Jan Beglinger, Agriculture Outreach Coordinator
Phone: 585-343-3040 ext. 132
E-mail: jmb374@cornell.edu
Barb Sturm, Ag In The Classroom Educator
Phone: 585-343-3040 ext. 122
E-mail: bbs28@cornell.edu
Kimberly Amey, Administrative Assistant
Phone: 585-343-3040 ext. 123
E-mail: kln26@cornell.edu
Amy Berry, Administrative Assistant
Phone: 585-343-3040 ext. 101
E-Mail: ame29@cornell.edu
Or stop by Cornell Cooerative Extension of Genesee County at 420 East Main Street, Batavia, NY 14020. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Click HERE to see more of what Cooperative Extension has to offer.
This service provides subscribers with up-to-date information on trends in the agricultural sector by utilizing research-based knowledge from Cornell University.
Educational programs are provided by the Northwestern New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops Program Team and the Cornell Vegetable Program Team.
For more information and a brochure call Cornell Cooperative Extension of Genesee County at (585) 343-3040 ext. 126, stop by the Extension Center located at 420 East Main St. in Batavia, or download the form below.
Providing high quality, research-based agricultural information to the citizens of Genesee County.
Welcome to the Rural Tax Education website. This website provides farmers and ranchers, other agricultural producers and Extension educators with a source for agriculturally related income and self-employment tax information that is both current and easy to understand.
Tax issues are important for agricultural operations because income and self-employment taxes are a major cost and also because more and more USDA programs are being linked to a producer’s federal income tax return.
Ag Districts
Farmland Protection
Smart Growth Plan
Grant Funding Available for Projects to Reduce Soil Erosion and Protect Water Quality
Contact SWCD staff at 585-343-2362.
Article 20 of the New York State Agriculture and Markets Law (AML) requires farm product dealers to be licensed. The law provides financial protection for producers against nonpayment for their products sold to licensed dealers from the dealer’s security and the Agricultural Producers Security Fund.
Your Responsibilities as a Producer:
Do business with a licensed dealer.
Do not continue to sell products to a dealer who has failed to make timely payments.
File a claim when a dealer has failed to make timely payments.
To be eligible for coverage, all claims must be filed no later than 365 days after the sale and delivery of the farm product, but in no event, beyond the expiration of the 30-day period provided in the notice published by the Department. Claim forms may be obtained by contacting the Department at 1-800-554-4501 or by downloading the forms from the Department’s website at: www.agmkt.state.ny.us/programs/apsf.html
For more information download the brochure Ag Producers Security Program.
Here you will find information about the number one industry in Genesee County - Agriculture. Whether you are looking for what to buy in season, careers in agriculture, events that are coming up or interested in starting your own farm operation this is the place to be.
Cooperative Extension of Genesee County provides equal program and employment opportunities.
Click HERE to return to the main CCE of Genesee County website.
NY Berry News Special Frost Protection Edition.
http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/nybn/
Table of Contents for Volume 11 Number 3b, March 26, 2012
*Frost Warning*
Monitoring Local Weather Conditions - Cathy Heidenreich
Weather 101: Understanding Frost - Art DeGaetano
Berry Crop Developmental Stages
Critical Spring Temperatures - Mark Longstroth
Protecting Berry Plantings from Frost Damage
Dairy Producers Reminded of MILC Program
(Syracuse, NY), March 02, 2012 — The New York Farm Service Agency would like to remind dairy producers of some important program eligibility requirements for payment under the Milk Income Loss Contract program (MILC). FSA State Executive Director James Barber says dairy prices may authorize potential MILC payments, but all dairy producers need to be aware of the program requirements should those conditions arise.
Dairy operators currently enrolled in MILC, need to notify the local county office if there have been any changes to their dairy operation.
If a payment rate is announced, dairy producers enrolled in the MILC program will need to provide the local county office with documentation showing the eligible milk production and commercial milk marketing for the months with a MILC payment rate in effect.
When producers enroll in MILC, a payment start month is selected. This month remains the same through all program years, unless a change is requested by the dairy. Dairy producers are allowed to change their start month an unlimited number of times throughout their enrollment in MILC provided that the changes are requested timely.
MILC program participants are also required to comply with FSA's Adjusted Gross Income requirements each fiscal year. This certification, on a CCC-931, must be completed prior to a payment being disbursed.
New dairies that have not previously participated in the MILC program will need to fill out the CCC-580, Milk Income Loss Contract.
