointment to us as well as to fairgoers and our exhibitors, who look forward to this competition every year,” said Troy Waffner, acting fair director. “But we believe people understand that we are stewards of the animals in our care and I know they understand that we’re doing what’s best for everyone, and especially for the birds.”

The State Fair has already made plans to fill the space in the Poultry Barn normally used for displaying chickens with rabbits and cavies, and the daily rooster crowing contest will be replaced by a rabbit hopping demonstration on seven days.

While the current strains of avian influenza circulating in the Midwest are extraordinarily deadly to birds, experts stress that the H5N2 and H5N8 strains are not a threat to humans. Chicken and eggs are safe to eat, the Department of Ag and Markets advised.

Press Release, Governor Cuomo’s Office

ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo today announced new initiatives to streamline regulatory burdens currently placed on farmers in New York. The first-ever “Strategic Interagency Task Force on Lessening Obstacles to Agriculture” identified new opportunities for improving the regulations for pesticide registration and certification without compromising current environmental protections.

Additional regulatory changes for the benefit of New York agriculture as a result of the Task Force will be rolled out in the coming weeks.

“This administration remains committed to supporting farmers and cutting red tape to make it easier for agricultural businesses to grow and thrive in New York,” Cuomo said. “Through this task force, we are implementing commonsense solutions that will improve business for our farmers and maintain this state’s strong commitment to protecting the environment.”

The Task Force is comprised of leadership from state government and representatives from the agriculture industry. It met five times during 2014, working together to develop recommendations to streamline the regulatory process for the state’s robust agricultural economy to grow. During these meetings, farmers identified concerns on a variety of current regulations and posed them to the task force, which responded with the following solutions:

Easier Pesticide Registration Process

In response to feedback from farmers, the Department of Environmental Conservation improved its pesticide product registration processes by scheduling pre-application meetings with registrants, reducing potential delays. It has also improved notification of new pesticide registrations to applicators and distributors.

Faster Recertification Process for Pesticide Applicators

Farmers using pesticides are required to be certified as private pesticide applicators and take either continuing education courses or a recertification exam every five years to remain current. The DEC now tracks applicator certification status in a new database, which improves the renewal notice process. Later phases will allow farmers to view and update their own information online.

Simplify Categories for Pesticide Applicators

New York State has seven private pesticide certifications. To make it easier for farmers to diversify the commodities they grow, the DEC now allows an applicant to request to switch their category, in most cases, and will propose consolidating the categories to simplify certification requirements.

“Based on these recommendations, the Department of Environmental Conservation has identified actions that will reduce the regulatory burdens on farmers and help them use approved products without weakening environmental protections,” said DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said. “Farmers are excellent stewards of the environment and we will continue to work with the agriculture community to promote New York’s agricultural economy and natural resources.”

Jeff Williams, New York Farm Bureau’s Public Policy Director, said the Task Force was able to “look for common sense solutions.”

“Changes to the pesticide approval and certifications processes will create greater efficiencies while maintaining a high level of standards in this state,” Williams said. “New York Farm Bureau appreciates the leadership of Gov. Cuomo’s administration, including the efforts of the Departments of Environmental Conservation and Agriculture and Markets, and the work of the entire committee. We look forward to even more regulatory changes to support New York’s farmers.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

GAINES – An apple orchard on Route 98 in Gaines is full of apple blossoms in this photo taken at about noon today.

New York, the country’s second-leading apple state behind Washington, is out in bloom with white blossoms dotting the landscape in fruit country.

“Grab your cameras and take a drive this weekend,” Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association, said in a news release. “We’ve got more than 11 million trees across the state and they are putting on a gorgeous show right now.”

The state’s apple trees generally didn’t mind last winter’s cold temperatures and snow, Allen said. The apple trees actually need a certain number of “chilling hours” before they can develop next year’s buds, he said.

This year’s bloom is actually slightly ahead of the 2014 bloom, which was two weeks behind the perennial schedule. A late spring means less chance of crop-damaging frost such as New York saw statewide in 2012. Apple buds progress from dormant brown tips to green tips, to bright pink clusters as the buds start to open, to full white flowers.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Maggie Roberts is pictured with a hanging basket and other flowers in a greenhouse that opened last year at Roberts Farm Market on Maple Ridge Road.

