Forum focuses on need for farming
Livestock humor and casual footwear were part of the second annual Dutchess County Agricultural Forum, held Thursday in a corral at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds.
“We have to get out of here before we’re overrun by sheep,” joked County Executive Marc Molinaro, who moderated the event.
Molinaro used the occasion to reflect on his youth.
“My very first job ever prepared me well for my current line of work. I cleaned horse stalls, shoveled horse manure for a living,” he said.
Barnyard talk was not the only topic of discussion. Officials and industry leaders joined with local farmers to give Dutchess County agriculture a boost.
“Farming is not only just about Duchess County culture, history and heritage,” Molinaro said. “It is very much part of our current economic condition and the future prosperity of this county. Farming is emblematic of the kind of growth America has to lean on.”
Molinaro said Jennifer Fimbel, of Cornell Cooperative Extension, has been appointed the new Dutchess County agricultural navigator, a job recommended by the Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan. Fimbel will help farms take advantage of emerging markets in the Hudson Valley and embrace new technologies and practices.
At the same time, the Partnership for Manageable Growth will be requesting another $1 million from the county for 2017, in addition to the $900,000 it received this past March. Currently 3,792 acres of farmland in the county have been preserved.
Jeff Williams, director of the Division of Public Policy at the New York Farm Bureau, delivered a presentation at Thursday’s forum, speaking about such things as how the state’s minimum wage hike and unionization reforms could affect the farm industry in New York.