Sign Up Now for New York State Fair Competitions

From the New York State Fair:

Online registration has begun for the scores of competitions that take place at the Great New York State Fair, Acting Director Troy Waffner said today.  

 

Last year, more than 4,500 exhibitors submitted more than 22,000 entries to one of 49 competition categories. 

 

"There's something for everyone in our competitions," Waffner said. "Some of these are as old as the fair itself and carry forward our state's proud agricultural heritage. Others are more modern. I encourage everyone to check our list of competitions and take part in them."

 

Most fairgoers are familiar with the fair's animal competitions, from the daily horse shows in the Toyota Coliseum to the judging events involving cattle, goats, swine, poultry, rabbits and more. They are also likely to have seen the flower and table setting competitions in the Horticulture Building, or the talent competition on the fair's west end stage.  

 

There are also the professional competitions for wines, dairy products, and Christmas trees.

 

Less well known are the fair's competitions in culinary arts, amateur winemaking and fine arts. The fair also holds some offbeat competitions, such as the daily rooster crowing contest, the Bucket of Junk competition that challenges contestants to turn a collection of parts into something useful, and the poetry competition, which culminates with a public reading of winning poems.

 

To learn more about fair competitions, or to enter, visit http://nysfair.ny.gov/competitions/how-to-enter.

 

This year's New York State Fair, operated by the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, runs from Aug. 25 to Sept. 5, 2016.

It's National Beer Day

Today is National Beer Day.

According to the National Calendar Day website: 

Hops at Climbing Bines Hops Farm and Brewery, Penn Yan

"National Beer Day is celebrated annually April 7.  Celebrate with a pint of pale ale, lager, stout, wheat beer or mild ale.

One of the world’s oldest prepared beverages, beer possibly dates back to 9500 BC when cereal was first farmed.  It is recorded in the written history of ancient Iraq and ancient Egypt.

Beer is the world’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage. Following water and tea, it is the third most popular drink overall."

The production of craft beers and hard ciders is growing by leaps and bounds in New York state, leading to new businesses and new jobs. A lot of the hops grown for making these beers also are grown right here in New York state.

It's National Cereal Day

Today is National Cereal Day!

Here's to all those farmers who raise the corn, wheat, oats, rice and other grains that go into our favorite breakfast cereals. Without them, we wouldn't have anything to put in our bowls in the morning.

Three New York Farmers Receive Next Generation Farmer Awards from Ag Society

The New York State Agricultural Society this year presented two Next Generation Farmer awards for  the first time.

Here is some information on who won the awards for 2016:

The Next Generation Farmer Award is being presented for the first time in 2016 and recognizes excellence from beginning farmers.
 

Max and Trystan Sandvoss

Max and Trystan Sandvoss, brothers and new farmers in Genesee County, were recognized as 2016 Next Generation Farmer Award winners.
 
They started First Light Farm and Creamery in East Bethany in 2010, producing artisanal cheeses from their milking goat herd mixed with milk from a neighboring Certified Organic Jersey cow farm (Grassland Dairy), as well as bottling and selling cow’s milk and whole cream-top yogurt.
 
The brothers did not grow up on a farm — their father was a lawyer and their mother a teacher in the Hudson Valley. Both received college degrees, but neither received an ag education — Trystan graduated from Northwestern and Max from Harvard.
 
After early careers on the West Coast, Trystan and Max spent a year apprenticing at a creamery near Seattle. Then they decided to return to New York state to raise Nubian and Alpine milking goats and produce dairy products not far from their stepfather’s farm, Lor-Rob Dairy, with a goal “to make the kind of food we like to eat.”
 
One of the draws to the Genesee County location was its position midway between Buffalo and Rochester. They sell their cheeses, yogurt and milk at farmers markets and stores in both cities, and have recently offered a ‘Dairy Share’ using a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) model of distribution with weekly deliveries to retail stores and drop points.
 
Max and Trystan go to farmers markets weekly, give cheese-making demonstrations and meet with garden clubs and Rotary groups to talk about farming. Leadership Genesee and other groups have visited their farm.
 
In all, more than 2,000 people have toured the farm and participated in cheese-making workshops, including guests from Canada and  Hong Kong.
 