MEDINA It was about 40 years ago when Joan and Ginny Roberts started a roadside stand on Maple Ridge Road. Like a lot of farm families, they wanted to sell some produce directly to consumers.

The family had success with the stand, so much that they started a farm market down the road. Roberts Farm Market has been growing steadily since then. Last year Roberts added a new greenhouse. Three years ago they remodeled the market and expanded its apple cider operation.

The family has also started an annual benefit for the Alzheimer’s Association. It sold hot dogs, chips and soda last weekend, with basket raffles that generated $1,500 for the Alzheimer’s Association. That topped the $1,380 raised in 2014 for the debut benefit.

Maggie Roberts and her husband Gary run the market and have pushed the recent renovations. Mr. Roberts makes the cider for the Roberts farm market and several other farms in the region.

Mrs. Roberts manages the growing garden center. They have four full-time and one part-time employee at the site, which is open from April 1 to Dec. 23, as well as on Tuesdays during the winter for the apple cider customers.

The new greenhouse, at 64 by 96 feet, has ventilation in both sides and vents in the roof peaks. It has an irrigation system that feeds the plants water and fertilizer.

“That has been marvelous,” said Mrs. Roberts. “Before it would take forever to water them by hand.”

The greenhouse also has a heater that is often turned on at night. The greenhouse, with all of its features, has kept the 500 hanging baskets and other flowers looking lush.

The market is next to a U-Pick orchard and those fruit trees were starting to bloom last week.

Mrs. Roberts said the family appreciates the community’s support, since the early days of the roadside stand to the more recent renovations and expansion.

Photos by Tom Rivers
GAINES – Jim Kirby checks the corn seeds in his planter this morning on Zig-Zag Road. Kirby and other local farmers are working long hours to get their crops planted.

After a dry April and early May, parts of New York, including Orleans County, are already in near-drought conditions. Nearly three-quarters of the state is considered “abnormally dry,” the condition just before a drought begins, according to The National Drought Mitigation Center.

Kirby operates the planter on a corn field on Zig-Zag Road, just west of Keitel Road.

Photos by Tom Rivers
The blossoms are starting to come out in local fruit orchards. These photos show blossoms on peach trees this afternoon at Watt Farms along East Bacon Road in Albion.

The peach trees tend to have pink blossoms. In a few days the apple blossoms should be out and those white blossoms will make for stunning drives in the countryside.

Chris Watt, owner of Watt Farms, said the blossom season can be an anxious time for fruit growers. When the blossoms are out, bees need to be busy pollinating so the fruit can grow, Watt said.

Photos by Tom Rivers
A tractor driver is pictured this afternoon with a planter at Roberts Farm in Shelby at the corner of Salt Works Road and Maple Ridge Road.

After a miserable last week, with so much rain and cold and wind, local farmers have been out in force the past few days with sunshine and temperatures in the 60s. Farmers have been plowing fields and planting seeds.

This photo shows a farmer with tillage equipment, getting a field ready for planting on West County House Road in Albion by Hu-Lane Farm.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – FFA student leaders Sara Millspaugh, president, and Aaron Burnside, the vice president, are pictured on a new Kubota RTV donated to the agriculture program at Albion Central School.

Students won’t be permitted to operate the vehicle, which will be available to other buildings and grounds employees at the district.

Kast Farms bought the new Kubota RTV-X900 from Bentley Brothers in Albion. Brett and John Kast, partners in the farm with their father David, said the family is pleased to see the FFA program do so much for students and the community.

John was in the program 25 years ago when there was talk of eliminating the FFA program. Now there are 65 students in the high school program and a group in the junior high FFA.

“It’s amazing to see it from where it was to where it is now,” John Kast said. “It’s good for the students because agriculture is the backbone of the community.”

Albion FFA members are pictured with representatives from Kast Farms. The group includes, from left: Adam Krenning, FFA advisor; Aaron Burnside, FFA vice president; Sara Millspaugh, FFA president, Brett Kast; John Kast; and John’s daughter Sierra, a member of the FFA in junior high.

