Agriculture/Planning/Environment Committee

June 12, 2008 – 8:00 am

DRAFT  MINUTES

 

Present:                      Danny Ross, Chairman; Kathie Arnold, Vice Chairman; Mike McKee, John Steger, and Gene Waldbauer, Carol Tytler,  John Troy,

Others present:          Scott Schrader, County Administrator ; Sandy Price, Majority Leader; Mark Suben, County Attorney ; Elizabeth Maniaci, Secretary,

                                    Dan Dineen, Planning Department; Evan Geibel, Cortland Standard, Eric Mulvihill WXHC

Absent:                       Steve Dafoe

Mr. Ross called the meeting to order at 8:01 a.m.

There were no meeting minutes to approve from last weeks meeting.

RESOLUTIONS:

1.                  Authorize Agreement, Amend 2008 Budget Cortland County and New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (Acquiring a Conservation Easement on the Peter and Michael McMahon Farm in the Town of Homer ) 

Mark Suben, County Attorney spoke on the Farmland protection grant and the various stages.  He stated this has been done in the past, although difficult, they have developed a good working relationship with the state Bureau who administers these and have received good guidance on what has to be done at each stage.   Currently, they need to execute the contract and need the County Legislature ’s authority to do that.  Ms. Tytler questioned whether this was the farm from last year;  Mr. Dineen said there are 3 farms applying this year; however,  this was the one accepted  from last year’s application.  The site plan is in progress, the survey has been done, and the process is moving along. Mr. Ross said the State has the final say. Mr. Steger mentioned this was a time consuming process and Mr.  Ross said it was on going now for 2 years.  Mr. Suben interjected most of the problems encountered were not our issues, and in the future it should not be such a lengthy process. Ms. Tytler requested that a map be provided of the farms, showing McMahon as the new one, and a different color showing the three new ones.  Mr. Dineen will provide the map when the other three farms are added.

A vote was taken; all approved, none opposed; resolution

PRESENTATION – Janice Degni  

Ms. Degni from Cooperative Extension spoke.  She is an Agronomist which is a person who specializes in working with crops and soil.  They currently have 3 professional people on staff--one dairy specialist, a crop specialist and a farm business specialist which is currently vacant, and are in the process of recruiting for this position.  The focus of their education program is to address the technical production issues on the farm with management education.  They evaluate technology which is constantly evolving and see how it will work for the farmer, fit in with his operation, and create profitability for him. They deal with policy issues, work with many groups such as Agri Service, Soil and Water, and the general public.  Most recently, they educated 4^th and 5^th graders in Cortland County . 

They are attempting to bring applied research to the field so people can see and participate in things they may have only read about.  In the past 5 years, they have done a lot of fertilizer trials, 3 years of phosphorus trials, and 3 years of nitrogen trials.

This year Ms.Degni secured a grant called Sustainable Agri Search in Education Program which is funded by the Federal Government.   This project helps with weed control in organic corn and plant spacing.  A picture was handed out for all to see.

There was discussion on the current fuel prices and how they are affecting the cost of feed, milk, grain, and basically everything which in turn affects the local farmers.  One local farm was keeping track of prices of milk and reported that for the past 15 years the price was $12.50 for 100 wt. of milk and last year it was reported to be $18.00 per 100 wt. Ms. Degni said they cannot control the price of milk, but they can teach how to manage during these difficult times.

To compensate for the high prices farmers turn to producing other things.  They are taught to manage by producing local forages such as alfalfa and grass which are grown easily in this climate.  Ms. Degni passed around this month’s newsletter showing different scenarios on how to price different local forages.

Mr. Ross questioned the current price of hay.  Ms. Degni said hay is very valuable because farmers mix that with fiber, and currently it is going for $200/ton.  First cutting last year was $170.00 – 200/ton and high quality end, and 2^nd cutting is approximately $300 – 400/ ton.

Mr. McKee questioned the cost of milk and whether or not the price quoted included the property tax and Ms. Degni thought that it did but was not certain. Ms. Tytler interjected that that would include all out of pocket cost but no return to themselves.

Ms. Degni talked about price comparisons of cornmeal from 2 years ago and today.   Cornmeal was $90.00 a ton and today it is $250.00/ton.  Soybean a year ago was $155 less and now it is $390 so it is up $235.00.   Cotton Seed which used to be cheap was $175/ton and now it is up over $400/ton.  Fewer acres are going to cotton although there is still a demand for this.  Mr. McKee noted that there have been severe droughts, and this has caused the cotton crops to fail.  Ms. Degni commented with the flooding going on in the mid west, it is difficult to project for the future.  Mr. Ross noted that if the water was not out of those fields, basically those crops would be gone.

