By Rick Zimmerman
New York voters have spoken, and Kathy Hochul was elected Governor of New York for the next four years. Even though the gubernatorial contest proved to be closer than expected, the state’s metro regions demonstrated support for Hochul, elected to the position for the first time. In the meantime, NY voters had to figure out the new Senate and Assembly election districts to determine who their state representatives would be. When the votes were finalized, the State Senate Democratic majority declined by one seat, from 42 to 41, and the Assembly Democratic majority declined by six seats, from 107 to 101. Nevertheless, Democrats in both houses will maintain their super majority status and can override a Governor’s veto. These facts reflect the challenges agriculture faces in the effort to effectuate public policy.
Since 2018, when Democrats became the State Senate majority party, the ag lobby has been all hands-on deck defending bedrock programs and policies that create an environment essential for New York farmers to remain competitive with other agricultural regions in the U.S. and throughout the world. Fundamental policies that authorize or protect our ability to employ and support a skilled workforce, to utilize the latest technologies, to maintain and nurture our prime agricultural soils, and to limit our ability to maximize the production and use of low carbon biofuels, are examples of challenges significantly influenced by an imbalance in an urban / rural political power dynamic.
The farmworker overtime saga is the best example of what we are facing. New York farmers undertook a good faith effort in 2019 to find a compromise to the long-standing debate over collective bargaining and mandatory overtime. Given the new political dynamic of a Democratic majority in the Senate, we knew our best option was to find a compromise that could appropriately address the issues. The 60-hour overtime threshold was a huge concession by New York farmers and would have been the win-win for both sides. But the urban dominated legislative leadership undermined the effort at the last minute of negotiations. The Labor union supported legislative leaders ignored the good faith compromise by New York farmers and forced a 40-hour mandatory overtime standard. The Farm Laborers Wage Board “process” proved to be a convenient way to get the job done.
Climate change policies are another example of the imbalance. Rather than recognizing and celebrating the significant contributions New York agriculture offers to address climate change, the ag lobby is fighting against proposals that would restrict low carbon biofuels, such as biodiesel, renewable diesel and renewable natural gas, from being part of the climate change solution. Other states, such as California, are demonstrating the critical role low carbon biofuels play in their climate action solutions. Unfortunately, legislative leaders are unduly influenced by extreme environmental groups that have abandoned reasonable solutions for their ultimate goal: 100% electricity generated from renewable sources. It is clear to most climate science experts that carbon reduction goals cannot be reasonably obtained through 100% electricity and that agriculture brings many assets to address climate change. We must continue to push agriculture to the forefront with practical solutions to address our carbon reduction goals.
Pesticide policies represent another example of the rural / urban political imbalance. Banning pesticide use via legislative fiat has become politically popular despite the fact New York enjoys some of the toughest pesticide use regulations in the country and the program is managed by well trained professionals at DEC. These facts go by the wayside when majority legislators, representing urban districts, are convinced that their political future hangs in the balance over legislation banning agricultural pesticides. This scenario provides little room for reasoning and common sense to generate a rational solution.
Before 2018, the agriculture community could count on rural legislative leaders to assert balance to state policy proposals that threatened serious economic or social harm on New York’s agriculture community. If push came to shove, we knew that reasoned perspectives would prevail because rural legislative leaders understood and respected the agriculture community’s perspectives and could effectively intervene. This is not our reality anymore, and we must alter our tactics and approaches to the issues that promise to make it more difficult to farm in New York.
Here are some thoughts about successfully operating in the current political reality:
1. Build and strengthen our urban legislative connections. Obviously, this is not a new recommendation. But we need to take the effort to a new level that cements the connection of upstate food sources to downstate prosperity. The COVID 19 pandemic demonstrated the fragility of our food system and New York farmers stepped up in major ways to supply the food banks during this emergency. We must build off this good will, through ongoing relationship development efforts with downstate law makers, to strengthen the connection between feeding people nutritious, locally sourced food and the survival of NY’s family farms. Nurturing and maintaining a local food supply must be a high priority for all New York lawmakers.
2. Curate and elect rural legislative leaders that understand and will fight for the issues of critical importance to NY’s farm community. The cultivation of state lawmakers has not been at the top of our “to do” list, but we must be more intentional about this effort if we expect to see policies that support and nurture the agriculture industry.
3. Establish and support an active agricultural PAC. A PAC or political action committee is the legal instrument that would allow the agriculture community and its supporters to generate funds that could be contributed to local, state and national candidates willing to step up for New York’s agriculture community. Supporting political campaigns through a PAC sends a message to candidates that the ag community is serious about electing lawmakers who will actively support the industry. PACs don’t require a boat load of funds to be effective. Moreover, the act of establishing a PAC’s presence, and actively fundraising for the purpose of advancing New York’s agriculture industry sends a strong message that agriculture is present and engaged in the political process.
4. Continue to break down silos and build coalitions between the production, processing, marketing and retail sectors of the food and agriculture system. We all must be pulling together on the policy front to best serve New York and its 19 million consumers.
5. Continue to position the agriculture lobby as problem solvers for the challenges plaguing our state. The agriculture industry maintains a strong presence in our State’s capital, but times have changed, and new approaches are required to be effective in this advocacy business. By nature, farmers are problem solvers and, with a qualified team of professional and volunteer advocates, can be renown for the best public policy solutions. Together we can impress our urban based legislative leaders with policies that will assure a local food supply for their urban constituents.