The Small Farms Work Team on Livestock Processing Issues invites you to a presentation and discussion by Clarence Davis, Meat and Poultry Inspection Supervisor, Division of Food Safety and Inspection, NY State Dept. of Ag & Markets to learn the latest rules in processing and marketing poultry in New York. The presentation will take place on January 14th at 9:30am and be available via polyconference at Cooperative Extension sites around New York.
If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, the presentation will benefit you: Are you a 5A facility confused about which poultry exemption you should select to fit your marketing needs? Are you an educator trying to help others understand the exemptions? Are you a market manager needing to know the requirements for selling poultry at your market? Are you raising your own birds and confused about the regulations for processing or marketing? Are you looking into building a 5A poultry processing facility and needing information on building design and requirements?
Topics include:
5-A exemptions and what each exemption entails
5-A facility requirements.
The Producer/Grower 20,000 Bird Limit Exemption.
Labeling and tagging requirements.
Poultry exemption survey results.
Multiple licensing at Article 5-A Slaughterhouses.
Requirements for multiple licensing at Article 5-A Slaughterhouses. Application to USDA FSIS for exception to the exemption (to allow processing of other producer's birds)
Revision of the Article 5-A License application.
Confirmed poly-conference sites participating include: CCE Albany County, CCE Orange County, CCE Oneida County, CCE Cortland County, and CCE Allegany County.
There is no cost to attend but each site requests that you contact them in advance so that they can make sure to provide sufficient seating. CCE Albany (Tom Gallagher, 518-765-3500), CCE Allegany (Lynn O'Brien,
585-268-7644 ext. 18), CCE Cortland (Heather Birdsall, 607-753-5077), CCE Oneida (Marty Broccoli, 315-736-3394) and CCE Orange (Audrey Reith, 845-344-1234).
Contact your local Cornell Cooperative Extension office to see if
poly-conferencing is available or plan on attending at one of these confirmed sites.
Sponsored by NYSDAM, the Cornell Small Farms Program, NY Small Farms Work Team on Livestock Processing Issues and Cornell Cooperative Extension
Posted January 12th, 2009
The NY Beginning Farmer Project announces the next round of online courses designed to help plan new farm enterprises.
Starting Feb. 18, *Taking Stock: Evaluating Your Resources and Choosing an Enterprise* is 5 weeks long. The second course, *Marketing and Profits: Making Money Selling What You Grow*is 6 weeks long and begins March 18. Both courses are designed to stand alone, or build on each other by being taken back-to-back. They will be taught by educators from Cornell Cooperative Extension, and both courses will incorporate real-time interaction with webinars.
Register soon as space is limited. Cost is $100 per course or $150 for both. See http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/chenango/agriculture/BegFarmCourse.htm for computer requirements and registration details.
The Cornell Small Farms Program and NE SARE are pleased to co-sponsor a 2009 Cornell Swine School session designed specifically for the small farm. Titled, “Pursuing Profit in Small Production”, this all day Saturday session will be held March 21, 9am – 4pm at Morrison Hall, on the Cornell University campus.
For those of us who want to operate more than just a hobby farm, profit is an important goal. The trick is accomplishing that goal without sacrificing personal values. In an era of commercialized agricultural production, the challenge of realizing this goal and maintaining our values is compounded when there is a void of information and suitable models. The purpose of this workshop is to provide some of that missing information.
Morning Session includes:
Afternoon Sessions include either a visit to the Cornell Swine Farm with Karl Roneker, Manager, and Dr. Tro Bui, Swine Specialist, or an open discussion on various small farm swine topics.
Space is limited and registration is on a first come, first served basis. To register, contact Dr. Tro Bui, 607-255-4505 or tvb2@cornell.edu. The early registration fee is $5.00 (checks made out to Cornell University) if received by March 13, 2009., At-door fee is $15.00. Fee’s include lunch.
Posted March 12th, 2009
ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell University is launching an innovative, online video series that will help agricultural entrepreneurs successfully launch new farms in New York State. Produced by the NY Beginning Farmer Project with support from the Cornell Small Farms Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the NY Farm Viability Institute, the video series, titled, “Voices of Experience,” covers essential topics such as financing farm start-up, marketing, profitability, and goal setting, to name just a few. The ‘voices of experience’ in the series are actual farmers who have successfully started their own farm business.
“Every new farmer should have a peer mentor to go to for help. But as a starting point this series of videos offers new farmers some incredibly valuable but more generalized peer wisdom, “ said Erica Frenay, NY Beginning Farmer Project Coordinator at Cornell’s Small Farms Program. “It is so powerful to hear advice coming directly from people who have been through the adventure of starting their own farm business.” Voices of Experience online videos are available at the Beginning Farmer Project Web site: www.nybeginningfarmers.org
Posted July 5th, 2009
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 SysteminPulteney, NY. Come out and seeBob 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.
Posted August 10th, 2009
The Cornell Small Farms Program and NE SARE are pleased to co-sponsor "Creative Agriculture: Approaches to Sustainability on the Farm" on August 19 - 20, 2009 at the Inn on the Lake, Canandaigua, NY. Hosted by the Finger Lakes Sustainable Farming Center, this conference showcases creative ideas and practices in the Finger Lakes Region of New York to inspire the work of agriculture professionals and farmers in the Northeast.
