By Rick Zimmerman, NEAFA Executive Director
Advocacy is one of NEAFA’s three primary objective pillars and NEAFA leaders implemented this objective when spending time (virtually) in Montpelier and Albany. The Alliance was invited to present before Vermont’s House and Senate Agriculture Committees on February 17th and Governmental Relations Committee members Andy Dugan, John Clark and Art Whitman took the opportunity to brief the committees on agribusiness’s role in supporting Vermont’s dairy industry through feeding and nutrition recommendations driven by the latest animal science. Precision feeding and precision agriculture were addressed as well as the need for a PRO-DAIRY like program for Vermont dairy farmers. Alliance representatives referenced recent milk production statistics showing Vermont’s average milk production lagging behind comparable NY herds. One asset New York Dairy farmers have over their counterparts in Vermont is PRO-DAIRY.
NEAFA’s New York Lobby day will take place March 3rd with a series of Zoom appointments with Assembly and Senate lawmakers. Members of NEAFA’s Board of Directors and Governmental Relations Committee will spend a good part of their day zooming with legislators and their staff. The State Budget will be the primary topic, given there are several key programs, like PRO-DAIRY, FarmNet and the Farm Viability Institute, that require annual budget appropriations to keep them going and serving the agriculture community. Agriculture committee chairs, Assemblymember Donna Lupardo and Senator Michelle Hinchey, will be meeting with NEAFA members and we thank them for their support of NEAFA’s budget priorities.
The virtual meeting platform has proven to be a reasonable alternative to face-to-face meetings and will probably continue for the foreseeable future. We will continue to take advantage of this convenient platform to arrange future meetings with state lawmakers and their NEAFA member constituents.