CORNWALL – Following a roundtable with Hudson Valley farmers in April and extensive discussion with his agricultural advisory board, Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (D, NY18) announced new legislation to help beginning farmers. The Beginning Farmer Agenda Act is a comprehensive approach to supporting the next generation of farmers. This bill would invest in land conservation to help new farmers acquire land, add new resources for farmers at USDA and invest in the development of local and regional food systems.
Speaking at the century-old third generation Jones Farm near Cornwall, Maloney, accompanied by farmers, officials involved in agriculture and several lawmakers, said he senses a passion for an endangered but essential industry.
Three generations of the Clearwater family gathered for the announcement, including current owner David Clearwater.
Behind him are Maloney (blue shirt) and Skoufis.
“This is not an area where the market will produce good results without good public policy,” the congressman said. “It’s absolutely essential that we have good public policy at the federal level, the state level, the local level, to complement the passion that our young farmers have for doing this work. Because, without that policy, we are going to lose.”
If the passion Maloney sees is there among young farmers, statistics would seem to paint a slightly different picture.
Assemblyman James Skoufis (D, 99), noted the average age of a New York farmer, already nearing ‘senior citizen’ territory, at age 57, is not dropping.
“It was 55 not too long ago,” Skoufis said. “Unless we reverse that trend, 4,000 farms, going to be 5,000, going to be 6,000 we’re going to talk about in a few years, that have been lost.
That’s what Maloney’s legislation would do. Key points include:
Investing in land conservation by making it easier for land trusts to protect farmland, offer capital gains exemptions to farmers that protect their land, and help to speed up the process for beginning farmers to qualify for USDA resources;
Developing new resources at USDA –like self-service portals and regional coordinators for beginning farmer support, reauthorize the vital beginning farmer and rancher development program, and fund individual development accounts to help farmers save for purchases;
Investing in local and regional food systems by funding the farmers market and local food promotion program and helping to support programs that offer resources for farmers.
Jones Farm owner David Clearwater said it is more than just about bringing in a good crop each year.
“The preservation of farmland isn’t all about land; it’s about the ability of the family farm unit to stay intact,” Clearwater said. “It about keeping the traditions of the traditions of the farming foundation of the small towns to stay steady. We need farms to feed people, but also to provide the first jobs to all the countless teenagers they employed, to promote a rock-solid place to come home to.”
Maloney said that’s a goal that is reachable “if we take some common sense steps now.”