This conference is directed to everyone directly affiliated with agriculture: Extension, NRCS, SWCD, and other agriculture service agency personnel, farmers, land use professionals, community developers, and sustainability advocates throughout the Northeast. We have invited a wide array of farm managers and food system business people to present their ideas and describe what they do, why they do it and what they are working for in the future. You should come away from this conference with a new look at sustainable farming, with ideas you can put to work right away. Conference highlights include:
• Two farmer-led panels and participant discussions, featuring eight producers sharing their personal approaches and philosophies about sustainability.
• Sustainable agriculture perspectives: “Farm Size and Sustainable Agriculture in the Northeast” with John Noble, Synergy, LLC and Matthew Harbur, Sustainable Agriculture author and consultant
• Dinner speaker: David Corsi, Vice President of Produce for Wegmans Food Markets
• Day-long bus tours to regional farms and agriculture businesses
exemplifying sustainable practices in production, marketing, distribution, and soil management. Tour stops include Randall-Standish Vineyards and Arbor Hill Winery, Wegmans Organic Farm, the NY Wine and Culinary Center, Hemdale Farms, Lakeview Organic Grains, Fox Run Vineyards, and Gale-Wyn Farm.
• Finger Lakes Wine Reception and meals featuring locally-sourced foods.
Conference information and registration forms are available on-line at www.FingerLakesSustainableFarming.org
Conference fee: $130 includes all meals, tours, wine reception, and written materials. Lodging arranged separately by conference participants. Lodging: Conference lodging is available right at the Inn on the Lake in Canandaigua at a special rate if you explain you are with this conference. Additional lodging information at www.visitfingerlakes.com Conference information and registration forms also available on-line at
www.FingerLakesSustainableFarming.org
The Fingerlakes Sustainable Farming Center is a collaboration of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario, Yates, and Seneca Counties. Additional support is given from the Finger Lakes Resource Conservation and Development Council.
For more small farm news, visit www.smallfarms.cornell.edu. For information about sustainable agriculture grant opportunities in the Northeast, visit www.nesare.org
Posted September 23, 2009
Are you a new or aspiring farmer who would like some guidance in the development of a farm enterprise, but has been unable to locate or attend any trainings near you? Are you comfortable enough with a computer to consider learning online?
Cornell Cooperative Extension and the NY Beginning Farmer Project have created two basic online
courses to help you think through the major factors related to farm start-up. Join experienced
CCE educators and 29 of your new farmer peers in a dynamic learning experience that incorporates
both self-paced readings and real-time virtual meetings with discussion forums, presentations by
successful farmers, homework activities, and developing a customized plan for your next steps
in farming. For more information, see:
http://www.nybeginningfarmers.org/index.php?page=onlinecourse.
Taking Stock: Evaluating Your Resources and Choosing an Enterprise
*Course duration: 5 weeks beginning Oct. 16. 2009. Cost: $100.
*Instructors: Laura Biasillo - CCE Broome County, and Erica Frenay – Cornell Small Farms Program.
Markets and Profits: Make Money Selling What you Grow
*Course duration: 6 weeks beginning Jan. 8, 2010. Cost: $100.
*Instructors: Steve Hadcock - CCE Columbia County and Dan Welch – CCE Cayuga County.
Posted November 2, 2009
A three-year, $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Development Program will help Cornell University’s Small Farms Program (SFP) broaden its support for new farmers in the Northeast.
“Demand for local foods has created new market opportunities for farmers with both large and small operations,” says Erica Frenay, project coordinator of the SFP’s N.Y. Beginning Farmer Project. (www.nybeginningfarmers.org). “Many new farmers with little or no agricultural experience want to tap this growing market, but face daunting barriers. Our team is here to help.”
Some of the barriers beginning and aspiring farmers face include limited access to training, capital, and land. The Small Farms Program, along with Cornell Cooperative Extension, targeted the first of these--training—by establishing the NY Beginning Farmer Project in 2006. Over 3 years, the project trained 362 new or aspiring farmers in basic farm planning and business management. “We’ve collected dozens of farm success stories from this effort, including new farms started, market channels expanded, and people who have quit their off-farm jobs to work on the farm,” says Anu Rangarajan, Director of the Cornell Small Farms Program. The project also developed new information resources, like the Guide to Farming in NY, a set of fact sheets on the legal and regulatory aspects of farming. And, the project established a Beginning Farmer contact in every Cornell Cooperative Extension office, to help new farmers know who to call. A link to this list is on the homepage of the Cornell Small Farms website at www.smallfarms.cornell.edu.
The infusion of funding from USDA will allow the NY Beginning Farmer Project to expand, drawing on the strengths of a diverse array of partner organizations in addition to Cornell Cooperative Extension: the Greenhorns (www.thegreenhorns.net - a national young farmers movement), NY Farm Viability Insitute (www.nyfvi.org), NOFA-NY (www.nofany.org), NY FarmNet and NY FarmLink (www.nyfarmnet.org and nyfarmlink.org), the Cornell Dept. of Education, NY Association of Ag Educators (http://www.nyag-ed.org), Heifer International (www.heifer.org), and a dozen non-profits from around the Northeast that train and support beginning farmers.
With this USDA funding, the Team will:
If you want to stay informed about our activities, please subscribe to the Small Farms Program's monthly e-newsletter at www.smallfarms.cornell.edu/pages/contact/newsletter.cfm
