Farm Bureau tells Albany to stop “plowing agriculture under”
ALBANY – Chenango County will be represented in the hundreds of farm advocates who will converge on the state capitol today with the intent of raising the awareness of legislators to the concerns of New York’s largest industry – agriculture.
“(We want) to stop Albany from “plowing us under,” explained Chenango County Farm Bureau President Bradd Vickers, who is leading the local contingent to the New York Farm Bureau’s annual Lobby Day.
Vickers, CCFB Vice-President Harvey Fletcher, Director Linda Denz and Annette Connick, a farm bureau member and retired Ag in the Classroom teacher, will be among the one thousand expected to attend the event this year.
The purpose of the trip, Vickers said, is to “reaffirm the importance” of agriculture to the state’s economy and to encourage legislators to stop increasing taxes, fees and the number of mandates with which farms are forced to comply.
According to Vickers, these policies are not only putting family farms out of business, but have larger ramifications as well.
“We’re talking about the economy and our food supply,” he explained.
Also on the Farm Bureau’s lobbying agenda is trying to halt legislation which has a detrimental effect agriculture, such as the Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act.
The advocacy group is also working hard to restore funding to the Department of Agriculture and Markets budget, which was cut by another $7 million in Governor Paterson’s executive budget proposal.
Last year, Ag & Markets had a budget of just over $63.5 million. This year, based on the Governor’s proposal, they would have approximately $46 million with which to operate. As a result, a number of programs were “zeroed-out,” Vickers said – including those that support maple producers, organic farming, apple growers, wine production, disease research, the Farm Viability Institute and local fairs.
Other issues which Vickers said he and the other representatives from Chenango County intend to push are related to upstate infrastructure, the railroad and energy.
This year, the Chenango contingent will meet once more with local representatives Senator Tom Libous, Senator James Seward, Assemblyman Cliff Crouch and Assemblyman Peter Lopez. But they will also have the opportunity to meet with two downstate legislators – Assemblywoman Joan Millman, who represents the 52nd Assembly District in Brooklyn, and Assemblyman Bob Barra, whose district, the 14th, is in Long Island’s Nassau County.
“It gives us an opportunity to bring the reality of the issue to legislators who don’t typically address agriculture,” Vickers reported. “We help bring to them the realization that real people produce their food.”
The CCFB president aid he hopes that Connick, who taught in Brooklyn, will be able to help drive these points home.
According to Vickers, it is important that Chenango County has representation at events like the NYFB Lobby Day.
“As I often tell our interns when we are teaching them the fine arts of lobbying, ‘politics is a three layer chess game and a participation sport played by only those who show up,’” he said.
He and the other CCFB members attending this year are doing just that – showing up to play the game.
“(We want) to stop Albany from “plowing us under,” explained Chenango County Farm Bureau President Bradd Vickers, who is leading the local contingent to the New York Farm Bureau’s annual Lobby Day.
Vickers, CCFB Vice-President Harvey Fletcher, Director Linda Denz and Annette Connick, a farm bureau member and retired Ag in the Classroom teacher, will be among the one thousand expected to attend the event this year.
The purpose of the trip, Vickers said, is to “reaffirm the importance” of agriculture to the state’s economy and to encourage legislators to stop increasing taxes, fees and the number of mandates with which farms are forced to comply.
According to Vickers, these policies are not only putting family farms out of business, but have larger ramifications as well.
“We’re talking about the economy and our food supply,” he explained.
Also on the Farm Bureau’s lobbying agenda is trying to halt legislation which has a detrimental effect agriculture, such as the Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act.
The advocacy group is also working hard to restore funding to the Department of Agriculture and Markets budget, which was cut by another $7 million in Governor Paterson’s executive budget proposal.
Last year, Ag & Markets had a budget of just over $63.5 million. This year, based on the Governor’s proposal, they would have approximately $46 million with which to operate. As a result, a number of programs were “zeroed-out,” Vickers said – including those that support maple producers, organic farming, apple growers, wine production, disease research, the Farm Viability Institute and local fairs.
Other issues which Vickers said he and the other representatives from Chenango County intend to push are related to upstate infrastructure, the railroad and energy.
This year, the Chenango contingent will meet once more with local representatives Senator Tom Libous, Senator James Seward, Assemblyman Cliff Crouch and Assemblyman Peter Lopez. But they will also have the opportunity to meet with two downstate legislators – Assemblywoman Joan Millman, who represents the 52nd Assembly District in Brooklyn, and Assemblyman Bob Barra, whose district, the 14th, is in Long Island’s Nassau County.
“It gives us an opportunity to bring the reality of the issue to legislators who don’t typically address agriculture,” Vickers reported. “We help bring to them the realization that real people produce their food.”
The CCFB president aid he hopes that Connick, who taught in Brooklyn, will be able to help drive these points home.
According to Vickers, it is important that Chenango County has representation at events like the NYFB Lobby Day.
“As I often tell our interns when we are teaching them the fine arts of lobbying, ‘politics is a three layer chess game and a participation sport played by only those who show up,’” he said.
He and the other CCFB members attending this year are doing just that – showing up to play the game.
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