Everything that happens at First Light is done locally. Fields are seeded with grass that is grown on the farm or within 10 miles of the farm, and is fertilized with manure produced on the farm. The farm utilizes 100 percent organic practices with no hormones or chemical fertilizers.
 
Goats are pastured on the farm and fed dry grass from the local area. Whey, produced as a byproduct of the cheese-making, is fed to pigs on a nearby hog operation.
 
Everything is done with the environment, conservation and animal comfort in mind.
 
Next on the agenda for First Light Farm and Creamery is expected statewide distribution of their dairy products through a high-end grocery chain with potential expansion to other like-minded retailers.
 
After five years of hard work and passion, the brothers have figured out how to continue to grow and still enjoy a day off. But it is the stories of middle of the night births during kidding season, milk testing rituals and building a community that make clear the brothers’ love for the farm life that they have chosen.
 
Todd DuMond, the next generation on his family’s farm in Cayuga County, is recognized as a 2016 Next Generation Farmer Award winner.
 
Todd has fostered significant growth and expansion of the farm business since returning to what was a 600 acre cash crop farm in 2003, a couple years after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 
Today, DuMond Ag in Union Springs, farms nearly 5,000 acres.
 
Eric and Marge DuMond, Todd’s parents, started a small beef cow operation in Saranac Lake in 1980, and moved to the Finger Lakes five years later where they began the cash crop farm. Under Todd’s management, the farm has been on an aggressive growth curve, increasing steadily in size and diversifying business pursuits.
 
DuMond Grain, a soybean roasting business, was an offshoot that began in 2003 when Todd returned to the farm. In 2010, Todd began DuMond Trucking to provide an improved transportation option for the local farm community.
 
Similarly, in 2015 Todd expanded DuMond Grain to include corn grinding to produce cornmeal as a new commodity for the business. Most recently, DuMond Ag created a cover crop seed dealership and invested in a row crop farming operation.
 
One of the most difficult challenges DuMond Ag faces is climate change. As a result, Todd uses a variety of conservation methods that emphasize the relationship between increased weather volatility and the use of precision agriculture.
 
The use of cover crops and spatial soil analysis helps to protect and enrich the soil by increasing soil water absorption during heavy rains, reducing surface water runoff and possible erosion. Todd also uses reduced tillage and narrow-row planting, as well as subsurface drainage systems, catch basins, stand pipes and conservation strips to protect soil and water resources.
 
His precision agriculture efforts include precise nutrient application placement. And, when preparing the fields each year, DuMond Ag uses tramlines – the routes that tractors and trucks use to drive in and out of the field are the same year after year, limiting field soil compaction to those tracks.
 
Todd has served on the New York State Corn and Soybean Growers Association Board for about 10 years. He is also nearing the end of his nine-year term as New York’s representative to the American Soybean Association.
 
He has built relationships with local agricultural colleges, coordinating tours and talks, and for three years has hosted the Summer Crop Tour, an education day for production agriculture.

Cayuga County Farm Bureau Aids Community

Go to https://www.morningagclips.com/cayuga-co-farm-bureau-aids-community/?utm_content=articles&utm_campaign=NLCampaign&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_term=newsletteredition&utm_medium=email to see what Farm Bureau has done in Cayuga County.

Planting Surveys Headed Out to Farmers

From the USDA:

What is on the horizon for U.S. farmers in 2015 as they finalize
plans for planting this spring? 

The March Agricultural Survey conducted by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will survey about 82,000 farmers to determine their plans for the upcoming growing season.

“Each year, the agriculture industry eagerly awaits USDA’s Prospective Plantings report, which provides the first survey-based estimates of U.S. farmers’ planting intentions for the year,”
said NASS’s Northeastern Regional Director, King Whetstone. 

“The March Agricultural Survey provides the factual data that is the basis of these projections, making it one of the most important surveys we conduct each year,” he states.

NASS will mail the survey questionnaire in late February, asking producers to provide information about the types of crops they intend to plant in 2015, how many acres they intend to plant, and the amounts of grain and oilseed they store on their farms. 

NASS encourages producers to respond online or by mail. Those producers who do not respond by the deadline may be contacted for a telephone or personal interview.

NASS will compile and analyze the survey information and publish the results in the annual Prospective Plantings report and quarterly Grain Stocks report, both to be released March 31.

