A4O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 21,2001 N.Y. Ag Committee Chairman Lauds Budget For Commitment To Agriculture ALBANY, N.Y. Assembly Agriculture Committee Chair man, Bill Magee (D-Nelson) ap plauded the recent passage of the Assembly one-house budget reso lution for its strong commitment to agriculture. “Agriculture is still New York State’s largest industry and the Assembly understands the im portance of remaining com mitted to its stability and growth, otherwise the rural areas of our state will be decimated economi cally,” Magee said. The agriculture industry generates over $3.1 billion annu ally in direct economic output and at least double or triple that in indirect economic benefits with the farm and food industry employing over 425,000 people in this state. Currently, there are approximately 38,000 farms en compassing some 7.8 million acres of cropland, pasture and woodlands. Magee noted that the Assem bly has provided significant sup port for agricultural health and safety issues spurring the Gover nor to include the creation of 31 new positions at the Department of Agriculture and Markets in his DEP, Penn State Extension Team Up To Offer Composting Workshops, Free Compost Bins HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) On behalf of Gov. Tom Ridge, Department of Environ mental Protection (DEP) Secre tary James M. Seif recently an nounced that DEP and Penn State Cooperative Extension again are teaming up to offer composting workshops and free back yard composting bins to Pennsylvania. “Composting is nature’s own way of recycling and it is an essential way to increase our re cycling rate,” Seif said. “We cur rently recycle 32.6 percent of all waste, and composting will help us reach Gov. Ridge’s goal of 35 percent by 2003. “We must continue to find more efficient and economical ways to recycle our resources if we are to become a truly sustain able society,” said Bob Steele, Dean of the College of Agricul tural Sciences at Penn State Uni versity. “We are committed to helping Pennsylvania’s citizens } Randall G. Renninger j Certified Public Accountant I Specializing in agriculture and construction industries 1 “We help business people discover ways to cut costs, ( save taxes, and be more profitable” I Call about our FREE seminars 535 W. Orange Street, Lancaster, PA 17603 I (717)299-6480 ♦ Fax (717)299-6390 budget for pet shop and food safety inspectors. Moreover, the Assembly includes enormous fin ancial assistance for disease management programs, includ ing; • $300,000 for the Johnes Dis ease Program which will allow the Diagnostic Lab at Cornell University to perform tests for Johnes Disease as well as provide resources to assist farmers with eradicating this disease from their herd; and • $150,000 for the Cattle Health Assurance Program which is an integrated disease prevention program that has as its three main goals; improving dairy herd health and productivi ty, assuring food safety and pub lic health and promoting envi ronmental stewardship; • $200,000 for the Integrated Pest Management Program which will allow for the develop ment of new, cost-effective and environmentally sound methods to protect crops, vegetables and fruits with the main focus being a reduced reliance on pesti cides. “We are blessed in this state with one of the finest research in- meet these goals through our re search and extension programs.” Penn State Cooperative Exten sion offices are holding work shops on back yard composting this spring. In Lackawanna County, the workshops will be held May 1,3, and 8. Each per son who preregisters for a work shop and attends will receive a free composting bin, as long as supplies last. All of the workshops are hand icapped accessible. If you need specific accommodations, each county extension office asks that you call in advance. For more information about composting, you can telephone DEP’s compost coordinator at (717) 787-7382, or visit DEP through the Pennsylvania Web site at www.state.pa.us or direct ly at www.dep.state.pa.us (di rectLlNK “composting”). Information on composting workshops in each county can be found at http:// stitutions in the world in Cornell University and this money for cattle health maintenance and the IPM program is money that is well spent and will reap vast returns for our farmers,” Magee commented. Recognizing the need to assist with not only growing their prod uct, but also with developing and selling them, the Assembly in cluded an additional $865,000 to support research and develop ment activities as well as Agri- Marketing programs across the state. These include: • $315,000 for the New York Wine and Grape Foundation for the development of a “Slice of the Big Apple” marketing cam paign aimed at increasing the ex posure of New York State pro duced wines and other agricultural products to the culi nary restaurant markets of New York City; • $250,000 for the New York Apple Association to assist in in creasing the competitive position for the apple industry in New York State by enhancing the marketing opportunities for New York apple growers while main taining the strict standards that backyardcompost.cas.psu.edu. Visit www.GreenWorks.tv to watch the video about how com posting can recycle organic waste. our apple growers must meet. This is becoming increasingly im portant as apples and apple juice are being imported from coun tries with dubious health and safety standards; • $300,000 to support agricul tural research and development activities at Cornell University’s Geneva Experimental Station. This funding will allow the Ex perimental Station to remain on the forefront of providing re search to the food industry in terms of enhancing food safety, working with small businesses to create different ethnic cuisines as well as methods to better pro duce and process fruits and vege tables. • $1.3 million for the Grow NY Program which provides grants to farmers to assist them in developing new marketing op portunities, implementing new business techniques and other methods of maximizing profit, product and efficiency; and • $1 million for an Agricultur al Technology Initiative that will be developed at the State Univer sity Colleges of Agriculture and Technology to assist farmers with using and implementing high tech systems. In terms of marketing, Magee pointed out that he has also in troduced legislation that would allow beer wholesalers to begin selling New York produced wine. This bill would give beer whole salers the incentive to really mar ket New York wine to their cus tomers and would increase the profile and profitability of the wine and grape industry in New York State. As well as develop ing legislation that would then create the state’s first AgriDeve lopment Zone which will be modeled after Empire Zones but aimed specifically at rural areas and agriculture in particular. “These bills and budget pro posals represent a multifaceted approach to assisting the agricul ture industry that include not only tax breaks, but assistance with improving health and herd management, developing mar keting proposals and niches and expanding and opening markets for their products. There is no doubt that New York farmers produce the highest quality prod uct in the world, now we have to make a commitment to assist them in further developing and selling those products,” Magee concluded. 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