2012 DCP/ACRE Sign Up
Syracuse, NY January 31, 2012 - USDA New York Farm Service Agency (FSA) New York State Executive Director James Barber reminds producers enrollment for Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) Program or the traditional Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) began January 23 and runs through June 1.
"Farmers in New York who are interested in enrolling in these programs need to add this important deadline to their list of ‘must do’ jobs,” Barber said. "Producers should contact the local county office to set up appointments."
Annual contracts are required to be signed to receive program benefits. All signatures of producers receiving a share in DCP and ACRE payments are required by June 1, 2012.
For more information about DCP and ACRE programs or other FSA programs, contact your county FSA office and visit the state FSA website at: www.fsa.usda.gov.
H-2A Labor Handbook Available On-line
Rep. Slaughter's office offers helpful guide
The Department of Labor has released an Employer Handbook for employers anticipating filing an H-2A application for this coming season.
In a message from Rep. Louise Slaughter's office, improving the H-2A experience for local farmers has been something Congresswoman Slaughter has worked on for years, and has made progress with in 2010.
This Handbook was created in response to feedback and questions the DOL has received in recent years, and addresses many frequently asked questions.
A meeting Congresswoman Slaughter held this July with northeast growers, Members of Congress and the DOL contributed to the Department's efforts to answer common questions growers have about the H-2A agricultural guest worker program.
To download the handbook, please click here:
Agricultural Census set for 2012
The USDA Agricultural Census takes place every five years. The next census will be taken in 2012. Agricultural data from the USDA Agricultural Census provides quantitative information for many government commodity and other programs that NY’s farm community is dependent on. Sign up by visiting https://www.agcounts.usda.gov/cgi-bin/counts
EPA proposes new NPDES CAFO reporting rule
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposed reporting rule that would require concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to submit basic operational information to EPA so the agency can more effectively carry out its CAFO permitting programs and ensure that CAFOs are implementing practices to protect water quality and human health.
Under the proposed rule, EPA is co-proposing two regulatory options regarding which CAFOs would be required to submit information to the EPA. One option would require every CAFO to report this information to EPA, unless states with authorized NPDES programs choose to provide this information on behalf of the CAFOs in their state. A second option would require CAFOs in focus watersheds that have water quality concerns to report information to EPA.
The proposed rule will be open for public comment for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register. The Agency plans to take final action on this proposal by July 2012.
EPA pushes back SPCC deadline to May 2013.
Because of the overwhelming amount of severe weather throughout the country in the spring and summer of 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amended the date by which farms must prepare or amend and implement their Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plans, to May 10, 2013.
Farms in operation before Aug. 16, 2002, are still expected to have a plan in place and continue to implement it, but farms that came into operation after that date have until the new deadline to prepare and implement an SPCC plan.
Earlier this year, milk tanks and piping were exempted from this rule, but farms that store, transfer, use or consumes oil or oil products (ie, diesel fuel, gasoline, lube oil, crop oil, vegetable oil, animal fat, etc.) and store more than 1,320 gallons in aboveground containers or more than 42,000 gallons in buried containers, must comply. The new deadline does not relieve farms from the liability of any oil spills that occur. For more information, visit www.epa.gov/osweroe1/content/spcc/index.htm.
New York Fresh Vegetables Value Ranks 6th in Nation
The value of all New York vegetable production in 2010 totaled $409 million, according to King Whetstone, Director of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office.
New York is fifth in the nation in area harvested and sixth in value of principal fresh market vegetables. The value of the Empire State’s principal fresh market vegetables totaled $361 million this year. Fresh market production in 2010 was estimated at 14.2 million hundredweight (cwt.). Planted acreage increased from 68,230 acres in 2009 to 69,890 acres in 2010. Processing vegetables were valued at $47.6 million in 2010 and production totaled 245 thousand tons.
NY onion yields averaged 325 cwt. per acre, down from 2009. Year 2010 production is estimated at 3.32 million cwt., down from 2009. Value is down 20% to a total of $54.2 million. NY’s fresh market cabbage production for 2010, estimated at 4.34 million cwt., is up from 2009’s production of 3.42 million cwt. New York ranked second in the nation for fresh market cabbage production in 2010.
