By Jenny Mills and Charlie Elrod, NEAFA President and Vice President
Summer is in full swing; it is gratifying to see the many advocacy efforts so many in agriculture make during this busy season. From dairy promotion efforts at local grocery stores to educating consumers at the county fair about how producers care for their cattle, the environment and nutritional benefits of animal protein, local education of consumers is important. As the summer closes out, I encourage you to consider volunteering at the Dairy Cow Birthing Center at the NYS Fair – spending a day or two with consumers at this venue educating on modern farming practices is invigorating!
To help develop the next generation of agriculture advocates, NEAFA hosts the Golf for Good Works event annually. This year, the golf event, held at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, NY will kick off with a reception on Monday August 19 with the golf event to follow on Tuesday August 20. Thank you to the many sponsors who have supported the event already. We hope you can join us! We will have special guests representing youth who have been a part of Good Works sponsored programs plus collaborators from Cornell. Please get your team (or sign up individually and we will find you a team!) here:
The Good Works fund is used to help support programs throughout the Northeast that link youth to agriculture and have an educational component to them. In addition, four $1000 scholarships are awarded annually in February to graduating high school seniors pursuing a career in agriculture. These scholarships are managed by the FFA but any Senior in high school in any Northeastern state can apply and applicants do not need to be FFA members. Some of the groups that have received support from the Good Works program include:
4-H Junior Dairy Leaders Program
4-H Foundation
FFA Foundation
NY Animal Agriculture Coalition Birthing Center at the NYS Fair
NY Holstein Spring Dairy Carousel judging contest
New England Spring Show judging contest
New England Green Pastures Program
4-H Dairy Judging Teams from several states
Northeast Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge
Cornell University Alliance for Science
Vermont State Dairy 4-H
Several Collegiate Dairy Judging Teams
LEAD NY
Maine 4-H Foundation
Clinton County Farm Bureau – Day on the Farm
Cornell Dairy Fellows Program
Oakfield Corners Dairy - Growing Through Showing Program
Morrisville College Showmanship and Feeding Clinic
Vermont Breakfast on the Farm
Since its inception, the Good Works program has awarded over $135,000 to these great youth organizations. The Good Works committee reviews requests quarterly – please let us know if you would like to serve on this committee! The sole source of funding for Good Works is our annual golf tournament. We hope to see you August 19 and 20 at the Turning Stone to reconnect and raise funds for developing our future agriculture advocates!
Speaking of advocacy, our legislative session has wrapped up but there is still lots of activity in Albany and Montpelier. NEAFA is excited to collaborate with fellow industry groups to develop a list of issues to discuss with legislators and the executive chamber this fall in various state houses. We are drafting a list of issues – thank you to members who have reached out with ideas to us. If you have ideas for issues, please reach out to Eric Reid (Government Relations Committee Chair). Check out the legislative updates for the latest on key issues.
Advocacy work within NEAFA starts with our committees. We appreciate the many hours of volunteering by all our members on committees – our current committees are listed at Committees — NEAFA— Northeast Agribusiness and Feed Alliance (northeastalliance.com). If you are interested in joining a committee or have questions, please reach out. Your voice matters!
As summer starts to wind down, we look forward to seeing you at the Golf for Good Works tournament in a few weeks! Thank you for all your support for NEAFA advocacy!