Ms. Degni said one of the ways people have adjusted is by planting corn. A lot of people have gone back to making snaplige which is an intermediate crop between corn silage and corn grain.

Ms. Tytler questioned how much the local dairy farmers can grow of their own feed on their own, did they have to purchase it, or was it balanced.   Ms. Degni said most of the farms produce their own forages, all the hay, and corn silage.  Ms. Tytler stated that because they cannot produce all they need locally, they have to transport it in. Ms. Tytler also questioned with the fuel costs going up and transportation from the mid west becoming costly, would it be worth redeveloping grains on local level so that there are no further costs to incur.  Ms. Degni said they would need more land and different machinery for grains. Years ago there was more of our own grain production, but now the mid west is just more efficient in this area.   Ms. Degni referred to a Farm in Tioga County that purchased a grain dryer, bins for storage, and a combine so they will be able to provide for some locale infrastructure.   They will custom combine and store their own stuff and probably store other peoples.   Last year, Ms. Degni noted there was a problem of not having enough room locally to even store all the corn produced.

Ms. Arnold mentioned organic feed prices are two to three times more than natural feed prices. Conventional soybean is at $400; ours is $1200.  Organic farms are trying to be more self sufficient and the Cooperative Ext. has held organic grain workshops for the last couple of years to help us go in this direction. Looking towards the future this is the only way that we will be able to be more secure. 

Ms. Tytler mentioned Empire Zone Benefits, ARC grants, and monies, and questioned if it is becoming economically feasible for grains to be grown locally and dried.  Ms. Tytler mentioned she did not hear much about the Empire Zone being invested in traditional  rural farming issues, but has for bio fuel. She felt further consideration is needed with regards to fuel cost to make it more financially viable.

Mr. McKee noted that this was one of the benefits of the bean crushing plant because of the bi-products that can be used by everyone.  Ms. Degni noted not all the land is suitable for grain production and did not think we could be self sufficient - state wide maybe- but not locally.

Mr. Ross asked how many corn dryers were in Cortland and Ms. Degni thought about 4 or 5 maybe 6. Ms. Degni noted drying corn is a very huge expense, dryers operate all night, and propane is very expensive. Ms. Tytler questioned if there were environmentally safe ways to generate energy for the dryers i.e. wind.  Mr. Steger said an enormous amount of heat is required to dry corn, and you have to have a fuel source to supply that. 

Ms. Arnold stated that as economics change and grain get more expensive farmers need to relook at a program which would be more economical to feed less grain. She mentioned a space farm where they feed about 1 lb. of corn a day and 2 – 3 lbs.  of molasses.  Although they do not get high production,  economically, this maybe an option for the future due to the high cost of feed and grain.

Ms. Degni said producers are more diverse than ever before and diversity will continue to grow even more.

Discussion:

Update on C& S engineering – Ms. Tytler

 Next Tuesday, June 17, in Council Chambers, there will be a meeting with City to hear results from C&S Engineering. It will be before the Council Meeting and she will have Ms. Morgan e-mail everyone when she knows the time.    They will present results of the study on Storm Water Management of Otter Creek.  The County paid them to do the study and shared the expense: City paid $10,000 and County paid same.  They looked at both the Water Works and 281 area. Ms. Tytler said it is a one page summary and every thing they did is related to the Water Works.   This land is already owned by the municipality.  Once they have recommendations, talks will take place with the City, and a decision will be made in order to solve some of the flash flooding issues of Otter Creek.

Update on Broad Band Survey- Ms. Price

Ms. Price thanked the Legislators for all their work. She thanked the RSVP for counting and sorting the surveys.  She had Ms. Morgan print out a Certificate to sign by the Legislatures to give to them for all their assistance.  The Committee is working to grant application by this December. Ms. Price said they are gathering data and learning a lot.  Mr. Ross has been updating maps about every two weeks, and forming partnerships.  Mr. Ross has been in touch with the phone and cable companies and they are trying to decide the best way to partner-- is to partner with all that will partner with them. Currently there is only one that will not partner.  In about a month, after they have some survey results they will prepare a report and present it to the committee. Ms. Price noted the wonderful citizen participation and everyone was great to work with. Mr. Ross said they learned how many houses per mile they need to make it profitable for them and they will go less houses if they have matching money from the grant which they are trying to work on. 

