County Leg celebrates March as ‘Agriculture Month’

Provided photo

ALBION – Orleans County Legislator Bill Eick (left), a retired dairy farmer, presents a proclamation on Tuesday declaring March as “Agriculture Month” in Orleans County. Eick hands the proclamation from the County Legislature to Chad Kirby, president of the Orleans County Farm Bureau.

Kirby, a fruit and vegetable grower, thanked the legislators and said farmers will soon be extra busy with the planting season.

The 2022 Agricultural Census put Orleans County’s ag revenue at $233.6 million, which was a 50.4 percent jump from the $155.3 million in 2017, a growth of $78.3 million.

Orleans County ranks 15th among the state’s 62 counties for ag revenue. Cayuga is first at $461.9 million. The GLOW counties are all big ag producers. Wyoming is second in the state at $421.0 million, with Genesee at fifth with $359.7 million and Livingston at 8th with $288.1 million.

“Whereas, March signifies a national celebration of the importance of food and agriculture in the United States as it provides almost everything we eat and use each day,” the Legislature said in the proclamation. “This month we recognize and celebrate the diversity and abundance provided by New York’s farms and our growing food and agricultural sector and the contributions of Orleans County’s family farmers.”

State-wide there are 33,400 farms working 6.9 million acres of farmland. The ag economy contributes $5.4 billion to the state economy.