SENATOR BRUNO ANNOUNCES INITIATIVE TO HELP NEW YORK FARMERS

$13.5 Million Assistance Program To Help Make Farms More Profitable

Monday, March 5, 2001

In an effort to help make farms in New York State become more efficient and more profitable, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno today announced a Senate proposal to provide farmers with a wide range of technical and marketing assistance, as well create a new grant program to help farmers develop and implement effective business plans.

"Family farms are a critically important part of the economy in rural communities throughout the state and many farmers are struggling with problems posed by new technology, marketing their products, dealing with regulations, maintaining a skilled workforce and other issues," Senator Bruno said. "The Senate plan would provide the financial assistance and technical expertise to turn those problems into opportunities to make family farms more profitable."

"Although agriculture is New York's largest industry, farmers don't qualify for the type of economic development grant programs available to most businesses," Senator Bruno said. "This program would provide farmers with assistance in the areas of business planning, workforce training, production efficiency and product marketing. Any business that can increase efficiency and improve their product and product marketing can improve their bottom line."

MAKING FARMS MORE EFFICIENT & MORE SUCCESSFUL - $7.5 MILLION
The highlight of the Senate proposal is called the "Agricultural Systems Initiative," or ASI. It would be funded at $7.5 million. ASI would address the following:

> Agricultural Research and Technology - To enable farmers to avail themselves of the best agricultural knowledge in the country, the Senate plan calls for farmers to receive technical assistance from Cornell University to develop new varieties and production practices, increase technology, and provide research and planning information. The focus would be on four major agriculture industries: dairy and livestock, vegetables, fruits and horticulture.

-- Dairy and Livestock: Provide technical assistance to dairy and livestock farmers in order to increase efficiency in animal production and increase planning as part of these operations.
-- Vegetables: Provide technical assistance to meet the current problems of labor shortages and to comply with new pesticide registration and notification laws.
-- Fruits: Provide marketing assistance to increase market share and exporting of such products as New York Wines and the Empire apple, which is very popular in Europe, particularly in Great Britain.
-- Horticulture: Provide technical assistance to increase profitability. This segment of the agriculture industry includes growing flowers, shrubs, trees, sod grass and other landscaping products. It has the potential for growth but faces difficulties with growing regulatory pressures.

> Marketing - Provide marketing services to the agricultural industry through Cornell University, Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Department of Agriculture and Markets.

> Agriculture Labor - Assist with workforce skills training and provide continued support for the Farm Worker Housing Construction grants and loan program.

HELPING FARMERS BECOME BETTER BUSINESS PEOPLE -- $6 MILLION
In addition to the ASI, the Senate is proposing a new grant program, the Strategic Farm Planning and Grant Program, which would be designed to improve the economic bottom line of participating farms through the development and implementation of a business plan. Individual farmers would work with a team of professionals from agriculture, finance, marketing, management and environmental sciences.

This program is modeled after Massachusetts' Farm Viability Enhancement Program. The Massachusetts program has written business plans for 103 farms, resulting in an increase in annual net income of almost $19,000 per farm.

"Our proposal is intended to help farmers become more efficient in producing and marketing those products, and become better business operators so they can be more profitable," Senator Bruno said. "This is the first part of a comprehensive plan to help New York farmers. We will unveil additional assistance measures in the Senate Budget Resolution later this month."

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