Update on Local Ag Program- Ms. Arnold

They are attempting to increase the size of the Farmers Market. Space is limited and they are trying to get a better venue. There are safety issues with the current downtown location – children running and cars in the vicinity. Ms. Arnold said Mayor Gallagher suggested using the parking lot at the First Niagara Bank on Saturdays. The Farmer’s Market people like the idea, so Ms. Tytler is trying to set up a meeting with the Mayor, the Farmer’s Market Manger, Joan Franklin, and the Manager of First Niagara Bank to see if they can use the parking lot for Saturdays only.  The down town main street location will still be utilized on Tuesdays when they have a lot of Sr. Citizens and down town people walking around. .

Two staff people from the Co-operative extension are looking into a local food directory for Cortland County .  This will basically show who is selling what to consumers i.e. blueberries, strawberries beef etc.   It is a brochure of what local farmers are producing.

Mr. McKee questioned if this was like the Chenango Bounty and Ms. Arnold said that was more like an internet buying program, this brochure would be just a listing of local farmers with phone numbers. 

Mr. Ross commented about the sub committees and how nice it is to have them because at the weekly meetings there is not enough time to devote to some of these issues and the sub committees can spend more time. Ms. Price noted they spend about an hour and half and get a lot done.  Ms. Tytler noted she was very proud of all three sub committees as they have made a lot of progress.

Ms. Arnold said Joan Franklin was active in the market for years and that she felt the Market was dying.  Now with the sub committee helping out, she feels things will start improving. Originally, she was thinking of going to Syracuse and now that they are connected with a regional vegetable specialist, Monica Roth who does a lot of work with farmers markets. Ms. Roth has taken on the job of policing the farmer’s market which is basically making sure vendors are not bringing in wholesale products they are not growing themselves.

Mr. McKee asked if this committee was just focusing on the Cortland Farmer’s Market and the response was yes. Mr. McKee talked about “The Sisters” who operate a farmer’s market in Cincinnatus, and Ms. Arnold said she had not been involved with them.  Mr. Ross said Mr. McKee should give their number to Ms. Arnold and perhaps she could invite them to one of the meetings.

Mr. Troy mentioned on Sunday the YMCA is sponsoring a Race Walk Fun Run at the Lime Hollow Nature Center .  It will start and finish there.  All the proceeds will go to the Lime Hollow Nature Center .  The race will be a Father’s Day Race, Sunday, July 15, at 9:00 a.m., and everyone is welcome. 

Ms. Price spoke to the Committee about SNAP. With Budget time coming up, Sandy was wondering if the legislature could lend some assistance to the work they do. She talked about the serious over population of cats and dog in the County. In addition to the SPCA, Ms. Price wanted people to be aware of this other organization called CNY SNAP (Spayed and Neutered Assistance Program). They have been helpful to individuals as well as to farmers who also have a large cat population.  Mr. Ross noted he had a meeting with Tom Michaels of the City. SNAP and the SPCA were there and he said they are working on the cat issue. Mr. Ross said they have spayed and neutered 8000 cats in just a few years.  He noted Reed’s Seeds was the biggest drop off point for stray cats. Ms. Price noted that they collected 90 cats at Mike Wilson’s Farm, and people don’t realize it but it is difficult for farmers to feed the number of cats they end up with.  Mr. Ross said they would loan you a trap to catch the cat, they would pick up the cat, spay and neuter it, and then you could pick up the cat and release it where you found it.  The cat would then live out the rest of its life but with out having anymore babies.  Carol Tytler asked about the feral cats, and if they clipped their ear so they can tell which have been spayed and neutered and the response was yes. Ms. Price noted that for low income families that want to have a pet this is one way to have one and be responsible about it. Mr. Ross said SNAP gets all their money from donations and grants and are very successful. SNAP is located on Central Ave next to the Child Development Center in Cortland .  Monday nights they have open clinic.

John Steger noted an article he read in the Post Standard regarding fuel costs for freight transported by trucks. It took 1 gallon of fuel to transport 1 ton of freight 59 miles.  There was a picture of tug boat going over the Erie Canal , which had 450 tons on the tug boat.  It cost 1 gallon to support 1 ton 450 miles. Mr. McKee talked about the railroad commercials of 1 gallon taking 1 ton freight 423 miles. Mr. Waldbauer said he new of some local businesses that would do anything to get away from using the local railroad. Ms. Tytler thought she had seen more trains coming through recently, Ms. Price said Mr. Cornell mentioned the railroad possibly using the passenger train especially for the Binghamton area for the workers.

Ms. Tytler questioned the progress of the bus station and Mr. Ross confirmed that the new slab was poured and done.  Mr. Ross said they are still working to find another site. 

Motion to adjourn meeting by Ms. Tytler; Mr. Waldbauer seconded; meeting adjourned at 8:48 a.m.