By Danielle Penney-Stroop, NEAFA President
For members that missed NEAFA President Danielle Penney-Stroop’s speech at the 2022 Annual Meeting or would like a chance to read it again after the event, please read on below.
So here we are again… back at the Turning Stone Resort, ten months since our last annual meeting. Thank you all for your membership, support, and most of all for attending our events. We all work very hard to bring our members a valuable and worthwhile experience.
First, I would also like to extend a special thank you to the backbone of our organization, Sue VanAmburgh, as well as Interim ED John Mitchell, Legislative Director Rick Zimmerman, Past President John Clark, Conventions Committee Chair Mark Anderson, and the Conventions Committee for all the hours you have invested in this year’s annual meeting.
Last Year, our theme was “Resilience,” and ironically our theme this year is – “Strength in Numbers – A Unified Voice.” Given the current circumstances over the past couple of days, I know both themes resonate still, and most importantly both are a necessity for our industry. Strength in numbers- A unified voice. Sit back and think about that for a few moments as I review the past ten months.
NEAFA is a seventeen member board with one Executive Director, John Mitchell; one Legislative Director, Rick Zimmerman; and Sue VanAmburgh our administrative wrangler and go to for everything! Since last August, this is our sixth time meeting as board. We had three guest speakers. Louis Calderwood, of AFIA, Dr Chris Wolf of Cornell University, and Dr Richard Stup of Cornell University.
NEAFA has ten committees that are comprised of approximately seventy-five people that typically gather a minimum of once a quarter, volunteering their time and effort to complete a multitude of initiatives directed from the board and our membership
This past year we amended our Mission Statement –
“The mission of the Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance is to support and grow a sustainable agribusiness industry in the Northeast.”
We also updated our Value statements, incorporating -
Integrity / Trust
Sustainability
Cooperation
Educating / Learning
Leadership
Credibility
Diversity and Inclusion
Last year as I stood in this same spot, I promised you, our members, that we would continue to focus on our pillars of Advocacy, Collaboration, and Education.
During our strategic meeting last July, the board determined that stronger collaboration was necessary for our consolidating dairy industry. Through the NEDPA lead initiative we participated in the first ever New York Dairy Roundtable, in Johnstown NY, in early November. This event had approximately eighty participants and attendees, and focused on the NY Dairy Outlook, a Producer panel on the Opportunities and Challenges of Farming In NYS, a Milk Haulers Panel from their perspective on opportunities and bottlenecks, the Processors and Marketing of Dairy Products Panel with their challenges and opportunities, and finally, the Dairy Circle and how our industries and communities rely on one another.
This successful event, along with the commitment and ambition from our board, has led to further engagement and a series of meetings amongst NEAFA, NYDFA, and NEDPA. It was noted that all three groups are looking for opportunities to work together on legislative issues, since many of our respective issues overlap. We decided to share our legislative priority documents and identified areas that we could partner on.
Rick Zimmerman will expand on these initiatives more, but they also bear repeating and are significant.
In Vermont: To foster our working relationship with Vermont lawmakers, Margaret Laggis organized zoom conversations with House and Senate Agriculture Committee members and NEAFA leaders. Our leaders briefed lawmakers on the pressing issues of our industry, including supply chain/ transportation issues, neonics and seed treatments, and labor availability.
In Massachusetts: NEAFA collaborated with the Massachusetts Farm Bureau and the National Pork Producers Association. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources hosted a regulatory hearing, based on the 2016 law, (which was passed by a ballot initiative), mandating housing requirements for veal, hogs, poultry. The regulations are supposed to implement the law that will eliminate certain farm animal confinement practices. Further, the law stipulates that any pork, veal, or poultry product sold into MA must follow similar practices. It was our goal to bring common sense and reasonableness to this conversation.
In Maine: NEAFA, AFIA, and the Pet Food Institute collaborated on the Maine budget debate and a proposal to increase feed registration fees. The proposal would increase the annual fee for each bagged feed product sold in Maine by $20.00 (currently at $80.00), and use the revenue from this action to fund an animal welfare program. The revenue raised from the increased pet food fees would fund a spay neuter program. Aside from that issue, NEAFA launched an action request, to our members selling into Maine, to send letters to the Governor. In addition, I signed a letter to the Governor encouraging her to veto this bill as an unnecessary tax on farmers at a time they can least afford it.
In early Feb, NEAFA engaged with 10 of New York’s State Senators and assemblymembers, as well as NYS Deputy Secretary of Food and Agriculture, where we reviewed our 2022 Legislative Priorities. Largely the budget passed with the focus on agricultural programs that NEAFA supported and endorsed.
To highlight a few of our other NEAFA accomplishments -
We were an integral member of the Grow NY Farms Coalition, fighting the overtime threshold from the Wage and Labor Board.
NEAFA, NYDFA, and NEDPA sent a letter to Mayor Adams about his proposed vegan agenda in NYC institutions highlighting the need for choice.
NEAFA, along with NEDPA, supported the Happy the Elephant Case (more to come from Rick Zimmerman).
Due to a strong collaborative effort from the agriculture and ornamental horticulture communities, we successfully stopped the Hoylman bill from passing the Senate. Against the odds, we created a political incentive for the Senate leadership to hold the bill. This bill would have banned the use of neonics as seed treatments on corn, soybean and wheat (don’t think much wheat seed is being treated these days) which would have cause havoc in raising a viable crop.
NEAFA is exploring the possibility of a NYS agricultural economic development/impact study with Cornell, and working on it with Todd Schmidt.
NEAFA is a Member of the CAO - twenty-nine agricultural organizations/members in NYS where we met dozen of times this past year. We ratified initiatives for all of the ag community throughout the state
I just spent last few minutes reviewing/rambling about the many issues and initiatives the Board and I have spent time addressing for you, our members, as well as our producers, and honestly the general consumer (that they have no idea about, the least informed of all). We need active participation and membership at all levels in all our agricultural organizations. I hope that I have properly demonstrated the collective need of collaborating with our industry partners to achieve our goals and to remain an agricultural powerhouse in the Northeast.
Additional food for thought, NEDPA leadership is in agreement that collectively our organizations aren’t stepping outside of agricultural safe zone during our lobbying efforts and largely that we are preaching to the choir. Don’t get me wrong, it’s something that we most certainly need to do. However, it is in all of our best interests to somehow make a greater effort to have outreach to legislative members that has little familiarity and exposure to our world. We need to cross party lines, invest in educating downstate legislators, and speak the WHY and HOW we do what we do. I participated this year in Assemblyman Chris Tagues Upstate Farm Tour Series. It was so powerful, and we need more than just what Chris is doing. What can you do to highlight and showcase your agricultural business and what you do? How can NEAFA support you in your initiatives? Let us collectively help you.
The Transportation committee has identified an industry need, and we are taking the reigns on that as an opportunity for education and collaboration with Ag and Markets, NEDPA, and NYDFA with a transportation summit or forum this fall. Stay tuned for details… this will address all facets of supply chain and commodities via freight, Rail, and Ocean. More details to come.
It has been an interesting and whirlwind first year as President of your organization. I would like to thank everyone for the feedback and support throughout. This is just the beginning… we have more work ahead at not only being resilient, but delivering our unified voice through Strength in Numbers. Thank YOU!