Assembly GOP looks to invest in N.Y. farms

Assembly Republicans, led by Chris Tague of the Capital Region, announced a roughly $35 million package of bills to assist New York farmers who have been harmed by the economic fallout of COVID -19 over the past 10 months.

“If we have no farms, we have no food, and this proposal will assure that our state has plenty of both in our state for generations to come. As a former farmer myself, I am hopeful we can pass this legislative package for the sake of our small farmers who have had it harder than ever this year, and for families who have struggled to keep food on the table during hard times,” Tague said.

Tague is the ranking member on the Assembly’s Agriculture Committee. He lives in Schoharie.

The Republicans, who are the minority party in both the Assembly and the Senate, dubbed the series of bills the “The NY Food Insecurity, Farm Resiliency & Rural Poverty Initiative.”

In short, the package invests money in the 10 food banks around the state to expand facilities and staff and buy more food directly from New York farmers. The intention is to help farmers financially and provide more products to the food banks for people who are struggling financially. Demand for food charity in the Capital Region has gone up significantly since the pandemic hit — the giveaways hosted by Catholic Charities often have cars lined up around the block for boxes of groceries.

The package includes annual allocations of: $10 million annually for food banks around the state to purchase fresh produce directly from local farmers; $2 million for the food banks to hire more personnel, $500,000 for cold storage equipment grants; $500,000 in transportation fuel reimbursement grants; $6 million to expand the Nutrition Outreach Education Program and the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program, and $718,000 for Farmnet.

In addition to the funds that would be annual allocations, it would also create a blue-ribbon commission to study issues related to meat and dairy processing and set aside $6 million in one-time grants for farm improvements and new farmers, and $9 million to be divided between the 10 food banks in the state to expand facilities and build more cold storage. It would also create a tax credit for food donations and increase certain tax exemptions for farmers.

“It is going to take a prolonged, comprehensive effort to help family farms fully recover from the devastating impacts of COVID -19,” said Will Barclay, the Republican leader in the Assembly. “Establishing stronger connections between farms and food banks while also providing state investments allowing them to expand will benefit all stakeholders and communities across New York.”