Beginning Farmers in NYS— How to Raise Their Profile With Policy-makers

By Krys Cail [email protected] July 15, 2009

Over the past couple of years, great strides have been made in educating beginning farmers in NYS. Leading this effort has been the NY Beginning Farmer Project, a collaboration of the Small Farms Program at Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension, with support from the NY Farm Viability Institute. Other programs and initiatives have also focused on preparing aspiring farmers to enter into business successfully, meeting both their production and profitability goals. In 2008 and early 2009, Heifer International gathered representatives of several of these efforts together to consider how a NYS Beginning Farmer Coalition might be formed.

While there was a lot of enthusiasm expressed for the idea of a coalition, it was daunting to the representatives gathered to consider undertaking a formal collaboration without some funding for administrative support. Since none was available at the time (with a recession causing a dearth of resources in many quarters), the group did not continue to meet. However, in early meetings, one goal that had been identified was raising the profile of beginning farmers with the state’s policy-makers. Since this goal can be approached in a more “distributed” manner than some others, this short paper attempts to provide information that individuals and programs could make use of to do some work on their own to help raise the profile of beginning farmers with local, state and federal elected officials. This work can be done by non-profit educational organizations as well as by individual farmers and those who serve them—as long as non-profits limit their activities to educating policy-makers about beginning farmers and their needs, there is no problem—tax exempt status is only at risk if an organization promotes supporting one candidate over another.

The most important way to raise the profile of beginning farmers with policy-makers is to communicate with them and their staff-members about the work we do with beginning farmers and their needs, and arrange for policy-makers to see beginning farmers at work, and in training programs. Those state and federal representatives with committee assignments that pertain to agriculture will be important to include, but it is also a good idea to establish a relationship with your local elected officials, and copy them in on any communications that you send to those with special committee assignments. Below are some links and information for contacting the policy-makers most important to the process of influencing legislation that would impact on beginning farmers. Remember that there are changes from time to time, so, check on-line to be certain that information is still current. I’ve included full info on federal reps, and links for state reps. Federal Representatives

Currently, NYS has the good fortune to have two representatives sitting on the House Agriculture Committee, and one representative sitting on the Senate Agriculture Committee. All three are members of the majority, as well. This is the best federal-level Ag Committee representation that NYS has had in recent history, which makes it a very good time to promote the needs of beginning farmers in the State.

There are various ways to keep in touch with these NYS federal representatives with special Agriculture duties; it also makes sense to copy your own Congressman or Congresswoman in on any information that you send to the NY Congressional Representatives that sit on the Agriculture Committee.

Congressman Eric Massa Website: http://massa.house.gov/

This website features press releases, many on agricultural issues. For instance, at the time that this is being written, the second banner on the homepage reads: “Rep. Eric Massa votes to fund critical Department of Agriculture programs” Responding to these press releases, is a good way to start a conversation with staff. They will be happy to speak with you, in any event, or to read your mail or email to the office. Contact Massa’s offices in Washington, or in the district:

Washington DC Office 1208 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-3161 Fax: (202) 226-6599

Corning District Office 89 W. Market Street Corning, NY 14830 Phone: (607) 654-7566 Fax: (607) 654-7568

Olean District Office 317 North Union Street Olean, NY 14760 Phone: (716) 372-2090 Fax: (716) 372-2869

Pittsford District Office 1 Grove St Suite 101 Pittsford, NY 14534 Phone: (585) 218-0040 Fax: (585) 218-0053

*Please note that it often takes months before we can receive mail in the Washington office due to security delays. For all urgent matters, please send mail to your district offices.

Do take the caveat about US Post Office Mail to DC Congressional Offices being very, very slow seriously. Better, if you want to contact a Washington office, to use email or fax. Email is sent via forms from the websites; Massa’s is at http://massa.house.gov/? sectionid=7§iontree=4,7

You can view Massa’s subcommittee assignments on his website, and also see issue information or search for a bill. Here are his subcommittee assignments currently (for Agriculture Committee):

House Agriculture Committee •Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research •Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture

Remember, “Horticulture” is the term used to refer to “specialty crops”—including all fresh fruits and vegetables as well as flowers, nursery plants and turfgrass. Most small- scale diversified farms will fall under this Subcommittee’s purview.

