The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Aspiring farmers learn ins and outs
MORRISVILLE, N.Y. >> Farmers just looking to start out or make changes to their business got the chance to learn more at the Madison County Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Aspiring Farmers Academy.
In this two part workshop, attendees learn how to set goals and objectives, understand the resources available to them in their community, inventory their assets, get a handle on their business plan, and more.
Among those attending on Oct. 25 were Lorna Wilson of Hamilton, who owns a 29-acre farm. Wilson said she has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and rural sociology at Pennsylvania State University. Since she moved to Hamilton, Wilson has been selling real estate.
“I’ve been thinking, what else can I do with my land?” Wilson said. “I’d like to transition into something from real estate into doing something with my land.”
Emily and Roger Connolly have lived in Morrisville for a year now and own a 10-acre farm.
“We just retired,” Emily said. “We’re just trying to figure out what we can do with our farm.”
Emily said she and Roger hadn’t had a chance to do anything just yet, because they’ve been busy doing repairs on their home. But they do have a lot of ideas.
“We came here to raise llamas,” Roger said.
“That was always a joke between us, that we’d retire and raise llamas,” Emily said. “We might actually now. We have chickens going, but we don’t have any fences yet for the barn.”
Emily and Roger said they bought the Happy Talk Farm four years ago, and they moved to Central New York from Long Island when their children settled down.
“We had a lot of ambitions when we came up here and while we hit reality, we’re in pretty good shape now,” Roger said.
Some of the topics covered during the event were acreage limits and agricultural districts.
“We’ve learned a lot about the ag districts,” Emily said. “We have a dairy farm we’re next to and down the road, they’re raising cattle.”
“Ag districts are often confused with ag zoning,” Agriculture Economic Development Educator Jennifer Farwell said. “You have to enroll in it.”
Agricultural Educator Sarah Ficken explained to Emily and Roger that while they are technically in an ag district at the moment, since they are not enrolled in it they are not part of the district. If they want to be part of it, Ficken said Emily and Roger will need to apply. Through the
month of October, Madison County is offering open enrollment in ag districts.
Wilson said she knows the town of Eaton has a limit on how many acres per livestock is allowed and wanted to know just how that was determined.
Farwell said it varies. In the town of Cazenovia, farmers need 3 acres for their first livestock and an acre more for each livestock. But things change when discussing cattle or ponies, since cattle require more area for grazing.
Emily and Roger said while they haven’t figured out exactly what they’ll raise, whether it be llamas or cashmere goats, they both felt the move out to Madison County was worth it.
“We’ve lived on Pleasant Valley for a year now and in one year, I’ve talked with all of my neighbors more than my neighbor of 23 years on Long Island,” Roger said. “We’ve got enough saved up that we don’t need money. We’ve got more eggs than we could need and we’re going to donate them to the local food bank. If we can make money, the would be fine. But we’re just enjoying ourselves, looking out at the hills and all the colors.”