The school district has set aside 5 acres for a land lab for agriculture students to test soil and learn about growing plants and food. Part of the land lab includes apple trees. Soybeans will soon be planted as well.

The utility vehicle will make it easier to transport tools and equipment to and from the land lab and the ag shop. Students this week will be running wiring to hold up the apple trees in a trellis system.

Brett Kast said farming is best learned by doing, rather than reading about in a book. Adam Krenning, the agriculture teacher and FFA advisor, agreed.

“This is not a traditional program where the students sit at a desk,” he said.

He thanked Kast Farms and other farmers and community members for supporting the program through either donations or by providing expertise to students.

“It’s amazing to me the amount of support with the people willing to help out,” Krenning said. “Words can’t express how thankful I am to everybody.”

Photos by Kristina Gabalski

BUFFALO – Orleans County 4-Her Emily Harling of Barre presents her illustrated talk on Famous Race Horses and Horse Racing during 4-H Western District Public Presentations held Saturday at Bishop Timon/St. Jude High School in Buffalo.

Six local 4-Hers represented Orleans County at the district level: Alden Cayea presented on “Superheroes,” Arian Cayea presented on “The Rescue Dragon,” Brian Shaw presented “All About Trapping,” Joan Gabalski presented on “The History of Gingerbread,” and Peggy-Jo Gabalski presented “An Introduction to Takashi Nagai.”

All six 4-Hers qualified for district level following Orleans County Public Presentations in February of this year.

Brian Shaw presents his illustrated talk, “All About Trapping.”

Photo by Tom Rivers – This historical marker on Route 98 notes the Elba Mucklands, which started in 1915 when the Oak Orchard and Tonawanda swamps were drained. The muck continues to be highly productive agriculture soil.

ELBA – It was 100 years ago when the Oak Orchard and Tonawanda swamps were drained to create the Elba Mucklands. I didn’t realize we were in the centennial year of the muck’s creation.

I was driving on Route 98 on Saturday and had a feeling I should stop and look at the historical marker by a big drainage ditch for the muck, just south of the Barre town line. The marker notes the mucklands were created in 1915.

I didn’t know some of the area’s finest farmland emerged 100 years ago. The muck has been more than good agriculture land for growing onions, lettuce, potatoes, carrots and other crops.

This panoramic view shows the mucklands off Route 98 north of Elba and in the southern part of Orleans County in the early 1930s. The photo, from the Orleans County History Department, shows men harvesting lettuce and putting it into crates.

The work needed to tame the swamp brought hundreds of hard-working Italian and Polish immigrants to the community. They cleared the land, removing trees and boulders, and set up 90 miles of drainage in the 7,000-acre muck. It is an impressive feat.

The muck includes the towns of Clarendon and Barre in Orleans County, and Elba and Byron in Genesee County. Most of the remaining deeper muck is in Orleans County.

The muck continues today as valuable farmland, and still is responsible for many jobs in the community. Farmers have stepped up efforts in recent years to battle erosion to help preserve the fertile soil in the mucklands.

File photo by Tom Rivers – Ditches help keep the muck drained. This picture was taken in August 2013.

I would like to see the muck’s legacy celebrated in the community. I like the idea of bronze statues to honor the immigrants who helped shape our communities.

It would be awesome to have a statue of a quarryman in Orleans County as a memorial for the thousands of immigrants who worked in the sandstone quarries.

In Elba, a statue of a farmworker could highlight the muck’s heritage, spotlighting the immigrants who cleared the land and the farmworkers who continue to plant and harvest crops today.

It would be a nice addition on Route 98 as a gateway into the Village of Elba. Orleans and Genesee residents and agricultural organizations could make it a reality. That project could be part of a bigger heritage trail that would connect museums and historical sites on Route 98.

That trail would be a bigger attraction with a site in Elba celebrating the muck farmers and a spot in Albion in honor of the quarrymen who worked in the many quarries throughout Orleans County.

In my dreams, I’d also put a bronze statue near Batavia Downs for the horsemen and a statue at Point Breeze of a fisherman.

