The decision by the Farm Laborers Wage Board to lower overtime hours from 60 to 40 hours is fatal to our farms. Agriculture is a vital part of our Upstate community and with this change, many family farms will not survive. I have spoken with countless farmers and farm workers who have shared their concerns with this hour reduction.

Unfortunately, this will result in farm workers not coming to New York but going to other states with friendlier regulations. At a time when it is being preached to follow the advice of industry experts, the Wage Board instead opted to ignore the experts and pursue this out of touch agenda. I am deeply troubled by this decision and the impact it will have, not only in my district, but across our State.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia), a former farmer and member of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture, is expressing grave concern following a 2-1 decision by the Farm Laborers Wage Board to implement a 40 hour overtime threshold for farm laborers in New York state. Hawley has joined farmers and advocates from across the state throughout the last several months to speak out against this proposal, arguing that since farms operate on schedules that are at the mercy of the weather and other unpredictable factors, that lowering the threshold would prove fatal for farms who barely turn a profit when paying their laborers under the existing 60-hour threshold.

“Farm operators and farm laborers alike have been more united than ever in opposing this mandate, but sadly it seems their voices were ignored, and I now fear the decision will come at the cost of countless multi-generational family businesses who will now have no choice but to cease operations,” said Hawley. “Being someone with origins in upstate New York, I sincerely hope that Governor Hochul will be able to put aside her partisanship and stop this policy’s implementation for the sake of our farmers, families, and rural economies throughout the state. For the millions of people who love everything about agriculture as we know it here in upstate New York, it would be truly tragic if our local farms became nothing more than memories of a better time.”
 

Assemblyman Hawley represents the 139th District, which consists of Genesee, Orleans and parts of Monroe County. For more information, please visit Assemblyman Hawley’s Official Website.

Due to the ongoing uncertainty related to the Coronavirus pandemic, Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Northwest NY Dairy, Livestock and Field Crops Team has decided to use the virtual format again for the Soybean & Small Grains Congress scheduled for February 9 & 10, 2022. The conference will be held using Zoom. Pre-Registration is required. 2.5 DEC Points are available and CCA Credits are also available.  Cost: $45 per person, includes both days. $30 per person, if enrolled in NWNY Team. Pre-registration is now open on the NWNY Team’s website, https://nwnyteam.cce.cornell.edu/.  Sponsorship opportunities are also available.

 

AGENDA

February 9, 2022 (10:00am – Noon)

10:00 – 10:30     Disease Updates in Soybean & Small Grains
Dr. Gary Bergstrom, Plant Pathologist, Cornell University

10:30 – 11:30    High Management Wheat in the Great Lakes Region
Joanna Follings, Cereals Specialist, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs

11:30 – 12:00    Soybean Weed Control 2022: How Will it be different?
Michael Hunter, Cornell Cooperative Extension, NNY Ag Team

 

February 10, 2022 (10:00am – Noon)

10:00 – 10:30    The Current State of Herbicide Resistance in New York and the Future of Weed Management Technology
Dr. Lynn Sosnoskie, Weed Specialist, Cornell University

10:30 – 11:30    Neonic Ban Experience from Ontario, Canada
Dr. Tracey Baute, Entomologist, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs

11:30 – 12:00    New York Small Grains Updates
Mike Stanyard, Cornell Cooperative Extension, NWNY Team

To view the full conference agenda and to register online, visit : https://nwnyteam.cce.cornell.edu/  Questions, contact: Brandie Waite at: 585-343-3040 x138

 

HAWLEY PASSES 15 BILLS FOR WESTERN NEW YORK

As the regularly scheduled legislative session drew to a close, Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R, I, C – Batavia) was pleased to have been able to have over a dozen pieces of his legislation passed, despite a banner year for Albany’s notorious dysfunction.

“Despite all the chaos, changes in leadership and gridlock, I was able to get some common-sense and important pieces of legislation passed that will greatly help the communities in Western New York, as well as the rest of the state,” said Hawley.

