Farmers, growers and agricultural professionals know the passage of major federal law impacting their livelihoods is closer to becoming a reality for the first time in more than six years, but that’s the simple part.
The passage of a compromise Farm Bill is now in the hands of the Senate after a bipartisan House coalition including Rep. Chris Collins approved by a 251-166 vote Wednesday.
If it passes the upper chamber — Sen. Charles Schumer said Tuesday he will to vote for it when it comes up for a vote next week, while Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said she will oppose the bill — farms will be put into a position not unlike the situation that many Americans after the passage of the federal health insurance overhaul.
“(For dairy farms) it’s wait-and-see, and then figure what it means for them and what their choices are,” said Joan Sinclair Petzen, a farm business management specialist withe the Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Northwest Dairy Team. “Over the coming months they’ll be seeing how it will impact their businesses.”
The agricultural and nutritional assistance package will make big changes in the way many farms interact with the government, from dairy farms that will no longer be under the Milk Income Law Contract program to specialty crop growers who will have greater access to insurance under the law.
Exactly how those rules and programs will work will be determined during the post-legislative regulatory process, is when the cooperative extension will be at its busiest, Petzen said, with state specialists building tools to help farms evaluate what to do with their businesses.
“We know the playing field will change, but it’s not clear how it will play out until the rules are made,” Petzen said. At least for dairy farmers, they probably won’t need to access the MILC program while learning about it’s replacement. “We’re in a strong program for dairy, so the likelihood is low that the MILC triggers will kick in.”
The general unclarity on how the $1 trillion in funds allocated to various initiatives will play out has some agricultural interests concerned about implementation.
A program Schumer shepherded into the Farm Bill will open up to $20 million annually to encourage increased tapping of the millions of the state’s untapped maple trees, while providing grants for marketing, research and education. The intention is to better compete with Quebec, which produces more than 80 percent of the world’s syrup.
Maintaining a growing but viable maple tapping industry in New York requires a balancing act, one that Lyle Merle of Attica worries could be upset by a glut of new tapping.
Merle, a fourth-generation syrup producer, said the regional production and worldwide consumption provides room for growth, but he wants to ensure that efforts to expand the state’s maple industry don’t outpace efforts to grow the market for syrup, sugar and unique products like candies, barbecue sauces and mustards.
“We have to be able to grow the market as we grow production,” said Merle, who chairs the New York State Fair’s Maple Center Committee. “The maple industry is working together, but our concern is to continue to have a profitable business. If we have more than we can market the price would plummet.”
Merle said the state’s maple farms are benefiting from additional research funding, including clean spout technology developed at Cornell that allows tapping to begin weeks ahead of schedule without ending the season early. He doesn’t see pumping money to add to the thousands of existing tappers as helpful.
“Most of the (New York Maple Producers Association) hasn’t lobbied hard for money from the federal government,” Merle said. “It’s kind of divided the industry — I tend to be on the side of not wanting a lot of government finances involved.”
For vineyard owners in the Finger Lakes and Niagara wine regions, the impact of the new Farm Bill s as clear as the ice hanging from orchard branches.
Wendy Oakes Wilson, the President of Leonard Oakes Estates Winery in Medina, said she’s in favor of changes that would offer crop subsidies for a greater range of specialty crops, just as apples were added a decade ago.
While the conditions during budding season will have a greater effect on the cherries, peaches and plums grown in Orleans County, the fate of the coming wine grape crop is hanging in the balance right now.
“Generally, we’re fine unless it gets to -5 degrees with a lot of grapes,” Wilson said. “The coldest we’ve had -3 degrees for a short period, but once it goes below that level the damage has occurred.”Wilson said adding security for upstate growers would provide much-needed relief as the temperature hovers at crisis levels, whether it’s in the winter freeze or the summer heat.
“We never now what Mother Nature will throw at us,” Wilson said. “If it can perfect farm insurance and stop paying people to not to grow stuff, I’ll be happy.”
Source - http://thedailynewsonline.com/