Fresh market sweet corn acreage was up in 2010. A total of 22,800 acres were harvested, a 6% increase from last year. Yields increased from 100 cwt. per acre in 2009 to 120 cwt. per acre in 2010. Total value was at $71.1 million, up 22% from last year. NY is ranked third in the nation on value of the 2010 New York fresh market snap bean crop, at $39.2 million. Harvested acres remained at 6,700 acres. Yield increased from 40 cwt. per acre to 70 cwt. per acre. Total production was 469,000 cwt., up 75% from last year due to higher yields. Pumpkins showed a value of $35.1 million, first in the nation. There were 6,800 acres harvested for a production of 1.46 million cwt. Value of production in 2010 increased 61% from 2009.
HIRE A LONG TERM UNEMPLOYED PERSON AND RECEIVE HELP TO OFFSET TRAINING COSTS
The Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, Wyoming (GLOW) Workforce has funds to help you train new employees!
The National Emergency Grant On-The-Job Training (NEG OJT) is an opportunity for businesses to get reimbursed (50% or more) for wages of new employees who are being trained.
• Business must be for Private for Profit or Not-For-Profit
• New Employees/Trainees for the program must be Long Term. Dislocated Workers are defined as those who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more since 1/1/08 or after
• Help finding eligible candidates for your open positions
• Wage Reimbursement to a business of 50% or more hourly rate
• Length of training could last up to six months
To learn more, please contact: Michele Nichols at 585-344-2042 x239 or email mnichols@co.genesee.ny.us
ROPS Retrofits
Convenient, up-to-date Web guide to ROPS retrofits now available online: Farmers and technicians can determine ROPS availability by tractor make and model.
Used in combination with a seatbelt, rollover protective structures (ROPS) have been shown to be 98% effective in preventing death and serious injury in the event of a tractor overturn. Nevertheless, more than a third of tractors in use today – and perhaps as many as 50 percent in Kentucky -- still do not have these lifesaving structures. To help farmers locate retrofit ROPS for older tractors and even gray market tractors (i.e., non-U.S. made tractors imported without manufacturer authorization), Dr. Mark Purschwitz and colleagues in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture have developed The Kentucky ROPS Guide, now available online at http://www.ca.uky.edu/rops.
The new online Guide is designed for farmers, dealers, and technicians not only in Kentucky but also throughout the United States and Canada. It enables users to quickly determine what ROPS are available for which tractors, which companies supply retrofit ROPS, and how and where to obtain these ROPS.
“The Kentucky ROPS Guide,” said Dr. Purschwitz, “offers full search capability that enables any tractor owner, equipment dealer or technician to determine the availability, source, and acquisition procedures for retrofit ROPS for any domestic or imported agricultural tractor in the United States for which a retrofit is available. The days of searching through scattered computer records and paperwork are over.”
Several features of the new online guide are particularly user friendly. Notably, the Guide
• can be searched simply by selecting a tractor make and model number
• provides timely information about ROPS suppliers, ROPS types, and how to order
• includes makes and models of “gray market” tractors, particularly Japanese compact tractors, frequently being sold in the U.S. market today
A 1977 agricultural engineering graduate of Purdue University (PhD, Agricultural Mechanization, 1989), Dr. Purschwitz is an Extension Professor and Agricultural Safety and Health Specialist in the UK College of Agriculture, Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. Development of The Kentucky ROPS Guide was supported by the Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention, University of Kentucky College of Public Health, through CDC/NIOSH Cooperative Agreement U50 OH007547-07S1.
When submitting samples directly to Agro-One, please request the Cornell recommendation; otherwise, you may receive no recommendation - just results.
Agro One has pick-up points for samples located across the Northeast. These may be used for sending soil samples to the Agro-One lab in Ithaca, NY at no charge. Samples will be delivered to the lab the morning after they are picked up. Contact information for Agro-One is available at the website: (http://www.dairyone.com/AgroOne/default.htm ). Calls can be made to Agro-One at 1-800-496-3344 or 607-257-1272.
Pick-up points: (as of Dec. 22, 2009)
Pavilion
10892 North Lake Rd.
Pavilion, NY
Contact: Paul Embt
Phone: 607-330-5745
Mt. Morris
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Livingston County
158 Main St.
Mt. Morris, NY
Contact: Joe Summers
Phone: 585-813-4273
Warsaw
3896 Buck Rd.
Warsaw, NY
Contact: Robert Todd
Phone: 585-786-8799
Check the website for updated pick-up sites. http://www.dairyone.com/AgroOne/sample_pick_up_points.htm