By Jenny Mills, NEAFA President
College graduations, crop planting and capitol happenings seem to be the theme in May – another month quickly passes with some long hours in the field as well as the halls of our state legislatures.
The state budget in New York was passed this past month. There are many positive restorations and increases in funding to many programs critical to agriculture – thank you to each of you who lobbied, spoke with your legislators, and worked with allied groups to make sure programs such as PRO-Dairy, NY Farm Viability Institute, the Investment Tax Credit for Farmers and Cornell Farm Labor Specialist remain intact. Major changes to minimum wage and fossil-fuel equipment used in new buildings were also included in the final budget. Please read details in the Budget article written by Julie Marlette from Hinman Straub.
A small group from NEAFA and Hinman Straub spent May 16 visiting NY legislators and the Governor’s office. We had a packed day, with appointments just about every half hour! We met with several legislators from downstate, including the Senator’s office that sponsored the Neonic ban bill. We worked to educate these legislators on the importance of technology and choice for our producers. We also discussed and thanked the legislators for their support in conjunction with the Governor’s office leadership on Fairlife’s announcement of the $260M facility slated to be built in Webster, NY. This plant is planned to be the largest of its kind in New York, with rough estimates of processing 50,000 cows’ worth of milk per day into a portfolio of value added products. A welcomed positive message and economic development for our dairy industry! Our lobby days, both virtual and in-person would not be possible without the organization of the staff at Hinman Straub. I wanted to make a shout out to the team at Hinman, led by Julie Marlette, of not only leading successful lobbying efforts, but also for helping keep NEAFA aware of legislation working through committees. Hinman’s relationships in Albany have helped us further our messages and support the agricultural agenda. Thank you!
Looking forward, we are excited to see you at our Annual Golf for Good Works event to be held on Tuesday August 22, with a reception to be held Monday evening August 21 at the Turning Stone Resort in Verona, NY. Great golf combined with a first-class networking event are in store again for this year. Please note, due to the many conflicts that our June date posed with graduations, we pivoted this event to hopefully accommodate your schedule! A big shout out to Sue Van Amburgh who works so much behind the scenes to make sure these events happen, as well as keeping our board organized. We are already planning for our Annual Meeting in 2024 – stay tuned for dates and themes!
I look forward to seeing you soon – Happy Spring, enjoy and celebrate the many graduations, stay safe in the fields, and continue to advocate in our state capitols and with many industry happenings!