Small Farms Update is intended as a resource for farmers and agricultural service providers in New York, and is provided to you by Cornell’s Small Farms Program. Our mission is to foster the sustainability of diverse, thriving small farms that contribute to food security, healthy rural communities, and the environment.
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Posted June 25th
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Are you a farmer or agriculture educator interested in renewable energy? The Small Farms Energy Work Team, a project of the Cornell Small Farms Program, invites you to a series of on-farm renewable energy field days located around New York in late July and early August. Come out and meet farmers that have installed small-scale solar, wind and hydro-power. Learn about grants, energy audits, and other energy resources available to farmers. Light refreshments will be provided. The Farm Renewable Energy Field Days are free and open to the public. Please pre-register by calling Violet Stone or Adrienne Masler at 607-255-9227, or send an e-mail to vws7@cornell.edu. We will provide you with directions.
Region: Northern NY, Clinton County
Saturday, July 25, 2009: 11am-1pm. Photovoltaics at Happy Haven Dairy Farm in Mooers, NY. The 12.6-kilowatt PV (solar electric) system installed by Gary and Connie Menard produces enough electricity to offset about 25 percent of their dairy farm’s annual energy needs. Assistance from The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the USDA helped to reduce the cost of the six arrays. For those times when the energy produced by the panels is greater than the needs of the farm, the excess flows into the utility grid. The Menard’s electric meter will literally run backwards at such times, giving them full retail value for that energy. Co-sponsored by Franklin County Cooperative Extension and the Cornell Small Farms Energy Work Team.
Region: Northern NY, Jefferson County
Thursday, July 30th, 2009. 10:00am-noon. Photovoltaics at Lilac Lawns Farm in Mannsville, NY. Dee McConnell, who maintains a 120-cow milking herd, will give us a tour of his 9600 watt photovoltaic panels. The panels were installed by Upstate Energy Solutions based in Ithaca, NY and are projected to produce 10% of Dee’s total electricity usage. Dee received an incentive from NYSERDA which covered 30% of the total cost. Co-sponsored by Jefferson County Cooperative Extension and the Cornell Small Farms Energy Work Team.
Region: Central New York, Schuyler County
Wednesday, August 5th. 10:00am – noon. Solar, Wind and Water Energy at On Warren Pond Farm in Trumansburg, NY. Sam Warren has generated his own electricity since the mid-1990s using solar panels, windmills, and a water wheel. On Warren Pond Farm is not connected to the utility grid; batteries store energy for later use as it is created. Sam built his own system from the ground up: he welded the water wheel and installed the windmill himself. He “financed” the solar panels by selling his 18-wheeler when he retired from trucking. Sam and sweetheart Jill Swenson raise American bison for breeding stock and fallow deer. Sponsored by the Cornell Small Farms Energy Work Team.
Region: Southern Tier, Steuben County
Thursday, August 6th, 2009. 10:00am – noon. Solar Powered Watering System in Pulteney, NY. Come out and see Bob and Marylou Bondi’s solar powered watering system installed for their heritage livestock operation. The watering system supplies water to herds on both sides of a county highway complete with holding tanks and troughs with demand triggering floats. The farm also has a pond water reservoir which plumbs below the frost line to a pasture hydrant using only gravity. Bob and Marylou were one of 12 farms to be reimbursed 50% of the cost of the solar powered pump with assistance from NYSERDA through RC&D. Bob and Marylou also received a NYS Historic Barn Grant to help restore the A-frame and Gambrell barns on their 200 year old farm. Co-sponsored by the Fingerlakes NY RC&D and the Cornell Small Farms Energy Work Team.
Photo1: Robert Bondi poses with his new solar-powered livestock watering system. Bondi received an incentive from NYSERDA which covered 50% of the cost. Photo provided by Dick Winnett, Fingerlakes NY RC&D.
Photo2: Windmill installed by Sam Warren at On Warren Pond Farm. Sam Warren has generated his own electricity since the mid-1990s using solar panels, windmills, and a water wheel. Photo by Sam Warren and Jill Swenson.
Photo3: Attendees to a 2007 field day at Happy Haven Farm look over information about Photovoltaics. Photo by Richard Gast, CCE Franklin County.
