$500M in annual impact seen from agribusinesses
Saratoga County leaders tout benefits from race track, farms
A former dairy barn in Ballston Spa that now hosts weddings and other events is part of the agricultural sector that contributes about $500 million annually to the Saratoga County economy, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership.
Partnership President Marty Vanags unveiled the survey at the 250-acre Ellms Family Farm on Charlton Road, which coowner Garth Ellms said draws about 30,000 visitors a year in an “agri-tainment” business.
And business has been good, he said, as the family-owned business, now in its third generation, is poised to grow to about 350 acres by the end of the year. In addition to the converted barn, it also includes a youcut-them Christmas tree farm, pumpkins and corn, said Ellms.
Not surprisingly, the Saratoga Race Course and associated horse farms and other equinerelated businesses represent the largest share of agricultural economic impact in the county, coming in at about $300 million annually and fueling about 2,600
jobs, according to Vanags.
Overall in the county, the value of crops and livestock produced, and acreage being farmed, have been going up, although the total number of farms fell from 641 in 2007 to 583 in 2012, based on the 2012 figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
During that same period, land being farmed rose from about 75,660 acres to nearly 78,900 acres, with the average farm growing from 118 aces to 135 acres. Overall sales increased from $58.2 million to nearly $80 million, with average farm sales going from about $90,800 to more than $137,000.
That is far cry from the county of a century ago, when there were more than 3,600 farms spread across 392,000 acres.
Saratoga County is one of the fastest-growing upstate counties, and farmland is being lost to development, said Northumberland Supervisor Bill Peck, who owns Welcome Stock Farm, a 700-acre dairy operation.
“It is easy if you do not want to farm to sell your land for development,” said Peck, whose family has worked their farm since 1836.
Jennifer Koval, of Koval Brothers Dairy in Stillwater, said that currently only 4 percent of the agricultural land is protected from development by either a conservation easement or land trust. She urged that more resources need to be devoted to such preservation efforts as the county continues to grow.
Peck and Koval, whose farm is a major dairy supplier to Stewart’s Shops, were part of a panel at the Ellms farm that discussed the county’s role in agriculture.
Another speaker, state Assembly member Carrie Woerner, said the state should do more to encourage another way that farms might make money — the conversion of livestock manure into energy.
Current state rules for energyproducing anerobic digesters don’t provide enough incentive for farmers to sell unused power to the grid, said Woerner.
The state now has about two dozen such digesters, which take in manure and with a chemical reaction convert volatile gases into electricity. The process also keeps manure-derived methane, a potent greenhouse gas that drives climate change, out of the atmosphere.
For example, a 400-cow farm in Poestenkill, Rensselaer County, uses a digester that can produce enough electricity to power nearly 185 average homes for a year. Woerner said some digesters are in jeopardy of shutting down because farmers cannot make them economically viable.
“Cow power is one of greatest opportunities for green energy here in New York,” said Woerner. The state is currently home to about 600,000 dairy cows.