L-R: County Legislature James Maloney, Hein, Paul Alward, founder
and CEO of Hudson Valley Harvest
LAKE KATRINE – Celebrating the growing local food movement and
the successful growth of the food and beverage industry, Ulster County
Executive Michael Hein stood with local elected officials, farmers, and
members of the industry Wednesday, to praise successes and announce new
initiatives.
Local food production is on the rise, particularly in Ulster County and the greater Hudson Valley.
Local food consumption domestically, is estimated to rise by 66 percent by 2019; however, in Ulster County alone, food processing and manufacturing has risen 64 percent from 2009-2014. For instance, local distributor Farm Bridge has produced an output of approximately 3.1 million pounds of produce in 2015, an increase of about 1 million pounds from three years earlier.
There is an untapped market in New York City, to which Ulster County has greater access than most areas, local officials said. This new market and the successes of the local food and beverage companies have created a cluster within Ulster County.
Hein said the county is doing all they can do to help this booming industry and praise their work thus far.
“They aggregate all of that material, all of that wonderful produce that’s incredible, some of the best food grown anywhere in the world right here in the Hudson Valley, right here in Ulster County,” the county exec said. “They aggregate it and can take it to market for people; and, in addition to that, there’s value added processing.”
Hein spoke of the food and beverage clusters thriving in the area, much of which have to do with a cooperative effort to manufacture, then contract out distribution. Farm Bridge is one of those distributors.
Farm Bridge CEO James Hyland said the main obstacle local producers,
manufacturers and distributors are facing now, is how to compete with
the global market.
As Hein said, the county is looking to help these industries because they are viable, and they are growing. Part of their initiative to help local food and beverage industry is by providing new loan programs.
The Ulster County Revolving Loan Fund Committee, chaired by county legislator James Maloney, has announced new lower interest rates on loans and a streamlined process towards accessing capital.
Hyland said this is going to be a huge asset to their industry.
“If we have access to capital, we can start looking at how we can
become more efficient by working with the farms: the better equipment,
training for our employees, and then we can start closing that price gap
a little bit without sacrificing what we pay the farms,” said Hyland.
“The ability to access capital is really important because it gives
us the ability to compete more on a bigger stage, with bigger players.”
The local government is recognizing this trend in local consumption within these industries and officials say this is the right time for those who are interested in this growing market, to get involved.