Of the 15 pieces of legislation that Hawley sponsored, which passed the Assembly, five bills specifically helped local communities in Western New York.  These bills include measures to help town court proceedings in the towns of Elba, Oakfield and Batavia, and the city of Batavia.  These four municipalities are leading the way in the state for finding an innovative solution, to their individual need for new and upgraded court facilities, will help local governments save taxpayer dollars by sharing services and building a joint court facility.

Perhaps Hawley’s largest statewide initiatives that passed were measures to help firefighters.  Assembly Bill 2733-A establishes the volunteer firefighter and volunteer emergency services recruitment and retention fund.  Assembly Bill 6051-A allows firefighters to operate a fire truck without possessing a commercial driver’s license, saving fire districts endless amounts of time, which can be better spent training, as well as thousands of dollars annually.  This measure was passed by both houses and signed into law.

            Hawley’s passed legislation also includes a number of initiatives to help those with disabilities.  Assembly Bill 7848 requires access aisles of handicapped parking spaces to be marked with a sign and stripes; and Assembly Bill 7849 requires that handicapped parking spaces be at least 8 feet wide.

            The Assemblyman also played an instrumental role in leading the fight against some of the more dangerous bills that came to the floor, such as the “Farm Death Bill.”  Hawley stated, “The fight against this harmful bill, brought together farmers, farm workers, and agribusinesses, and bipartisan legislators from across the state.  This opposition was an example of Albany at its finest.  Unfortunately, its passage in the Assembly highlighted the standard dysfunction in the State Capitol, but I am hopeful that our collective voices will help prevent this bill from coming to fruition in the Senate.”

            Hawley also lead the charge for other important measures, such as property tax relief.  During and after budget negotiations the Assemblyman stood on the Assembly floor to demand relief for overburdened homeowners and businesses, specifically calling on both houses and the Governor to reinstate the STAR Rebate Check and restore cuts made to the traditional STAR programs.  Hawley also called on the Governor to make smart usage of the $1 billion in federal stimulus dollars which have not yet been appropriated.  He commented, “We need to begin looking at ways to make it easier for residents and businesses to survive.  Maintaining jobs, and attracting new ones, are necessary to keep our economy moving.”

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HAWLEY CELEBRATES NYS DAIRY DAY

CALLS ON GOVERNOR & SENATE TO “VOTE NO”
ON “FARM DEATH BILL”

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R, I, C – Batavia) today joined Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb (R, C, I – Canandaigua), bipartisan members of the State Legislature, representatives from the State Department of Agriculture and Markets, New York Farm Bureau, New York Grange, Northeast Dairy Foods, and American Dairy Association, along with local New York State farmers in celebration and recognition of New York State Dairy Day. 

Additionally, the coalition discussed the negative impacts of Assembly Bill 1867, dubbed the “Farm Death Bill” and called on the State Senate and Governor to “vote no” on the bill, which was passed by the Assembly last evening.

Hawley stated, “I was a third generation family farmer and I know firsthand how difficult it is to run a farm successfully.  Right now farmers are losing money on every gallon of milk, every pound of grain, because production costs here are so high.  We are in the midst of one of the worst recessions in decades and now is not the time to add additional burdens on our farmers.”

The Assemblyman continued, “This onerous bill, if passed into law, will be the death of New York State’s farms.  Farming is not just a job, it is a way of life and I want to keep that quality of life around for many more generations.”

HAWLEY JOINS NY FARM BUREAU, STATE LEGISLATORS

AND AGRICULTURALISTS TO OPPOSE

 FARMWORKERS OMNIBUS LABOR STANDARDS BILL

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R, I, C – Batavia) joined New York Farm Bureau President and Batavia dairy farmer Dean Norton, bipartisan state legislators, farmers and agriculturalists from across the state at a press conference today opposing Assembly Bill 1867, the Farmworkers Omnibus Labor Standards Bill.

As a former crop and hog farmer and Genesee County Farm Bureau President and as a current member of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, Hawley joined the group in calling on the three legislative leaders to halt action on the bill, stating, “Albany has a real opportunity to help businesses, yet here we go again.  Albany seems to do all it can to discourage business: whether it be raising property taxes, imposing expensive and unnecessary mandates, or raising the cost of business.  As a third generation family farmer, I have seen first-hand that our children are leaving the state.  This impact is felt greatest on our farms.  This legislation adds to that burden for farmers and agri-business owners.  Albany needs to learn how to say to businesses ‘we want you here’ and passing meaningful legislation to attract and retain businesses for our future.”

