ALBANY- A coalition of major agricultural groups in New York is asking state lawmakers to double critically needed funding for the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH). The center is a national leader in bilingual farm safety programming that protects farmworkers and farmers from serious injury or death.
The call to double the state’s current $1 million of annual funding is coming at a time when NYCAMH has reached a critical juncture. The organization has received flat funding from the state for 14 years without one single inflationary adjustment, and officials at the center are seeking an increase to continue their work in preventing agricultural workplace deaths.
New York State enacted legislation officially establishing NYCAMH in 1988 to reduce the unacceptably high rates of workplace death, serious injury, and illness among New York State’s agricultural workers by providing high-quality occupational medical services, technical assistance, comprehensive occupational health and safety training programs, and evidence-based solutions throughout the state. NYCAMH has successfully reduced the number of agricultural workplace deaths, serious injuries, and occupational illnesses since it was first established.
“We will be forced to cut many of those essential programs and services in 2023 and beyond. This, we believe, would quickly cause a significant, but otherwise fully preventable, increase in the rates of workplace death, serious injury, and illness among New York State’s agricultural workers,” said Erika Scott, Ph.D., NYCAMH Deputy Director.
“My farm and employees depend on NYCAMH every year to conduct bilingual safety training in areas of first aid, animal handling, tractor safety, and chemical use. Their expertise is second to none, and I am concerned about what would happen if these valuable resources were not as widely available to farms like mine across the state. New York Farm Bureau supports a budget increase for NYCAMH after years of flat funding. We cannot jeopardize the health and safety of our most important resource, our people,” said Kim Skellie, a New York Farm Bureau State Director and dairy farmer in Newark, NY.
Lawmakers in Albany are currently negotiating the state’s 2023 fiscal spending plan, which is due by April 1st. Estimates indicate this year’s budget will set a new record, at more than $227 billion in total spending.