New York Farm Bureau is praising the new state budget for directing $70 million in agriculture programs “that touch every farmer,” Dean Norton, NYFB president, said in a statement today.

He was pleased to see funding for many farm programs, and also to see that a minimum wage hike wasn’t included in the budget. Higher labor costs would put New York farmers at a competitive disadvantage to farms in other states and countries, Norton said.

He is happy to see increased support for the Environmental Protection Fund, which is responsible for enhancing water-quality projects, farmland protection and expanding conservation efforts on farms across the state.

“In addition, the budget funds critical research for a variety of commodities including dairy, fruit, vegetables, honeybees and maple,” Norton said. “We are also appreciative of money that supports new farmers, promotes the world-class products grown and made by our farms, and makes a substantial investment to upgrade services at the State Fairgrounds.”

The budget also makes commitments to infrastructure and expanded rural broadband, which Norton said have been top priorities for the organization.

“Safe roads and bridges are imperative for farmers to move machinery and product in an effective manner,” Norton said. “This funding will also go a long way in ensuring that there is reliable Internet all across New York. This is important for farms to access timely information and take advantage of new technology that improves efficiency.”

State Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Batavia, also is happy to see money in the budget to bolster local agriculture, including a $1 million initiative for the Beginning Farmers NY Fund to attract young people to the career of farming, a $4.2 million increase for local agriculture assistance programs, and a $500,000 loan fund for the Soil and Water Conservation Committee to create a revolving loan fund for drain tile installation on farms.

“Farmers constantly deal with threats to their businesses such as drought, heavy rainfall and destructive insects,” said Hawley, a former farmer who once led the Genesee County Farm Bureau. “These proposals will help keep our agriculture industry flourishing, entice young people to the industry, and allow farmers to obtain loans they will use to protect and enhance their crop production.”

Provided photo – Brett Kast of Albion is pictured in Washington, D.C. He was in the nation’s capital recently to press for immigration reform and other issues that affect the apple industry.

Press Release
U.S. Apple Association

ALBION – Brett Kast, a fifth-generation apple farmer from Albion, was selected by the U.S. Apple Association for the 2015 Class of Young Apple Leaders.

In its sixth year, U.S. Apple’s Young Apple Leaders Program mentors the next generation of American apple growers and leaders. The program provides orientation, understanding and encouragement on public policy issues affecting the apple business.

It is designed to foster fellowship and cooperative working relationships across U.S. apple growing regions through discussions about key apple industry issues, trends, research and other activities.

This year, 16 young growers were selected from across the country, representing seven states.

“These young people will be the future decision-makers in their businesses, communities, and at U.S. Apple,” said U.S. Apple Chairman Mark Nicholson.

Kast was one of two chosen from New York, which is the second-largest apple producing state in the country, behind only Washington. Also, apples are the fourth-largest agricultural commodity produced within the state of New York.

Kast grew up on the family farm, Kast Farms. He is now the orchard manager and works closely with his father David and brother John in the operation.

Brett returned to the farm in 2008 after a year working on the oil rigs of Texas. He works mainly in the fruit side of the operation. He has expanded it into modern tall spindle plantings, including acreage of the new varieties Snapdragon and Rubyfrost.
Brett is a part of the NYAG organization and serves on the variety evaluation committee. Brett is an avid hunter and traveler. He is now spending days on the farm working in a partnership with his father and brother.

The young leaders joined forces with apple leaders from coast-to-coast for U.S. Apple’s Capitol Hill Day, an annual event hosted by U.S. Apple. They brought a unified message to Capitol Hill: pass immigration reform, our business is depending on it.

Kast met with the offices of Charles Schumer (D-NY), Kirsten Gilibrand (D-NY) as well as Representative Chris Collins (R-NY) and House Majority Leader Kevin Mcarthy (R-CA), among others.

The apple industry is heavily dependent on migrant labor, H-2A, and H-2B workers to grow, harvest, pack and process apples and apple products. For a perishable crop like apples, a delay in the arrival of harvest workers can impact the quality and value of the apples.

Growers also emphasized the economic impact they have on the local community and the jobs that harvest workers support. Securing a legal, stable and reliable workforce will continue to be U.S. Apple’s top legislative priority.