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Western New York will participate. You can check this website for a list of participants: http://www.mapleweekend.com/locations.htm.

This free, family-oriented event gives you a chance to see how New York maple producers make some of the world's finest maple syrup and maple products. Visitors can see all aspects of maple making, from tapping the trees to get the sap, to boiling sap into maple syrup. Some producers will also demonstrate the making of maple syrup into other products including maple cream, maple cotton candy and maple sugar.

The public is encouraged to visit more than one farm as some producers use traditional methods while some employ new methods. Many of the farms will also have a variety of other activities including horse and wagon rides, snowshoeing, guided walks in the woods and kids' corners.

Mark your calendars for March 21-22 and 28-29, 2009 and take the family out to experience New York State maple!

Cold enough that the steering wheel on my '93 rustbucket of a wagon needs more coaxing than usual to make a full left turn. Still. I make it to Porter Farms whole. Shivering, but whole. I'm not sure what to expect, though I've got an image of farmhands tucked into woolen socks, sitting around the fireplace thumbing seed catalogues and dissertations on soil conservation. I've got what you might call a novelistic imagination that doesn't often sync up with the way things really are.

Of course, there's too much work to be done to sit around the fireplace.

The farm's patriarch, Mike Porter, looks over paperwork in the cab of his pickup. He's got the engine running for heat. Inside the barn behind where he's parked, the hundred or more sheep mill about in their stalls, caterwauling like the dullards that Porter assures me they are.

After he shuffles a few of them out into the bleak white light of day, they start to cough. Agitated from the rush to get outside, they stir up some of the dust in the feed they just sucked down. They sound like old men, hacking up a lifetime's worth of lung tar.

I ask Mike what life is like on the farm in the middle of a desolate upstate winter. He shrugs. It's much the same as what life is like on the farm in the middle of a grueling humid upstate summer. Only, you get home by 6 o'clock instead of 10 o'clock.

"We're busy in the winter, but not as busy," he says. "I don't get here until between seven and eight, and I'm home by six. That's a short day."

Winter work is much like work the rest of the year for Mike. Only he's not in the fields pulling or planting crops in addition to doing everything else he does. As I said, I came expecting quiet study indoors while the fields outside crackled in the frost. Not so.

"We have livestock," he says, "so we're busy every day of the year."

They've got lambs and beef cattle. They're also still packing and shipping onions and cabbage. Plus they'll be starting the greenhouses in a few weeks. Then there's the work on the farm equipment that is about due to start... and the renewal for the organic certification... and all the planning. Always planning. Planning on what to plant, when to plant it, where to plant it.

So yeah. They're not sitting around darning socks and learning about soil erosion. "It's always a work in progress," he says. "If you stand still, you go backwards."

Porter Farms also maintains a Community-Supported Agriculture program that keeps folks busy throughout the year. They're about to start their 14th season. They wrapped up last year with 650 members. A CSA program allows folks in the community—some join from Rochester and Buffalo, too—to pay a lump sum to receive 22 weeks of farm fresh produce. They can pick up a bag of mixed vegetables from the farm every week from about the middle of June up until the week before Thanksgiving.

They grow everything for the program: beets, bell peppers, poblano peppers, summer squash, pumpkins, beans, lettuce, roma, heirloom and sun gold tomatoes, swiss chard, butterscotch melons, cucumbers... I could go on. You get about 10 to 12 pouns per bag. Plus they give you recipe suggestions and a weekly newsletter about the selection.

Mike's daughters take care of most of the work for the CSA program. He's busy with the livestock and the day-to-day running of the farm. A couple times of month, he makes the trek down to New Holland, Penn., where most of his sheep go to auction. Those are the really long days, he says. Some nights he may even end up staying over and driving back in the morning... to start it all again.

If you want to find out more about the CSA program, please check out the Web site for Porter Farms, which has all the info you need on how it works and how you can do it.

And now... some sheep butts for your viewing pleasure: