2022 Golf for Good Works Tournament June 24th

The Golf for Good Works Tournament will be returning June 24th to the Turning Stone Resort’s Shenendoah Golf Course for 2022.  Shenendoah offers 18 holes of PGA-level golf in a spectacular natural setting.  The course was built and is maintained to comply with stringent Audubon International standards for environmental protection and preservation.  Designed, constructed and maintained to TOUR standards at more than 7,000 yards, the course offers conditions normally reserved for Tour professionals.  In 2006, Turning Stone Resort’s Shenendoah Golf Club was host of the PGA National Club Professional Championship.

In 2021, 128 golfers participated in this tournament.  “After more than a year of turmoil and uncertainty, it was wonderful to see the support of the agribusiness community that came together for the 2021 Golf For Good Works Tournament,” said NEAFA Conventions Committee Chair Mark Anderson.

Proceeds from this event go toward supporting agricultural outreach and education programs.  Previously, NEAFA has supported the Northeast Regional Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge, Future Farmers of America Foundation, NYS 4-H Foundation's Junior Dairy Leader Program, the New York State Fair Dairy Cow Birthing Center, LEAD New York, Dairy Judging Teams in New York and New England, New York Farm Bureau’s Food & Farm Experience, Maine 4-H Foundation's Dairy Quiz Bowl, and the Growing Through Showing Program.

Registration is now open!  Single golfers are welcome and will be assigned to teams.  There are also several sponsorship opportunities that you will not want to miss.  

Please visit our website for more information at: https://www.northeastalliance.com/upcoming-events

Rick Zimmerman Named NEAFA’s Distinguished Service Award Winner

By the NEAFA Board

When Rick Zimmerman informed the board last summer of his intentions to “slow down some” and retire his duties as the Executive Director of NEAFA, it gave the board members and long-time staff time to reflect on the many gifts that Rick has given Northeast agriculture over the past forty-plus years.  At our upcoming Annual Meeting, we will celebrate all that Rick has done for Northeast agriculture (and continues to do!) as well as shaping the Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance into the organization it is today.  We are proud to announce that Rick Zimmerman will be the recipient of NEAFA’s Distinguished Service Award, to be presented at the Annual Meeting Thursday, June 23, 2022.

So let’s reflect on those gifts that Rick has shared with all of us!

The gift of passion for agriculture:

For the past 36 years Rick has been engaged in various roles addressing challenges and issues impacting the agricultural industry.  

Andy Dugan, Past President, NEAFA and General Manager, Gold Star Feed and Grain reminisced that “Rick has the highest integrity coupled with a tremendous passion for agriculture.”

As Director of Governmental Relations for New York Farm Bureau for over 13 years, Rick helped ramp up the organization’s lobbying effort to be the effective public policy program that it is today.  Rick led the organization to an impressive record of successful legislative achievements including farm property tax reform, workers compensation reform, and protecting farmers from oppressive anti-agricultural proposals.

Clifford Crouch, Former Member of NYS Assembly stated, “Rick is the consummate lobbyist who never missed a step and stated his position clearly.”

The gift of vision for future of agriculture:

While serving as Deputy Commissioner for Economic Development at the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets for more than seven years, Rick successfully developed and implemented programs and services that enhanced the growth and development of New York’s agriculture industry. Programs such as Grow New York, Pride of New York, Agriculture Environmental Management, and Food and Agriculture Industry Development Grants were developed and expanded under his leadership.

Several members of the NEAFA board can remember Rick taking NEAFA’s Executive Director role in 2007.  With Rick’s guidance, NEAFA has gone through some remarkable evolution the past 15 years, including:

• Update of strategic intent to include education, collaboration, and advocacy as the three key pillars of NEAFA

• New look and feel to NEAFA logo and website

• Partnership and collaboration with other key organizations in the Northeast, including Pro-Dairy and Northeast Dairy Producers Association.

• Increased board and member involvement on committees to execute programs and policy, including communications, government relations, transportation, membership, and conventions

• Worked with board to initiate Good Works event at our annual Golf Tournament, raising over $150,000 for use with youth agricultural education events.

• Led NEAFA Annual Meeting planning and execution efforts, often pairing the meeting with lobbying efforts in Albany, NY

John Clark, Immediate Past President of NEAFA commented, “Rick is a true professional in all respects.  While his lobby efforts are widely known, he should be lauded for his leadership in the growth of NEAFA and specifically the Committee system.  Rick facilitated and allowed the Committees to work autonomously and bring their work back to the board.  This created a very effective system that advanced the organization as a whole.  Rick also worked incredibly hard on the Annual Meeting.  The support for the Annual Meeting under Rick’s leadership grew exponentially.  He dedicated countless hours to making sure all the details of the Annual Meeting were in place.  Under his leadership, the Annual Meetings came off seamlessly.  Much of his work was behind the scenes to make this happen. His service is noted and appreciated.”

Julie Suarez with Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences remarked, “Rick has been a forceful and diligent advocate for agricultural business interests in the NYS Capitol throughout many phases of his storied career – from his time at New York Farm Bureau, the Department of Agriculture and Markets, and his private lobbying firm.  He helped build NEAFA to a well-established trade association with educational and communications based programs, as well as an effective public policy voice, and his accomplishments will have a long-lasting impact.”  

The gift of collaboration with many agricultural organizations:

Rick started his career as manager of his family dairy farm, and staying true to those roots, has done an outstanding job of working with several agricultural organizations to collaborate – whether for lobbying for resources for programs or organizing educational events in partnership with several groups working together with NEAFA, Rick has been the catalyst that saw opportunities with pooling resources among several groups.

Pat Hooker, former New York Commissioner of Agriculture reflected, “Rick may have left his family farm for Albany forty years ago, but he brought his work ethic, dedication and passion for the industry with him.”

In addition to the Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance, Rick’s client list includes:  

• Biotechnology Innovation Organization

• Crop Life America

• Farm Credit East

• New York Alliance for Environmental Concerns

• NYS Vegetable Growers Association

• Syngenta Crop Protection

He has been instrumental in many legislative battles involving the NY Farm Bill and multiple aspects of the agriculture industry, working with many of the groups above to successfully lobby and educate stakeholders.

“NEAFA will surely miss Rick’s leadership and communication ability. His knowledge, commitment, and ability to engage the board and membership is unparalleled” commented Rick Grant, past President NEAFA and President, Miner Institute.

Danielle Penney-Stroop, current President of NEAFA said, “I could not have asked for a better mentor, supporter, and friend from day 1 on the NEAFA board, and during my time with LEAD Class 17.  I consider myself truly blessed to have collaborated with an unparalleled Agricultural advocate that epitomizes hard work and integrity.  I am forever grateful for his encouragement, support and guidance. Congratulations Rick!”

On behalf of the NEAFA board, we are so proud to award this year’s Distinguished Service Award to our retiring Executive Director, largest advocate and friend, Rick Zimmerman.  Thank you for your passion, vision and continued collaboration with agriculture in the Northeast!

Annual Meeting Takes Place June 22-24

The Conventions Committee has been hard at work setting the stage for NEAFA’s 2022 Annual Meeting that I believe will prove to be a great event and one you won’t want to miss. Make sure June 22-24 is on your calendars to attend at the Turning Stone Resort in Verona, NY.

The Annual Meeting kicks off on Wednesday night with the Opening Night Reception starting at 5:30 pm. The reception is a great way to network and connect with friends and colleagues in a relaxing setting. The Resort has several restaurants for you to arrange on your own, and new this year, there will be a signup board at the reception if you want to join an ad hoc group to dine with.

Thursday morning program will start with the traditional opening ceremony with a local FFA chapter leading the way. President Danielle Penny-Stroop and Executive Director John Mitchell will then update you on the state of NEAFA and ask for your votes electing 4 members to the NEAFA Board of Directors.

Following the formal Annual Meeting, the Annual Forum begins with David Kuehnel serving as our MC. Dave is from Rule of Three Solutions LLC, a consulting group that focuses on improving performance of people, animals and organizations. Next up is our good friend Professor Chris Wolf of Cornell’s Dyson School who will give an update on the Northeast Dairy Economy followed by Charles Stark, Kansas State’s Professor in Feed Technology, who will present an informative look at The Feed Mill of the Future. Wrapping up the morning program, AFIA’s President and CEO Constance Cullman will join us and provide an update on AFIA and challenges for the animal feed industry. Cullman is a great speaker and has a positive message that will be welcome with today’s challenges. "Our industry does a tremendous job providing essential goods and services to U.S. and international customers, despite labor and logistical problems, shortages of ingredients, and outdated regulatory processes,” said Cullman. “Despite these ongoing pressures, both state and federal lawmakers and regulators continue to move forward with bills that support unrelated agendas at the expense of our industry. It is critical that NEAFA and AFIA continue to work together to make our members’ voices heard so that we can protect our ability to operate in these rapidly changing times.”

Our awards luncheon will be a special event this year as our past Executive Director Rick Zimmerman has been selected to receive the NEAFA Distinguished Service Award. For 15 years Rick has guided the Alliance to become the effective and valuable organization that it is. Presenting the award to Rick is also recognition of his many contributions for the betterment of all New York agriculture. Following awards, our Keynote Speaker David Kuehnel will present his talk entitled Strength in Numbers starts with the Power of ONE and share his insights that have helped him develop his consulting group.

The afternoon session is devoted to our traditional panel format. This year’s panel will be discussing Managing Limited Milk Production on Farm. Mike Van Amburgh, Ph.D. will serve as Moderator and panelists include Sarah Head, Nutritionist from Holtz-Nelson; Greg Porter of Porterdale Farms; Scott Lakey of Sugarbranch Farms and Mark Mapstone, Agribusiness Financial Consultant from Farm Credit.

After the panel, we will break until 5:00 pm when the President’s Golf for Good Works Reception will provide light hors d’oeuvres, a few comments from NEAFA’s leaders and an opportunity to network. For dinner, you can make arrangements at one of the Resorts restaurants or sign up at the reception to join a group for dinner. If you plan to make a reservation, we encourage you to do that before your get there.

Friday is all about fun with the Golf for Good Works Tournament teeing off bright and early at 7:30 a.m. A continental breakfast starts at 6:00 a.m. If you aren’t signed up with a foursome, it’s no problem. Single golfers are welcome and we will set you up with a group. The event is a scramble so you don’t have to be a good golfer as it’s a team event. This format provides maximum fun and a few laughs. That said, there is an Awards Luncheon for the winners that wraps up the day.

I hope you will join us for an informative and relaxing time at the Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance Annual Meeting and/or Golf for Good Works Tournament.

Best Regards,

John

Vermont Legislative Update

By Margaret Laggis, special to NEAFA

As Vermont enters the final few weeks of the session, the end game is getting interesting.  Bills that are still being worked on include a bill that will allow for airport expansion (H.610 and S.278) without having to go through Vermont’s onerous Act 250 law about prime agricultural soils. The point being that areas immediately adjacent to airports are probably not that ideal for farming. There is a farm immediately adjacent to the Burlington Airport that is a working dairy, but it is not an easy task to keep animals there. It is unclear whether this language will make it out of the Senate Ag committee on its own or perhaps be attached to another bill.

The Senate is also working on H.466, a bill that is trying to set up a system to permit surface water withdrawals that come out of a stream and end up in another water basin. This bill will directly impact vegetable and berry farmers all over Vermont, and they are quite concerned. It doesn’t affect dairy farmers as they generally use well water and not surface water. The bill at first only requires reporting of withdrawals of more than 5000 gal/day, which is a low threshold, and then moves to a permitting program without any requirement for science to show any harm.

The Senate Natural Resources committee is interested in looking at the exemptions that agriculture has from permitting through Act 250. S.234 will study these exemptions. These exemptions are incredibly important to the industry as Act 250 is an onerous, neighbor-driven permit process. At the same time, there is another bill that would expand the exemption to include on-farm accessory businesses, H.744. This bill came out of the House Agriculture Committee, but is being held in House Natural Resources Committee. H.626 is the bill that began as a ban of neonicotinoids. This is now languishing in the Senate Agriculture Committee, as they heard from the Agency of Agriculture and many others that neonics are not present in Vermont’s environment, so there is no evidence that they are impacting pollinators at all. It is unclear what the committee will do with the bill at this time. The Agriculture Innovation Board will take up treated seeds as an issue this year as part of their work and will report back to the legislature before January.

S.282 is a bill that deals with the unplanned outcome from Vermont banning organic matter from ending up in landfills. Due to this ban, this food had to find another outlet. The solution is to de-pack the food from grocery stores and restaurants, turn it into a slurry and then either put it through a digestor or land apply it. The problem is that this slurry contains micro plastics and possibly PFAS. The EPA and FDA have not determined if there are safe levels of either of these products in food or soils. This causes a problem for Vermont farmers, who are being asked to solve a problem for legislators that passed this law without understanding what the solution would be. The bill requires a study while placing a ban on any new de-packing facilities.

The Agency of Agriculture has submitted new pesticide rules to the Interagency Committee on Rules (ICAR) which is the first step for new rules being developed by Agencies. There will be time for public comment. From the first reading of the rules, the Agency is simply bringing Vermont into compliance with current EPA standards for pesticide use and handling.

Vermont is working on several workforce development bills that would use some of the Covid dollars that the State has received. Both bills are being held up due to discussions with the Governor’s office. Both bills look at making a bigger investment in technical education and internships as ways of getting more high school kids interested in the trades. There are also a couple of housing bills that will put money into the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board to improve on-farm housing and possibly to assist manufacturers in providing worker housing in an effort to attract some employees to those manufacturers who are struggling to hire enough workers to run their plants.

It’s a Wrap! NYS Budget Continues to Support Important Agricultural Programs

By Rick Zimmerman

The last votes were taken on the 2022-23 NYS Budget during the early hours of April 8th.  This $220 billion spending plan is an extremely complex set of documents, running thousands of pages, and covering everything from roads to schools to bail reform to Buffalo Bills stadium to tax credits and much more.  Agriculture’s portion of the budget pales in proportion to most all other aspects, but the funded programs undertake essential functions and services.  Agricultural advocates, including leaders from the Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance, worked collaboratively to assure the ag budget priorities were addressed.  In this light, it was a good budget year.

An annual activity of the NYS budget adoption process is the requirement for agricultural leaders to garner legislative support for restoring funds to the many essential agricultural programs ranging from apple marketing programs to soil and water conservation districts.  Governor Hochul’s Executive Budget, introduced last January, was a good starting point for budget negotiations and Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball and Deputy Secretary for Agriculture and Food, Kevin King, deserve much credit for assuring that the Executive Budget included funding for the essential ag programs.  But this annual process allows legislative leaders, most notably the Senate and Assembly Agriculture Committee Chairs, to weigh in on their respective ag program priorities.  We are fortunate to have two Agriculture Committee Chairs that work well together and share our passion for a strong agriculture industry.  We owe many thanks to Assemblymember Donna Lupardo and Senator Michelle Hinchey for their leadership in bringing home a state budget that includes sufficient funds for agriculture’s priorities.

NEAFA’s budget priorities focused primarily on the needs of New York’s dairy industry.  Therefore, essential programs, such as the NYS Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell, the Quality Milk Production Program, PRO-DAIRY, and the Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program, ranked high on the NEAFA budget priority list. In addition, NEAFA joined with NEDPA leaders in advocating for additional PRO-DAIRY funds ($250,000) to support a climate leadership position within the program to lead the dairy industry forward in taking advantage of carbon reduction opportunities that are potentially beneficial for the dairy industry and will help the state meet its carbon reduction goals.

In addition to dairy centric programs, NEAFA successfully supported additional funds for the Agricultural Workforce Development Program, based at Cornell University, to help our Hispanic workforce, an increasingly prominent source of employees on New York dairy farms.  Further NEAFA recognized the value of the Farm Viability Institute and New York FarmNet.  Both programs had funding restored to last year’s levels.  

There are three tax credits for NY farmers in the State Budget worthy of mention.  First, the Investment Tax Credit was increased to 20% for farmers reinvesting in their farming operations.  Second, the Farm Workforce Retention Tax Credit was doubled to $1200 per worker and extended to 2026.  Third, a new refundable tax credit, to offset the overtime wages to be paid to farmworkers if the overtime threshold is lowered below 60 hours per week, was also established.  

At the time of this writing, Governor Hochul has not announced if she will accept the recommendation of the Farm Labor Wage Board to lower the overtime threshold to 40 hours per week over the course of 10 years.  But the overtime tax credit could be an incentive for the Governor to take such action, despite the strong recommendation by the farm community to keep 60 at 60.   

Industry Freight Update: Trucking, Ocean, and Rail

As prices continue to climb across numerous sectors in the economy, transportation of goods to market continues to be a concern for the agricultural community. NEAFA reached out to industry experts to give our members an insight into what transportation topics are of importance in the Trucking, Ocean Freight, and Rail industries. We would like to thank TANY, NEAFA Board member and president of Global Agri-Trade Barry Baetz, and Joe Painting from VT Rail for taking the time to update our members on what is going on in their industries.

Trucking Update with TANY from Rick Zimmerman, NEAFA
Kendra Hems, President of the Trucking Association of New York (TANY) talked about the Association’s priorities for addressing the driver shortage challenge faced throughout the manufacturing and service sectors, including the agribusiness community.  Driver licensing and training are at the forefront of the TANY focus, beginning with the new opportunity to train and license young adults, 18 years of age and older.  New York is the last state in the Union to lower the minimum age from 21 to 18, and TANY is gearing up to inform prospective new drivers about the lucrative opportunities as a professional truck driver.  TANY is also promoting the notion of expanding the “learners permit” timeframe from 6 to 12 months in length.  State legislation to address this issue is anticipated this year.  

One important new opportunity, likely to be a game changer in the certification/ licensing world, is the establishment of a third-party skills testing program.  In addition to the long-standing state run CDL testing program, a pilot initiative for a private sector party, certified to implement a CDL testing program, is currently under regulatory consideration.  This initiative could significantly alleviate the backlog of license testing applications at the State DMV office.  Stay tuned for details of an informal public hearing to receive input on this pilot program.  

In addition to addressing the minimum age of commercial drivers and licensing of new drivers, TANY is also focused on providing more training opportunities for new drivers.  The new federal entry level driver training program has authorized private sector companies to provide basic training to new drivers.  In addition, apprenticeship programs are being promoted by TANY as another avenue to attract new young drivers into the industry.  The economic and quality of life opportunities currently offered today as a commercial truck driver is good news to be broadcasted to all prospective drivers, particularly those who are at a point in their life when career decisions are likely to be made.  

The Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance looks forward to collaborating with Hems and TANY to address our industry sector’s truck driver needs.

Ocean Freight Update from Barry Baetz, NEAFA Board of Directors
As many of us are painfully aware, the new normal for sea freight is overall elevated container freight pricing, whether inbound or outbound from the US. Global container availability has improved over the past 6 months however, as sea freight carriers have been able to move empty containers around the globe.

Annual sea freight contracts have just been renewed, with significant increases in year over year base container movement contracts. The number of vessels in use is also increasing, as carriers simply can’t keep up with overall volume and pressure.

Unfortunately, US port congestion has not improved, and continues to be a major supply chain issue. Truck driver shortages are severely impacting the drayage of containers in and out of ports around the US. 

Ports on the East Coast are doing their best to keep vessels moving, with much shorter anchorage days versus the West Coast. LA/LB Ports have seen vessels simply pushed further out to sea to anchor while waiting for their port slot due to California emissions rules that have been implemented. Congestion on the West Coast could worsen, as LA/LB Longshoreman are posed to strike in July for wage contract renewal and will cause projected significant work stoppages if history repeats itself.

Rail Update from Joe Painting, VT Rail System
Labor Shortage
The shortage of labor in the transportation industry is still the case.  The issues plaguing us have not abated at all.  Since not much has changed on that front I will offer this link to the recent article covering that issue alone.  I will say, again, that this factor is pervasive and affects other items on this list, specifically the Class One service issues.

Fuel Costs
Just to use an example, last May the VTR per mile fuel surcharge was .29 per mile.  This May it will be .78 per mile.  Just as a frame of reference, that  means a flatcar of lumber from St Johnsbury, VT to Oregon last year had about a $1000 fuel surcharge.  Next month that same trip will have about a $2800 fuel surcharge.  No rail road is immune, this scourge is industry wide.  While all roads use a different formula for figuring their fuel charges, this is not really a revenue generating endeavor.  We are just passing this cost through to the end user.  

Fuel costs affect us all.  Higher fuel costs impact everything; groceries, dry goods, all services, all facets of the Cost of Living.  Everything gets moved somehow before the end user takes delivery. The recent fuel cost spike has seen demand for regional rail enjoying an uptick.  Hauls between 300-500 miles used to be all truck traffic all the time because the economics worked.  As trucks have become less available and substantially more costly, shippers are looking at rail options.  What never worked in a rail car before is suddenly a competitive alternative.  Capacity equivalents are usually about 4 trucks to one rail car.  That per ton freight cost for rail v truck is looking good for (relatively) short rail moves, even moves involving 3, 4 and even 5 different carriers to go just 350 miles are in publication and working now.  It is a substantial amount of work to put these moves and rates in play, but the class one, two, and three roads in the Northeast are working together to make these more cost effective moves work for their customers.  

Reciprocal Switching 
On our last call we spoke of this being a positive for short lines, as it encourages competition and would thus keep the prices low.  This is still a valid way to look at this, however, there are those who feel the infrastructure needed to make this work would be very costly, and this additional cost would ultimately be passed on to the end user.  This is a valid argument as well.  These issues would best be examined on a case by case basis to ascertain the specific and pertinent individual pros and cons.  I would hesitate to offer a blanket statement that would cover every potential incident.  There is a 5 mile limit on this, and this is threatening to some short lines who have large ‘bread and butter’ customers whose facilities may fall in that zone.

CSX takeover of PAS
This will change the landscape substantially, and will have an impact on the Northeast without doubt.  For the moment, the status quo will be maintained, and all roads will be working to keep traffic moving smoothly while things slowly change.  At the Vermont Rail System, we worked with the STB and Vermont Agency of Transportation during this process to protect our lanes and our interests. We want to be able to effectively serve our customers and preserve strategic assets we had in place.

Car Availability 
Car supply is very tight right now.  Imagine having product to move, customers waiting for it, but no cars to move it in.  This is a reality for some.  This has driven the costs of rail car lease rates up.  Per month lease rates that were near $300 a month are now over $700 and the terms they are looking for are not 2 or 3 year deals, but 5, or even 10 year terms.  New build costs are very high right now as well.  Is this just regular old inflation as it applies to rail cars too?  There may be some truth to that.  There is more to it than that, but the car market can be volatile, and dramatic and sudden spikes and drops in rates and term lengths are to be expected.  We are feeling the pinch now with high costs and car limited availability.  

Class One service issues
I will point to congested yards and excessive dwell times for examples of Class One service issues.  This problem is not unique to just one carrier, they are all wrestling with this and other issues.  This can be directly traced back to a labor shortage.  We continue to work with the Class Ones to keep the pipelines running smoothly.  We work at this with them on an operational level every day, at managerial levels every day, and have escalated these issues where we can.  They know the problem exists, and are addressing it, but there is no quick fix.  

For more information you may wish to check out the following:
The Surface Transportation Board yesterday unveiled details for next week's two-day hearing on “urgent issues” related to freight-rail service.

To be held April 26-27 in-person and streamed live on the STB's YouTube channel, the hearing will address recent rail service problems and recovery efforts involving BNSF Railway Co., CSX, Norfolk Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railroad.

DFA Colab Accelerator Program

By Sean Moise, DFA

A nutrient management solution for agricultural wastewater, in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology for the farm and a new caffeinated, high protein chocolate milk beverage for adults are just a few of the startup companies selected to participate in the 2022 DFA CoLAB Accelerator program.

“It’s always exciting to welcome a new class of startups into our CoLAB Accelerator program as these companies bring fresh thinking and ideas to benefit our farm family-owners and help further grow and invigorate the dairy case,” says Doug Dresslaer, director of cultural innovation at DFA. “This year, we’re particularly excited to take a hybrid approach with the program by bringing back more collaborative, in-person sessions while also meeting virtually.”

A Dairy-Centric Program Focusing on Business Growth and Mentoring
The DFA CoLAB Accelerator is a 90-day collaborative program focused on dairy product and processing innovations and new technologies for dairy farms. Startups will gain a thorough understanding of the dairy industry and will have the opportunity to work with top executives from DFA, as well as dairy industry leaders both on and off the farm. 

Throughout the program, participants will receive advice and participate in educational sessions on a variety of topics important for startup growth, including finance, business development, distribution and supply chain, product development, brand building, sales and marketing, packaging and pricing. Unique to the DFA CoLAB Accelerator are sessions of mentorship from DFA members and in-depth discussions on how new technologies could be implemented on a farm. 

Introducing the 2022 DFA CoLAB Accelerator Class 

Ag Tech

• Cattle Scan (Guelph, Canada) – Real-time monitoring technology that measures the biometrics of individual cattle, starting with temperature. Data can be accessed on a cloud-based platform and allows farmers to improve the overall health of their herds

• The Hago Energetics Company (Camarillo, Calif.) – Aims to helps farms, either cattle or dairy, convert waste, like manure, into fuel cell grade hydrogen using a patented carbon negative approach that does not involve hydrolysis. This hydrogen is expected to sell at a lower cost and have a lower carbon footprint than current methods

• Lemna (Gilbert, Ariz.) – Provides a comprehensive nutrient management solution for agricultural wastewater through the use of duckweed (aquatic plants) in a controlled growth system. The duckweed also has the potential to provide farmers with a new revenue stream

• ReproHealth Technologies (Indianapolis, Ind.) – An innovative, patent-pending device that brings IVF technology to the farm. Founders believe the device could potentially double cattle embryo production and reduce reproduction costs

Dairy Food Products and Dairy Processing Technology

• Smack’d (Lehi, Utah) – Aims to develop a delicious adult chocolate milk beverage that is high in protein, low in sugar and caffeinated

• Lyras (Aalborg, Denmark) – Developed a UV-light cold pasteurization technology that uses 90% less energy and 60% less water compared to traditional pasteurization

Since launching six years ago, the DFA CoLAB Accelerator has worked with 32 companies and has continued to work with the majority of these companies in some capacity. To date, 94% of the alumni companies are still in business today.

Join the 2022 NEAFA Membership Drive Contest and win up to $500.

The Membership Drive Contest kicked off April 4th by your Board of Directors meeting to start a fun and friendly competition within the NEAFA’s membership. The Board is putting up $1,000 in prize money that will reward those who identify and recruit the most new members. The contest will run from April 1 to August 1, 2022. The Membership Drive Contest is open to all members and will be communicated through our website, emails, word of mouth and Alliance functions.

How it Works:

• 3 points awarded for each new company or individual joining

• 2 points awarded for each new member from an existing member company or new affiliate member.

• 1 Point for each referral

Cash Prizes given to the top 4 persons earning the most points:

• $ 500 award for 1st Place;

• $ 250 for 2nd Place;

• $ 100 3rd Place;

• $ 50 4th Place

Word of mouth is our best way to develop membership and you, our current NEAFA members, are the best people to recruit new members. Potential members can be anyone involved in Northeast Agriculture such as Feed Manufacturers and Dealers, Ag Retail Stores, Allied Supplier Companies, University and Extension Faculty, Bankers, Nutritionists, Transportation Companies, Veterinarians, Trucking companies, Agronomy concerns, Consultants, to name a few. Use your imagination in thinking who you know that might benefit from being a part of our organization.

To get started:

1. Make a list of businesses and individuals,

2. Contact them to share your experience with NEAFA and the value the Alliance brings to you and your organization.

3. Send the prospect’s information to the Executive Director who will follow-up and encouraging them to complete the application either.

4. Membership application is available on our website’s menu under “Join”.

I hope you will take action and join the contest. Please don’t hesitate to contact me or any Board Member with any questions or suggestions. Feel free to share a poster on this by clicking here.

John Mitchell
Executive Director
Jmitchell50@gmail.com
315-725-2843

Impact of Ukraine Invasion by Russia on Markets

By Jenny Mills, NEAFA Vice-President

As more than a month passes into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we all pray for those impacted by the humanitarian crisis.  We also ponder what the impacts on various global and domestic agricultural markets will be, given the scope of the agricultural economies in both Ukraine and Russia.

Agricultural production in Ukraine represents about 42 million acres of farm land.  According to USDA, the total in the US is 391 million acres. 

Ukraine is well-suited to grain crop production, with primary crops being wheat, barley, rye, sugar beets, and sunflowers. The livestock industry has concentrated considerably in Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union because of declining subsidies and increased production costs. 

The FAO recently published a report this past week detailing the agricultural markets in Ukraine and Russia – the link can be found at: Information Note - The importance of Ukraine and the Russian Federation for global agricultural markets and the risks associated with the current conflict (fao.org)

Russia is also a key player in the fertilizer market.  Russian N, P and K exports represent 15-18% of the total global market. Ukraine does not feature heavily as a dependent fertilizer exporter, with the exception of purchases by Benin and a handful of countries in the European Union. Many countries located in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have an import dependency of well over 50 percent on Russian fertilizers, for all three ingredients. Again, with the prospect of a trade embargo on Russia's exports, or a self-imposed export restriction, the global fertilizer market would be subject to considerable disruptions. This prospect is already reflected in record urea (N) benchmark fertilizer quotations.

In regards to Ukarine’s largest crop, wheat, based on FAO’s forecasts for the ongoing 2021- 2022 season (July-June) before the conflict and on the pace of exports to date, between March and June 2022, Ukraine was expected to export approximately 6 million tons of wheat while the Russian Federation was estimated to ship 8 million tons. However, port closures in Ukraine and anticipated sales difficulties in the Russian Federation because of economic sanctions call into question whether these exports will actually be realized. While a sudden and steep reduction in shipments by the two countries could increase exports by alternate origins, such as the European Union, and potentially Canada and the United States, the potential for these exporters to fully make-up for lower shipments by Ukraine and the Russian Federation is foreseen to be limited. Indeed, wheat inventories are already especially tight in Canada and the USA following reduced harvests in 2021-2022.  In addition, overlapping the most productive agricultural areas of Ukraine with possible scenarios of the territorial spread of the conflict, FAO estimates that 20 percent of winter planted areas will not be harvested as a result of direct destruction, constrained access or lack of economic resources.  Furthermore, yields in other regions are expected to decline by 10 percent due to delayed or missed application of fertilizers, an inability to control eventual pests and diseases, delayed harvesting, greater postharvest losses due to labor force shortages or due to lack of storage infrastructure (FAO report, 3/25/22).

A similar story exists for the impacts on the global corn markets.  Based on FAO’s forecasts before the conflict and on export data, for the remainder of the 2021-2022 season, Ukraine and the Russian Federation were expected to export approximately 14 million tons and 2.5 million tons of corn, respectively. As in the case of wheat flows, it is unlikely that these exports, or at least the large majority, will be realized. While Russia’s corn exports do not make up a significant portion of global corn trade, Ukraine’s expected corn exports in 2021-2022 were forecast to make up 18 percent of the global trade in the grain, which would have made the country the world’s third largest corn exporter. Corn supply gaps for importers could be especially relevant for China and the EU (Ukraine’s primary corn export destination), as well as for Egypt and Turkey, which on average source roughly one third of their corn imports from Ukraine. Based on 2021-2022 import forecasts and imports for the first half of the marketing year, China, the EU, Egypt and Turkey have roughly 11.5, 3.7, 4.6, and 1.6 million tons, respectively, of outstanding imports for the second half of 2021-2022. These countries will need to meet their import needs from other suppliers (FAO, 3/25/22).

How does this impact the Northeast?  

• Higher fuel prices at the pump

• Grain markets rallied on news of the invasion

• Increased sanctions in addition to the invasion created further uncertainty for fertilizer costs.

What does the future hold for fuel, fertilizer and grain prices here? 
It’s impossible to say with certainty, but the market does not like uncertainty. In other words, expect a great deal of continued volatility.  Time will tell what the impacts will be on input commodities to our dairy and livestock sectors.  In the short term, please keep those in Ukraine, many of whom are involved with all facets of agriculture, in your thoughts.

NEAFA Member Highlight: David Briggs, President of Papillon Agricultural Company

NEAFA continues it’s member highlight with Papillon Agricultural Company and its current president, David Briggs. Before serving as president, Briggs spent three years as the national sales manager. “Papillon was founded in 1983 by Tom Haschen,” said Briggs. “He’s well known throughout the northeastern feed circles. Our core business was bypass protein manufacturing. Haschen came from a poultry background, but soon the company decided to focus more on dairy, around 1986. Papillon was very happy working with feed manufactures, nutritionists and the dairy industry for 25 years. We decided to expand the geographic footprints as well as to grow and expand the product line in 2004. Now in 2022, we’re covering 80% of the dairy cows in the United States by manufacturing bypass proteins, nutritional additives that service nutritionists, feed manufacturers and distributers. We don’t currently sell directly to the dairy farm.

Before coming to Papillon, Briggs was no stranger to agriculture. “I grew up on an 80 cow dairy in Chautauqua County in New York,” said Briggs. “It was my grandparents dairy farm. My father was in the feed business for 35 years, so I grew up understanding feed mills and understanding the business. Eventually we moved off the farm, and I graduated high school in southern Delaware. I then went to Washington College and received a degree in business and economics. When I got out of school school and started to work for a financial firm, I came to the determination that I was a farm kid at heart. I found my way back to ag and the dairy industry. I had short stint at my wife’s business, and then I’ve been with Papillon ever since 2004.”

Papillon has been a long time member of NEAFA. “Thom always conveyed to me that NEAFA had the feed and grain producers best interest at heart from a lobbying and educational aspect,” said Briggs. “It’s an important membership for us, and an important organization to support. Our customers have also been involved, and we want to support them too.”

For Briggs, NEAFA’s Annual Meeting and Golf for Good Works Tournament are wonderful benefits to the NEAFA membership. “When I look at the Annual Meeting and the Golf for Good Works Tournament, I just see how important they are,” said Briggs. “Growing up as a northeastern dairy kid, I think the educational portion is always well put together and a boon for the industry. NEAFA has coherent planning that they use to put together a good lineup of speakers and good entertainment. It’s just a well done meeting and a good use of time. And sometimes that’s not always the case with meetings. With NEAFA however, it is something that is always well done. In this day and age with so many different commitments and opportunities, we have to say to ourselves is this time well spent, and I can say that meeting is.”

For Papillon, it was also an easy decision to become a Sustaining Sponsor of NEAFA. “When you look at the track record of what the organization has done for the industry, we look it as dollars well spent from a lobbying perspective,” said Briggs. “They are constantly putting the interests of agriculture and animal agriculture in front of legislators. The dollars are being put to use in the right place.”

For more on Papillon, visit: https://www.papillon-ag.com/

NEAFA Announces 2022 Scholarship Recipients

NEAFA is proud to announce the winners of the 2022 Scholarship for Future Agriculturalists. NEAFA awards four $500 scholarships to eligible high school seniors planning to pursue a field of study that will lead to a career in agriculture, with a specific emphasis on animal science, agronomy, agriculture education or agribusiness. The 2022 Winners include Chloe Pushlar, of Cazenovia, NY, Morgan Hodge, of Norwich, NY, James Rejman of Scipio Center, NY, and Sarah Cox of Warsaw, NY. These young scholars represent the ideals that NEAFA hopes to see in the future of agriculture, and we wish them well as they start their collegiate journeys.

Chloe Pushlar is 17 years old and a senior at Cazenovia high school. “I have been a member of FFA since my freshman year of high school and I am currently the secretary,” said Pushlar. “My family owns a dairy farm where I work daily caring for our herd, and during the summer helping with field work. I have ridden horses my entire life, and currently training a 5 year old mustang from Nevada. I will be attending SUNY Morrisville in the fall, majoring in Agricultural Science. My hope for the future is to educate people on the agricultural industry.”

Morgan Hodge is a senior at Unadilla Valley Central School, and the daughter of Lee and Jennifer Hodge. “I have been involved in many extracurricular activities such as soccer, basketball, Mock Trial, FFA, 4-H, and National Honor Society,” said Hodge. “Serving as the Vice President of the Unadilla FFA Chapter and the 2021-2022 Chenango County Dairy Princess has allowed my develop my leadership skills. I am also active in the Junior Dairy Leaders Program, through Cornell University and I showing both jerseys and holsteins at local, state, and national shows. I will be furthering my studies in Animal Science with plans to pursue a degree in veterinary medicine.”

James Rejman is a fourth generation farmer. “My family currently owns and operates a dairy/crop farm, Sunnyside Farms, in Central New York,” said Rejman. “I am motivated to continue to work with my family to grow our farming operation. I am a senior at Southern Cayuga high school, and I am planning to pursue a degree Agri-Business management at a school yet to be determined. I am passionate about the agricultural industry, especially involving dairy. As I my experiences and education develop, I plan to be an advocate for this industry for the betterment of mine and future generations.”

Sarah Cox raises beef cattle and hogs with her family. “I currently work as a farm hand for Rudgers Registered Jerseys,” said Cox. “In 2021, I was the Senior Extemporaneous Speaking Champion for NYS FFA. In the winter if I am not on the farm or at school, you can find me grooming trails for the Oatka Valley Snowmobile Association. Future Plans : I have not currently decided where I will be attending college, but I will be studying Ag. Business. After graduation I hope to return to dairy farming and become a herdswoman while advocating for the agriculture industry.”

For more information on the NEAFA Scholarship for Future Agriculturalists, visit http://www.nyffafoundation.org/neafa-scholarship.html

President's Pen, March 2022

By Danielle Penney-Stroop, NEAFA President

Greetings and Happy Spring to all! Just a few days ago was our first 70-degree day throughout much of NY, and last night I heard peepers echoing and singing in the distance. The lawns and fields have green hues popping through, and tractors and  equipment are rolled out of storage to be prepped for field work. All signs that spring is fast approaching. Today as I write this, it is a grey rainy day and all I see at the moment are muddy pastures along with some very muddy cows and horses.  I know this is a transition phase we all endure that ultimately leads to a very rewarding, productive, and bountiful time of year.  

I think that perspective is critical as we collectively navigate the unsettling times ahead in the Northeast agricultural industry. We are still collaborating with the GROWNY campaign to fight the 40-hour OT threshold for agricultural workers in NYS. We are all in agreement that moving to 40 hours is detrimental to the viability and competitiveness of NY family farms.   

Highlights Regarding the wage board decision:  

➢  Keep threshold at 60 hours; over 2/3 of testimonies from producers and their farmworkers support the 60 hour threshold.

➢  Run the risk of less acreage being farmed resulting in less food being harvested and distributed, farmworkers looking for 2nd jobs or relocating, or ultimately farms closing and selling out entirely. 

Asks of the Governor and Legislature on Overtime Tax Credit:

➢  Multiplier policy to cover increase costs of FICA, Unemployment, Disability Insurance, and Workers Compensation

➢  Make the tax credit refundable on a quarterly basis

➢  Allow OT estimation for the following quarter to allow farms to cover the periods of planting and harvesting

➢  Make tax credit permanent and equal for all sizes without caps 

➢  If full funding from the Overtime Tax Credit is not included in the final state budget, the OT threshold shall revert to 60 hours until a budget is passed that includes full funding.   

➢  Additional Ask of Support for:

o   Doubling workforce retention tax credit 

o   Increasing in the investment tax credit from 4 to 20% and making it refundable

o   Updated adjustments to housing allowance (S.1663-Skoufis)

Challenges currently facing the agricultural industry continue with our supply chains. We are simultaneously experiencing supply driven inflation, as well as demand driven inflation. We are facing potential increases of interest rates from the feds, increases tp energy costs, and greater volatility due to world events and conflicts. Even with our higher input costs (energy, fertilizer, labor), there should be higher commodity prices with milk and grains. Earnings are expected to be higher in 2022 along with overall better top line revenue, even considering higher input costs and lower government support. Thank you to Chris Laughton from Farm Credit East for sharing his insight and perspective at the NEDPA Dairy Management Conference on March 9 and 10th.   

Congratulations are in order to the NEDPA organization for conducting a phenomenal 2-day conference and annual meeting. What a great opportunity for producers and sponsors to interact and engage in such informative and uplifting presentations. The pre-conference featured eight industry sponsored presentations on labor issues, economic considerations, genetics for future, technology advancement with robots, and forage applications. The theme for Day 1 — Strengthen your team, Stay positive and Enhance Productivity. The theme for Day 2 – Building Resilience and Professionalism, Sustainability for the Future, and Generations Working Together. If you are not yet a part of the organization, I encourage you to join as an affiliate member.  

On Monday, April 4th, the NEAFA board will be conducting its second board meeting of this year, just prior to the Herd Health and Nutrition Conference. We hope to see many of you at the reception on Monday evening and at the conference the following day, April 5th.  We will hear progressive speakers offering their insight and expertise on Immune development in calves, Utilizing Fatty Acids to Boost Profit, Value of Lying Time for Cow Comfort, Heat Stress Mitigation, and a panel on the Feeding and Management of Robotic Parlors.   

Additionally, our committees have been working diligently behind the scenes for NEAFA the past couple months and I look forward to sharing those updates in the April newsletter.       

In closing, even though times may seem extremely difficult and there are some bleak situations and outlooks that potentially lie ahead for us…. Please don’t forget that We are an agrarian culture and we epitomize resourcefulness, adaptability, and resiliency.  

Member Profile: EMM Sales and Service

By Eric Jenks, Special to NEAFA

This month, NEAFA highlights EMM Sales and Service, a long time NEAFA member based out of Brownstown, PA. Founded in 1969 by Jack Conrad, they are currently run by the founder’s son, company president John Conrad, and service the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. John Conrad joined the company as a mechanic in 1987 during high school, and worked in the parts and sales departments throughout the years as well.

“Primarily we are an agricultural transportation equipment dealer and service center,” said John Conrad. “Everything we sell, we service. Our business has been based around service since the beginning. As we go forward, service remains our priority. Bulk feed transportation equipment is the number one type of equipment that we sell, along with grain trailers, belt trailers, dump trailers, livestock trailers, both large and small, and flatbed/drop decks.”

For Conrad, the best part of the business is the people that he gets to meet. “Our customers are the best,” said Conrad. “The agricultural community and the customers that we’ve dealt with since the beginning have been fun, honest, and full of integrity. They’re all just a good group of people.”

For EMM and Conrad, NEAFA is an important association to belong to. “We always want to support organizations that support us,” said Conrad. “In Northeast, we were members of the two prior organizations that joined together to become NEAFA. We’ve always supported the mission. The members are our customer base, and their needs are as important to us as they are to them. You have to support your customers needs, it goes hand in hand in a business like this. We like that we can go to events like the Golf for Good Works tournament. You get to spend time with your customer outside of their day to day responsibilities. It’s a lot more casual than how we typically get to see them. We’re not there to sell, we’re there to listen and support.”

To learn more about EMM Sales And Service, visit their website: https://www.emmsales.com/

NEAFA Engages Legislators in Albany

NEAFA met with State Legislators during the annual Lobby Day at the beginning of February.

By Rick Zimmerman

NEAFA kicked off the month of February with a series of Zoom legislative meetings with New York legislators. The timing of these meetings provided the NEAFA leadership with the opportunity to make the case for our legislative priorities, at a time when legislators are “all ears” because they have a state budget to pull together before April 1st. Even though New York legislative offices remained closed due to COVID restrictions, the virtual meeting format proved to be an effective means to converse with lawmakers and advance our agenda.

NEAFA’s legislative and budget priorities were brought to members of the Assembly and Senate Agriculture Committees by a half dozen NEAFA leaders, including President Danielle Penny-Stroop, Secretary Lon Stephens, board members Charlie Elrod, Corwin Holtz, Michael Howlett, and Executive Director John Mitchell. PRO-DAIRY, NY Farm Viability Institute, IPM, and NY FarmNet were all on the top of NEAFA’s list for legislative support.

Each year, the NY Governor submits an Executive Budget for the legislature to review, amend, and eventually approve a negotiated final budget agreement. This year’s $216 billion spending proposal included funds for many of agriculture’s top priority programs. Inevitably the legislature will amend the Governor’s proposed budget with additional funds for their priorities, including several agricultural programs.

The Governor’s Executive Budget includes a proposed refundable tax credit to offset the overtime wages paid to farmworkers if the overtime threshold is lowered from 60 hours per week. The Farm Labor Wage Board, with a two to one vote, recommended to lower the overtime threshold to 40 hours per week over a period of ten years. Governor Hochul must now choose to accept or reject the recommendation. It is apparent that the legislature’s acceptance of the proposed overtime tax credit will impact the Governor’s decision. In the meantime, the Grow NY Farms Coalition continues to impress upon the Governor the importance of keeping the overtime threshold at 60 hours, and is carefully evaluating how an overtime tax credit could work should the 60-hour threshold be rejected.

For over thirty years, Cornell’s PRO-DAIRY Program has made a significant contribution to the success and viability of New York’s dairy industry. NEAFA remains a strong partner with PRO-DAIRY, co-hosting the Herd Health and Nutrition Conference. NEAFA members also actively co-sponsor many of PRO-DAIRY’s excellent programs. This year, NEAFA is advocating for additional state funds to help guide the dairy industry forward in the new world of carbon reduction. As the dairy industry strives towards a net zero carbon world, dairy farmers must have the latest tools and technologies to help maximize their opportunities. This new PRO-DAIRY position can significantly help meet this challenge.

NEAFA’s partnership with NY FarmNet goes back many years, and we have been privileged to have a representative on the FarmNet Advisory Board for the past 15 years. Our advocacy for the program has helped assure strong support from the Governor and state legislative leaders. This year, the Governor provided $1 million core funding in her Executive Budget. We are advocating for the legislature to add an additional $600,000 to bolster the mental health services that are very much needed throughout the agricultural community. Last August, NY FarmNet’s Kate Downs presented a seminar at the NEAFA Annual Meeting focused on the mental health challenges facing farmers, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. She will be making a similar presentation during NEAFA’s March 7th New England Dairy Nutrition Conference via Zoom.

The NY Farm Viability Institute has a stellar record of returning seven dollars to New York’s economy for every one dollar of state investment! Focused on increasing profitability on New York’s farms, the NYFVI remains successful because of the hundreds of hours invested by farmer review teams that thoughtfully determine what projects receive funding. This year, the NYFVI is asking for $3.5 million in state funding. This would be to cover a large share of the overwhelming demand for research funds; NEAFA strongly supports this request.

Click here for a complete list of NEAFA’s 2022 NYS budget priorities.

President's Pen, February 2022

By NEAFA President Danielle Penney-Stroop

Greetings Everyone – Happy Belated New Year! While I may have had a brief hiatus writing for our NEAFA newsletter, I have many updates to share with our membership. December, January, and February have proven to be a very busy few months. There have been two board meetings, wage and labor hearings along with campaigning efforts, lobby days, and many meetings collaborating with key industry partners to promote and improve business for the agricultural industry.

First, I would like to thank Rick Zimmerman for his many years of service as the Executive Director of NEAFA. We have truly been blessed with your commitment to agriculture and our organization. We have very hard shoes to fill! We are so grateful for your continued service and guidance as NEAFA’s Lobbyist for this next year.

In our December board meeting, the Executive Director search committee recommended to the board that John Mitchell serve as our interim Executive Director. We are grateful for John’s passion and enthusiasm to serve as our interim director, and commitment to the alliance for assisting us in obtaining a future director that possesses the skills and visions to lead us forward. We would also like to share a huge thank you to Sue Van Amburgh, the backbone of our organization who has been putting countless hours in behind the scenes, trying to keep all the ducks in a row. That is not an easy feat with 10 committees, a new E.D., lobbying meetings and campaigning season underway, and collaboration meetings of multiple organizations.

Our December board meeting also consisted of reviewing and discussing progress from our July strategy meeting. We have revised and adopted our new Mission Statement, as well as our new Value Statements, which you can find on our NEAFA website. We spent a significant amount of time reviewing our role in the GROW NY FARMS COALITION campaign, as we advocated for keeping OT Threshold at 60 hours. For more information, you can refer to Rick Zimmerman’s column from last month’s newsletter discussing NEAFA’s role, as well as my testimony from January 18th.

As you all know, the labor and wage board ultimately did not vote in favor of maintaining the 60 hour OT threshold. Since this very disappointing ruling, the coalition has had weekly strategy meetings discussing our next steps. We are all in agreement that it is important to keep the pressure on the fact that moving to 40 hours is detrimental to the viability and competitiveness of New York family farms. We also believe that if the threshold is lowered, there will be consequences felt throughout our rural communities and within our local food systems. We are appealing to the Wage and Labor board, as well as Governor Hochul regarding the advantages and importance for keeping 60hours. We are addressing the refundable overtime tax credit and process, longevity, viability, and more. Additionally, we collectively have specific asks from the Governor and legislature regarding the tax credit if we cannot amend the ruling.

The board met on January 31st to review, discuss, and amend our legislative priorities and prep for our lobby day (Tuesday Feb 1). You can find our 2022 Legislative Priorities document on the NEAFA website. This year we stepped slightly outside of our normal process and collaborated with NEDPA, as well as NYDFA, on a few of the initiatives that collectively benefit the dairy industry in NYS. I applaud the board for their willingness to listen and adopt these initiatives as future priorities and discussion points with our legislature. The importance of demonstrating a unified front and the proof of our collaboration with other organizations benefits us all.

Additionally, at our meeting, we had the pleasure to hear from Dr. Richard Stup, of the Cornell Dyson School. Dr. Stup reviewed his program at Cornell and his involvement with providing the agricultural community tools and references for key discussions with our wage and labor board hearings, as well as NYS legislators.

John Mitchell gave us his first Executive Director report, and we could not be happier and more excited with how John has hit the ground running for us. His short term focus will be getting to know the board and our membership, and also the recruitment of new members to the alliance. We also discussed upcoming events such as the Herd Health and Nutrition Conference in April, as well as the NEAFA Annual Meeting and Golf for Goodworks, at Turning Stone Resort and Casino, to be held in June. I also gave a brief update and provided the board with the meetings I have been attending for the CAO – Empire State Council of Agricultural Organizations. The 29 member council collectively establishes positions for its members to develop a united effort on fundamental economic, social, legislative/regulatory and other state and national issues affecting agriculture in New York State. CAO is built on collective strength and policy statements that are unanimously adopted by its entire membership, representing numerous facets of New York’s agricultural industry

And in closing, thank you to Rick Zimmerman for coordinating and preparing for a very effective lobby day schedule, in cooperation with board members Corwin Holtz, Michael Howlett, Lon Stephens, Dr. Kristen Reed, myself, and our Executive Director John Mitchell on a virtual basis with 11 Senators, Assemblymen, and their staff. We were the first of many agricultural organizations lobbying on behalf of NYS agriculture, and we were very happy for the time given to us, along with an encompassing engaging dialogue, and presenting and offering solutions for the economic viability and sustainability of our farms.

Pro Dairy Hosts Two Day Webinar on Net Zero for NY Dairy

Taking place February 2nd and 3rd from 12:00-2:30 each day, Pro Dairy is hosting a free virtual conference on the Net Zero initiative, which is aimed to make the U.S. dairy industry carbon neutral and improving water usage and quality by 2050 (more information on that here).

The two day webinar will focus on what Net Zero means for dairy farmers, the facts surrounding dairy cattle and greenhouse gas emissions, what current and prospective farming technology and practices can be used to reduce GHG. Speakers include Frank Mitloehner, Karen Scanlon, Sara Place, Peter Wright, Quirine Ketterings, Tom Overton, and Christine Baes.

For more information or to sign up for the webinar, click here.

NY Farm Laborers Wage Board Hosts Hearings: NEAFA President Testifies

By Rick Zimmerman

The Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance weighed in on New York’s Farm Laborers Wage Board Hearings this month.  Established under the 2019 farm labor law, this Wage Board is empowered to render a recommendation to the Commissioner of Labor as to the level the overtime threshold should be pegged at, provided that it is no higher than the current 60 hours per week.  Unions are pushing for a 40-hour threshold and the farm community has been engaged in a multi-month campaign to keep 60 at 60.  Late last year, Labor Commissioner Reardon announced three Wage Board hearings for January.  Danielle Penny Stroop was one of dozens of farmers, farmworkers and industry leaders that took time to participate on one of three hearings.  Her testimony can be found here.

Post hearings, the three-person Wage Board will attempt to come to consensus around a recommendation.  However, this task will be difficult.  The Board is comprised of Denis Hughes, former president of the NY AFL-CIO, David Fisher, President of the NY Farm Bureau and Brenda Mc Duffy, Wage Board Chair, appointed by the Labor Commissioner.  Even though the overwhelming majority of hearing speakers testified in support of keeping 60 at 60, the political pressure to move to 40 hours overtime threshold is intense.  Despite the fact farmers testified and documented that they cannot afford time and a half wages beginning at 40 hours a week, union representatives repeat the cruel hoax that farmworkers will somehow earn as much at 40 hours as they do at 60.  Nothing can be further from the truth.

This issue promises to alter the face of New York agriculture.  The Wage Board can make the right decision and allow New York agriculture to remain economically viable in a competitive world market.  Or it can choose to add an additional economic burden onto the shoulders of New York’s hard-working farmers and farmworkers. Deciding to go to 40 hours would result in the killing of jobs, and it would force farm family businesses to grow crops that don’t require non-family labor, take acreage out of farm production for solar panels instead, or move their operations to another state.  Regardless, it will be the farmworkers that will lose the most.

Dairy Economic Outlook for 2022

Cornell University’s Dr. Chris Wolf, the E. V. Baker Professor of Agricultural Economics and Director of Land Grant Affairs recently answered some questions for NEAFA regarding the Dairy Economic Outlook for 2022 from NEAFA Vice President Jenny Mills.

1. What is your outlook on dairy economics in 2022?

2022 looks to be a strong milk price year. The US and other major dairy exporting countries saw milk production declines in the second half of 2021 while demand was strong. Actual farm profitability likely depends heavily on feed and labor costs. If farms have plentiful feed, they should see an above average year.

2. What are two or three main drivers behind your outlook?

The main drivers are the pandemic, weather, and geopolitics. The pandemic is constricting labor markets and clogging supply chains as people are affected directly by illness and indirectly by issues such as childcare. Weather is always an issue. Oceania milk production has recently been affected by weather. Weather will also affect corn and soybeans in North and South America in the year to come. Finally, the situation in Ukraine and Taiwan have the potential to affect dairy markets depending on sanctions and other effects.

3. Inflation continues to be a main topic with markets. What is your outlook on impact of inflation to dairy economics?

Inflation impacts depend on the consumer and firm situation. If farms can stay out of the cash market, they may be able to handle inflation related to feed. Labor costs are difficult to handle in the short-run. Longer-term incentives are to invest in labor-saving technology.


At the consumer level, inflation will be regressive, affecting the lowest income segments.

4. What are two to three key themes with opportunities with the dairy markets?  Are those global? 

New habits may have been formed during pandemic in terms of at home consumption. Incentives remain needed to market high component milk as full fat dairy products have been a growth area for the market.

5. What impacts will supply chain restrictions have on the dairy market outlook?

Even with the port challenges in 2021, large amounts of dairy products were exported. As ports work through these issues, exports might even improve in 2022. Domestically, the dairy industry will continue to struggle with finding employees, particularly milk truck drivers. This might make for friction for farm milk prices, but dairy product demand is very strong.

NY, VT, Legislatures Up and Running in New Year

By Rick Zimmerman and Margaret Laggis

State legislatures commenced for the 2022 session on the first week of January, and will operate for four to six months depending on the state.  In New York and Vermont, Governors Hochul (NY) and Scott (VT) delivered their State of the State address on the same day, and both offered optimistic outlooks towards the new year.  Now that the partying and platitudes are over, the respective state legislatures get down to the hard part of creating a budget and implementing their legislative agendas.  The push and pull between the Governor’s office and the legislature is an expected element in this democratic process.

In New York, Gov. Hochul offered three tax credits as a boost to New York farmers.  Doubling the workforce retention tax credit to $1200 per employee, and increasing the investment tax credit for farmers to help soften the blow of trying to farm in a high tax state such as New York.  In addition, Gov. Hochul proposed a tax credit to offset overtime wage payments to farmworkers if the overtime threshold falls below the current 60 hours per week.  This new, unorthodox approach to addressing a very controversial issue (see overtime article in this newsletter) is being evaluated by the agriculture community, while the Farm Laborers Wage Board continues its hearings on the overtime threshold question.

In the meantime, the proposed state budget for the new fiscal year beginning April 1, 2022, was released by the Governor’s office. Legislators, lobbyists, and special interest groups are plowing their way through hundreds of pages to see what the budget holds for the year.  Agricultural program priorities such as PRO-DAIRY, FarmNet, Farm Viability Institute, and Integrated Pest Management will receive time and attention from NEAFA and other agricultural trade associations to inform lawmakers of their funding priorities and encourage their support.  NEAFA will be lobbying for its priorities on February 1st.

The threat of pesticide bans, particularly neonicotinoids, remains high in New York. The State Senate passed legislation in 2021 that would ban the use of neonics as seed coatings and prevent their use in landscape and horticultural applications.  The bill died in the Assembly, but they may come back with their own version of a neonic ban following an eight-hour hearing on the issue last September.  In the meantime, farmers and their agribusiness partners continue to remind lawmakers that these important insecticides play a critical role in getting seedlings out of the ground.  

In Montpelier, unlike Albany, the State Capitol is not locked down to only lawmakers and their staff. The Vermont Statehouse is open to anyone, with the House in a hybrid situation where some members are in the building for committee meetings, but the majority are not. There are strict number limits for people in each committee room or the cafeteria. Floor sessions are all remote. The Senate remains remote. Zoom is the preferred virtual platform for communication with lawmakers, and NEAFA reps are making their presence known.

There are several policy issues coming the way of Vermont’s farmers, and most are positive. Vermont will use a portion of its Covid relief dollars to help support Vermont farmers in meeting water quality goals. They are also setting up the Pay for Performance program that will pay Vermont farmers to exceed regulatory standards on phosphorus reductions. There is also the Payment for Ecosystem Services program that may start in the next year or so. This is another opportunity for Vermont farmers to reap some benefit from all their hard work in being great caretakers of their land. The Task Force on the Future of Dairy in Vermont has laid out some plans that will help Vermont farmers take advantage of Covid relief dollars to pay for premiums and participate in risk management programs. This task force also recommended that the State look at ways to boost local manufacturing of dairy products. This can be done by locating subsidized or affordable housing near where manufacturing hubs exists, and by assist with automating some of those plants to help with the serious labor issues being faced by numerous industries. 

The House Agriculture committee is looking at Maine’s milk payment program to see if there is a way to create something similar that would work in the Green Mountain State.  Vermont continues to work on some creative immigration programs that might be able to ease current labor challenges. 

Executive Note: My Goals as Executive Director

As I step into the Executive Director position left by Rick Zimmerman, I want to take some time to lay out my goals to continue the fine work that NEAFA does on a daily basis. As I reflect on the prior year and look forward to what 2022 has to offer the agricultural community, five main goals come to mind for me at NEAFA.

My first goal is to maintain the involvement of the Board of Directors. It’s very apparent to me that we have an active board, and I want to make sure I don’t discourage that. I plan to connect with each director individually, and get their understanding of what’s going on. I want to encourage them to continue doing what they’re doing. I plan on being present at as many board and committee meetings as possible each month.

Secondly, I want to make sure that NEAFA continues to execute the strategic plan. There was a lot of energy put into making those pillars for the organization. Specifically, I want to help NEAFA reach its goals for collaboration with other organizations, while also providing more educational opportunities and having opportunities for more involvement from the membership.

Exiting Executive Director Rick Zimmerman has done a remarkable job. I’m very impressed with how he has run the organization. Working with other organizations in the Northeast such as NEDPA, NEAFA is having a very good discussion on how we can find opportunities to collaborate together to benefit the agricultural community and our members. We’re also working on national opportunities with continued collaboration with AFIA and NGFA.

Educationally speaking, NEAFA is looking forward to Pro Dairy’s herd health and nutrition conference in April, and its Net Zero Conference in early February. Pro Dairy is a high priority for us. It’s important for the dairy industry to have access to good solid information from a nutritional standpoint. Herd health and milk production is the most important thing, and having a grasp on where best to focus our efforts on those fronts is important. Whether that’s cow comfort, feed quality, or nutritional supplements. It’s important for our members to get the best and most current information out there, I would also like to see what interest the membership has in educational opportunities for our feed mills and ingredient suppliers.

My fourth goal is member involvement. I plan to reach out to our current, past, and new members individually and collectively to understand the value that they see in NEAFA. I want to ask each director to contact two members personally as well. The best sales people that we have are our directors because of their passion for what the organization does. They offer so much of their own time to meet the goals of the organization.

The last goal I have as Executive Director is to have fun. I don’t know if we talk enough about enjoying what we’re doing, but I want to bring that to our group., Our Annual Meeting in June at the Turning Stone is just such an opportunity when we can take a breath and enjoy the fact that we have a great industry and a lot of smart people working in it. We have serious business to do, but it’s also important to enjoy the things that we have going on around us. I look forward to working with NEAFA and spreading awareness of what a wonderful group of members that we have and the importance of what they do on a daily basis.