As with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is confidential, as required by federal law. NASS safeguards the privacy of all responses and publishes only aggregate data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified. 

These and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov. 

For more information call the NASS Northeastern Regional Field Office at (800) 498-1518.

Farmer Insurance Program Feb. 9

There is will be webinar on insurance for farmers who grow grains and oilseeds from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9 at Farm Credit East, 25417 Route 12, Burrville.

For information, call 782-6050.

New York State Fair Opens Today

Go to http://www.nysfair.org/your-fair-visit/agriculture-info/ for information on all agriculture exhibits, schedules and events.

New York state is agriculture.

And agriculture is New York state.

How can you tell? Just visit the Great New York State Fair.

Yes, folks, there is much more to the fair than the rides, the concerts and the food. It’s amazing what you will see if you venture just a short ways outside the Grandstand, Chevy Court or the Midway.

Step inside any of the animal buildings and see all the different breeds of cows, sheep, goats, horses and poultry. Talk to the farmers. Ask them questions. They don’t mind. In fact, they love it.

Beef cattle in the beef barn in 2013

Do you know the difference between a Charolais and a Limousin? Go to the beef cattle barn to find out. Why do some farmers raise Jerseys or Belted Galloways instead of the ever-popular black and white Holsteins? Ask the farmers in the dairy cattle building.

Why do roosters crow? Each day at 11 a.m. in the poultry building, roosters from across the state compete in a crowing contest. I bet some farmers there can give you the low-down on that noisy affair.

And while the state doesn’t have a lot of goat, pig and sheep farmers, that doesn’t mean these folks aren’t passionate about their animals.

This goat checks out the photographer at the 2013 fair.

Go to the goat barn to find out the difference between meat and dairy goats and what goat meat and milk are used for. In the same building, see all the swine of different colors and sizes. Watch a sheep being shorn and find out about what all that wool is used for in the sheep barn. 

Also check out the llamas and alpacas, other animals which supply fiber for clothing. They also are some of the most curious creatures and love having their photos taken.

There are few animals more beautiful than horses and you not only can see them up close and personal in the horse barn, but then go to the Coliseum to watch them compete. There is every type of horse imaginable in this great state of ours – from miniatures to the grand workers Percherons and Belgians – and they all are majestic and mighty and worthy of our attention.

And of course, agriculture isn’t just animals.

Maple syrup at the 2013 State Fair

Be sure to stop at my favorite building – the Horticulture Building -- to see the busy bees making honey, taste some gooey sweet maple products or buy a New York state apple for a delicious and nutritious State Fair snack.

There also are many booths and exhibits of other state agriculture products, such as grains, beer, plants, vegetables, flowers, shrubs and trees (yes, folks, this all is agriculture).

And just outside the right front door of the Horticulture Building, fairgoers can begin to dream of a white Christmas by checking out the New York State Christmas Tree Growers Association and its display of award-winning trees. You might even see Santa and some snow!

The biggest part of the state’s agriculture industry is, of course, dairy.

New York ranks third in the United States in dairy production, behind California and Wisconsin. It ranks number 1 in the country in the production of cottage cheese and yogurt. Annual sales of New York milk total nearly $500 million.

Farmers in New York supply milk to plants throughout the state that are making all types of hard and soft cheeses, fluid milk, ice cream, regular and Greek yogurts, butter, cream and half and half. There’s nothing better than coming out of a store with some dairy products that you know were made just a day or two ago from fresh, New York milk.

While at the State Fair, be sure to taste some of these dairy products in the Dairy Products Building, where you can get milk at the ever-popular Rainbow Milk Bar, cheese, ice cream and – new this year – yogurt at the Yo2Go Yogurt Bar.

Photo supplied by NY Animal Agriculture Coalition

Also, be sure to stop into the dairy cattle building and see all the different breeds that call New York home. Then head back toward the FFA Building and next door, stop at the Dairy Cow Birthing Center. The center, run by the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition, is in its second year and features the live births of dairy calves.

This is where the process of all that delicious milk begins.

Anyone who wants a beverage with a little more a kick than milk can go to the Colannade (the columned area between the Dairy Products and Science and Industry Buildings) to visit the Wine Court. Here you can buy and taste wonderful New York state wines. Talk to the winery owners and find out about just what New York state has to offer.