Congressman Scott Murphy

Website: http://scottmurphy.house.gov/

Washington, DC Office Scott Murphy 120 Cannon HOB Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-5614 Fax: (202) 225-1168

Saratoga District Office Scott Murphy 487 Broadway Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Phone: (518) 581-8247 Fax: (518) 581-8430

Hudson District Office Scott Murphy 623 Warren Street Hudson, NY 12534 Phone: (518) 828-3109 Fax: (518) 828-3985 Glens Falls District Office Scott Murphy 136 Glen Street Glens Falls, NY 12801 Phone: (518) 743-0964 Fax: (518) 743-1391

Again: try to avoid mail to Washington, DC offices.

Email Congressman Murphy at https://forms.house.gov/murphy/contact-form.shtml

Congressman Murphy serves on the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry, and on the Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture, and on the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

Website: http://gillibrand.senate.gov/

Albany/Capital District Office Leo W. O’Brien Federal Office Building 1 Clinton Square, Room 821 Albany, NY 12207 Tel. (518) 431-0120 Fax (518) 431-0128

Buffalo Office Larkin At Exchange 726 Exchange Street, Suite 511 Buffalo, NY 14210 Tel. (716) 854-9725 Fax (716) 854-9731

Long Island Office 155 Pinelawn Road Suite 250 North Melville, NY 11747 Tel. (631) 249-2825 Fax (631) 249-2847

North Country Office PO Box 273 Lowville, NY 13367 Tel. (315) 376-6118 Fax (315) 376-6118 Rochester Office Kenneth B. Keating Federal Office Building 100 State Street Room 4195 Rochester, NY 14614 Tel. (585) 263-6250 Fax (585) 263-6247

Syracuse/Central NY James M. Hanley Federal Building 100 South Clinton Street Room 1470 PO Box 7378 Syracuse, NY 13261 Tel. (315) 448-0470 Fax (315) 448-0476

New York City Office 780 Third Avenue Suite 2601 New York, New York 10017 Tel. (212) 688-6262 Fax (212) 688-7444

Westchester Office Office of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Tel. (914) 725-9294 Fax (914) 472-5073

Hudson Valley Office PO Box 884 Nyack, NY 10960 Tel. (845) 875-4585 Fax (845) 875-9099

Relevant Committee Assignments: Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, http://agriculture.senate.gov/ Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, http://energy.senate.gov/public/ Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, http://sbc.senate.gov/

Email Senator Gillibrand at: http://gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/

Senator Chuck Schumer

Website: http://schumer.senate.gov/ Email Senator Schumer at: http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/contact.cfm New York State Policy-makers

New York State Administration (Governor’s Office)

NYS Department of Agriculture Website: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us Email: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/contact.html Patrick Hooker, Commissioner 518-457-8876

NYS Council on Food Policy Website: http://www.nyscfp.org/ Email: http://www.nyscfp.org/contact.html Chair: NYS Commissioner of Agriculture Patrick Hooker, 518-457-8876 Staff: Ann McMahon, Special Assistant 518- 485-7728

Governor David A. Paterson State Capitol Albany, NY 12224 Website: http://www.ny.gov/governor Email: http://161.11.121.121/govemail 518-474-8390

New York State Senate Agriculture Committee

Website: http://www.nysenate.gov/committee/agriculture

Chairman: Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine

Committee Members:  Neil D. Breslin  Velmanette Montgomery  Michael H. Ranzenhofer  James L. Seward  William T. Stachowski  David J. Valesky  George Winner  Catharine Young

New York State Assembly Agriculture Committee

Website: http://assembly.state.ny.us/comm/?sec=mem&id=2

Chairman: Assemblyman William Magee

Committee Members:  Marc S. Alessi  George Amedore  Michael Benedetto  Marc W. Butler  Clifford W. Crouch  Francine DelMonte  RoAnn M. Destito  Gary D. Finch  Tim Gordon  Aileen M. Gunther  Stephen Hawley  Barbara Lifton  Peter D. Lopez  Alan Maisel  Margaret M. Markey  John J. McEneny  Bob Reilly  Peter M. Rivera  Linda B. Rosenthal  Addie J. Russell  Frank K. Skartados  Al Stirpe

Websites for Tracking Legislation

From time to time, bills that impact beginning farmers may be under consideration. The following websites may be helpful for tracking these bills:

For bills in the US Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/ http://www.govtrack.us/

For bills in the NYS Legislature: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/ http://www.nysenate.gov/issues-legislation