Gillibrand: New York exporters to save $450K annually

File photo by Tom Rivers – Some RubyFrost apples are displayed at Brown’s Berry Patch in Waterport last fall.  Orleans County is the state’s second-leading apple producer, behind only Wayne County.

Press release
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After a push by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Congressman Bill Owens of northern New York, apple exports from New York State to Canada are now moving at a swifter, more cost-effective pace because of a measure included in the Farm Bill.

Last week, the first shipment of apples that were not subject to inspection crossed the border without incident. Gillibrand and Owens worked to exempt bulk shipments of U.S. apples to Canada from inspection required under the Apple Export Act, saving apple growers up to $300 per truckload, and allowing growers to create their own distribution schedules, eliminating costly after-hours inspection procedures.

“New York State is home to some of the world’s finest apples and hardest working growers,” said Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “But this costly inspection was hurting our growers and holding our economy back. Now our apples can reach markets faster, help New York’s apple growers cut costs, and help our economy grow.”

New York is the country’s second-leading apple producing state with an annual crop of about 30 million bushels, behind only Washington. The New York crop generates about $330 million annually for the state’s economy.

“After more than two years of hard work, we finally have succeeded, with the elimination of the inspection requirements of the Apple Export Act,” New York Apple Association President Jim Allen said.

The Apple and Pear Export Act of 1933 requires that all exported apples are inspected. But pears have been excluded from the law since 1999. The elimination of apples from this antiquated law would enable apple farmers to have more control over their work schedules and eliminate expensive after-hours inspection procedures.

With nearly 1.5 million bushels of apples exported to Canada annually, this amendment to the current law could save U.S. apple growers more than $550,000 annually by allowing apple growers to distribute apple products on their own schedule, saving valuable time and resources by avoiding onerous after-hours inspection procedures.

“We are very grateful for the Sen. Gillibrand and Congressman Owens for listening to our concerns and acting on our behalf,” Allen said. “Because of their diligence, NY apple growers will not be burdened with unnecessary costs and requirements to sell apples into Canada. So far this year over 650 truckloads have already paid the price, but we anticipate another 800 this season will be exempt. This is a huge cost savings for our growers.”

File photo by Tom Rivers – A dairy cow is pictured last July during the Orleans County 4-H Fair in Knowlesville.

Press release
Congressman Chris Collins

Congressman Chris Collins (R-Clarence) voted in support of the bipartisan Farm Bill this morning.The five-year comprehensive legislation easily passed the House of Representatives, 251 votes to 166, with large support from both Republicans and Democrats.

A member of the House Agriculture Committee, Congressman Collins admits the bill is not perfect, but says it includes real reforms and spending reductions, while removing regulatory barriers for farmers and strengthening America’s safety net. In total, the bill saves $23 billion in mandatory federal spending.

“The bipartisan Farm Bill provides our farmers and producers the certainty they deserve,” said Congressman Collins.

“The bill saves taxpayers billions of dollars, includes historic reform for our dairy policy by repealing outdated programs, and strengthens crop insurance and other protection programs our farmers need.

“And despite the rhetoric, the Farm Bill does not take away Food Stamps from those who are truly eligible,” he said. “Instead, it protects Food Stamp funding by closing loopholes to stop ongoing fraud and abuse.This is not a perfect bill, but it is a bipartisan compromise that addresses many of the critical issues facing our farmers in NY-27 and around the country.”

Specialty Crop Research

Congressman Collins fought for and achieved a significant increase for specialty crop research (boost of more than $200 million between 2012 proposal and today’s bill). The funding finances partnerships between our land-grant universities and farmers to help growers meet new marketplace demands and cultivate new products.This funding is especially essential for the continued growth of New York’s fruit farmers.

Dairy

The Farm Bill includes historic reforms to dairy policy, something the industry has long championed. The controversial Supply Management program has been eliminated and replaced with a new and voluntarily Margin Protection program which provides our dairy farmers with the safeguards they need without imposing government mandated controls.Both milk producers and processors have endorsed this new program and its flexibility will help NY-27’s booming dairy industry continue to grow.

Crop Insurance

The Farm Bill repeals direct payments to farmers and strengthens crop insurance and other risk management tools to protect both taxpayers and farmers when they suffer significant losses.

Beginning Farmer Support

To ensure young people choose agriculture as a career, the Farm Bill supports Beginning Farm Development programs. The bill will provide new farmers with discounted insurance and credit opportunities to help establish their business. With a large segment of America’s farmers and ranchers at or nearing retirement age, the Farm Bill helps encourage young people to enter this challenging and vitally important line of work which is essential to feeding our country and economy.

SNAP (Food Stamp) Reform

The Farm Bill makes the first reforms to SNAP since the bipartisan Welfare reforms of 1996. The bill closes a loophole that automatically enrolled people for Food Stamps when they receive heating assistance from their state government, regardless of their income level. The bill also cracks down on fraud and abuse (illegal immigrants and lotto winners receiving food stamps) and demands outcomes from existing employment training programs.

The New York Farm Bureau and other agricultural advocacy organizations firmly support the bill.The Senate is expected to vote on the measure later this week.

The last Farm Bill was passed in 2008. It expired in September after being extended for one year.

Press release, Farm Credit East

BATAVIA – Farm Credit East has merged with Farm Credit of Maine, effective Jan. 1.

The merger received final regulatory approval following stockholder votes of both organizations that overwhelmingly supported the merger. This merger is the culmination of strategic planning initiatives in both associations to sustain growth and customer value for Farm Credit.

Both ACAs are coming off of excellent years and are financially and operationally strong, making this the opportune time for a merger. This strategic opportunity will position Farm Credit in the Northeast for future change and maintain Northeast agriculture’s continued access to global money markets.

“With this merger comes new opportunities that include a tremendous team of Maine employees who will ‘deepen our bench’ in a variety of job areas,” said Bill Lipinski, Farm Credit East CEO. “We will work hard to ensure that significant financial benefits accrue to our expanded family of stockholders in the next several years.”

The merged association will create the opportunity for enhanced earnings, portfolio diversification and a stronger capital base. It will also offer enhanced member service through an expanded pool of talent and experience.

In 2014, the merged association plans to build on those goals as well as move forward on other positive initiatives that provide high-value customer service and expand diversity of stakeholder groups.

Farm Credit has been consolidating in recent years. The former Farm Credit of Western New York merged with First Pioneer Farm Credit in 2010. Farm Credit of WNY served 16 counties with offices in Batavia, Mayville, Hornell and Geneva.

Pioneer served the balance of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and eastern New Hampshire.

With the addition of Maine, Farm Credit East now represents all of the Northeast except for Vermont.

KENDALL – Kludt Brothers, a past state champ in an annual corn contest, was close to the title this year, but didn’t have enough bushels to top Henry Everman, a Dansville farmer.

The National Corn Growers Association earlier today announced the state and national winners in the 49^th annual corn contest.

Kludt won the state title in 2009 and 2010, and finished fourth in the country in 2009 with 295.9 bushel yield. The farm based in Kendall didn’t reach the leaderboard for 2013.

In the state contest, Henry Everman of Dansville won the New York title for non-irrigated land with a 293.98 bushel per acre yield. Everman was followed by JA-RY Properties of Pavilion at 293.48 bushels and Swede Farms of Pavilion at 289.59.

Kludt Brothers came in eighth out of 15 NY entrants with a yield of 261.86 bushels.

In the no-till/non-irrigated category, Gary Swede Farms of Pavilion took the top three spots with yields of 322.14, 295.93 and 286.27 bushels per acre.

Kludt came in seventh out of the 11 NY entries with a 261.19 yield in the category.

Kevin Kalb of Dubois, Ind., had the top yield in the country for non-irrigated land with a 374.62 yield. David Hula of Charles City, Va., had the biggest yield of all entries – 454.98 bushels per acre – in the no till/irrigated category.

That 454.98 yield is a new all-time record. The national average for corn in 2013 is projected to be 160.4 bushels per acre.

John Long has witnessed changes on the farm landscape

John Long holds the 18-pound horse weight that has been in his family for generations.

GAINES – For the many years John Long and his father Frank milked cows on Zig Zag Road, they used an old horse weight as a door stop in the milk house.

Frank Long started the farm in 1937 at Zig Zag Road. John Long sold the cows in 1988, when he turned the farm’s focus on crops. He also had a retail straw and hay business.

He kept the old horse weight, which weighs 18 pounds and has a ring. It is a relic from the horse and buggy era. Orleans Hub has posted many articles about the rather incredible collection of hitching posts, mounting blocks and carriage steps that remain on many properties in the area. Albion and Gaines, in particular, have many of these. There are also quite a few in Medina.

Long wanted me to see the horse weight, which his father referred to as a horse block.

John Long treasures the horse weight. He scrubbed it and gave it a new coating of black paint.

Horse weights were movable blocks, made of iron or stone, that were carried in carriages. Not every place had a hitching post to tie up a horse. So people brought along a horse weight to tie up their horse and keep it in place.

I had never seen a horse weight before until Long showed it to me on Thursday. He takes pride in the relic. He has it scrubbed up and painted black. It’s been in his family for many, many years.

Long, 79, remembers when horses were a bigger part of Albion. He can recall hitching posts along Caroline Street and a drinking fountain for horses on the Courthouse Lawn.

I asked County Historian Bill Lattin if he thinks there are many surviving horse weights these days. Lattin has two, including a heavy sandstone weight that he suspects was used to hitch a team of horses. He also has a smaller one, similar to Long’s.

But Lattin hasn’t seen too many of the weights.

Long likes the history of the area. He lives outside the eastern end of the village of Albion. Long and his wife Loretta raised two sons – Jeff and Doug – out in the country.

John Long said almost every farmer in the area used to grow tomatoes to feed the processing plants in Albion.

Many of the roads near him – Kietel, Densmore, Lattin and Sawyer – are named for pioneer settlers. Zig Zag Road used to be call Wickham Road, named for another pioneer. Long doesn’t know why the name was changed.

He’s seen a lot of changes in local agriculture. Long’s farm and almost every other farm oepration in the area grew a lot of tomatoes to feed the processing plants in Albion.

Lipton’s (across from McDonalds) stopped buying local tomatoes in 1961 and then Hunt’s took its last local crop in 1969. Hunt’s had an enormous facility, the former Chase site in Albion plus more space on East Avenue going to Platt Street, where Helena Chemical is currently located.

“In the fall you could smell the ketchup cooking in Albion,” Long said.

Many local farmers grew tomatoes for Lipton’s and Hunt’s. These days you don’t see much acreage for tomatoes.

Instead, Long said it feels like corn is everywhere. He rents out his land and two farmers who use it for corn.

“Corn is king now because of the ethanol,” Long said.

Most of the corn has been harvested next to Long’s former dairy farm on Zig Zag Road. Long sold much of equipment from the barn in an auction in October.