Tastings of various wine and cheese pairings also are available in the Pride of NY Room located in the back of the Horticulture Building at 2:30 and 5:30 p.m. every day except Labor Day. Each day will be hosted by a different New York. On Labor Day, the area will host beer tasting seminars at 2:30 and 5:30 p.m.

Holstein ready to show at the 2013 State Fair

You see – you could spend an entire day at the Great New York State Fair and do nothing but check out the agriculture offered by the farmers of this state. This is the time for the farmers to shine, to show off what they do 365 days a year to all of the great consumers in the state.

So, even if you do attend a concert, play some games on the Midway or chow down on sausage sandwiches or blooming onions, please try to spend some time with the farmers. Thanks to them, we have the most fabulous food in the world that is grown or raised right here in our backyards on our plates each day.

I can’t think of anything more wonderful than that.

Economics of Future Farming in New York Topic of Forum Today at Cornell

From Cornell University:



The economic future of agriculture in New York and the Northeast – from dairy and feed grain to fruit ­– will be revealed at Cornell University’s annual Agribusiness Economic Outlook conference from 10 a.m to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10 (today) in Room B-25, Warren Hall on the Cornell campus.

Experts will provide predictions and perspective on the national economy and agriculture, the implications of immigration reform on farm staffing, and outlooks for specific commodities, including dairy products, grains and feed, fruits and vegetables, as well as wine, grapes, and ornamentals. 

The full itinerary and registration information is available online at http://dyson.cornell.edu/outreach/ag_outlook_conference.php
 

Grain Corn Production Up in NY

From the USDA statistics service:

New York grain corn production is forecast at a record high 108.0 million bushels, up 19 percent from last year's output according to Blair Smith, State Statistician of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office.

Production is up from last year due to higher yields combined with an increase in harvested acreage. Acreage for harvest is expected to total 720 thousand acres, up 6 percent from a year earlier. Yields are expected to average 150 bushels per acre, 16 bushels higher than a year ago and tied with the record high yield of 2010.

U.S. corn production is forecast at 14.0 billion bushels, up 1 percent from the previous forecast and up 30 percent from 2012. If realized, this will be a new record production for the United States.

Based on conditions as of Nov. 1, yields are expected to average 160.4 bushels per acre, up 5.1 bushels from the previous forecast and 37.0 bushels above the 2012 average. If realized, this will be the highest average yield since 2009.

Area harvested for grain is forecast at 87.2 million acres, down 2 percent from the previous forecast.

Soybean production in New York is forecast at 12.8 million bushels, down 11 percent from last year. Acreage harvested for beans is expected to total 272 thousand acres, down 13 percent from a year earlier. Yields are expected to average 47 bushels per acre, up 1 bushel from last year.

U.S. soybean production is forecast at 3.26 billion bushels, up 3 percent from the previous forecast and up 7 percent from last year. If realized, production will be the third largest on record. Based on Nov. 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 43 bushels per acre, up 1.8 bushels from the previous forecast and up 3.2 bushels from 2012.

Area for harvest in the United States is forecast at 75.7 million acres, down 1 percent from both the previous forecast and last year.

Organic Grain Growing Program Wednesday in Hudson

Go to http://www.registerstar.com/news/article_700b2c3e-e38e-11e2-8c4e-001a4bcf887a.html to check out the story.


The program is put on by NOFA-NY.

Handouts Available from Cornell's Small Grains Field Day June 6

Anyone who missed the June 6 Small Grains Field Day in Aurora now can obtain the handouts from the workshop.

Cornell University is providing the handouts to those who could not attend. Go to http://fieldcrops.org/extension/Documents/SMALL%20GRAINS%20FIELD%20DAY%20HANDOUTS%20June%202013.pdf to get the handouts.

Supreme Court to Hear Monsanto Case

The Chicago Tribune has done a story http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-monsanto-seedsbre91e06q-20130214,0,5697047.story here about the case of a 75-year-old Indiana grain farmer versus giant agricultural seed company Monsanto.

The outcome of the case could affect various parts of agriculture.

Local Grain Production Increases in Upstate NY

Here's a great story http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/More-of-region-s-food-pros-getting-a-taste-for-4276181.php from the Albany newspaper about locally grown grains.