Event at Greenwood Winery and Bistro March 19 Benefits Food Bank

Celebrity Bartending to Benefit the Food Bank of CNY

March 19 @ 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Greenwood Winery at 6475 Collamer Road, East Syracuse will be hosting a celebrity bartending night Sunday, March 19, to benefit the Food Bank of Central New York. 

All tips and proceeds from Greenwood’s signature burger between 3 to 7 p.m. will be donated to the Food Bank.

Onondaga County Farm Bureau Begins After-School Program

Dairy Ambassador Nataila Palladino and NYS Dairy Princess Sarah Rohe of Onondaga Hill with Mott Road Elementary students at the first meeting of the Farm to Kids program March 6

The Onondaga County Farm Bureau has begun a Farm to Kids Club at Mott Road Elementary School in the Fayetteville-Manlius school district.

The club is for students in grades kindergarten through four. The club met for the first time March 6 and will continue on March 13, 20 and 27 and April 3 and 10.

Onondaga County Farm Bureau President Dan Palladino said six farms in Onondaga County will get together with the children to teach them about foods that are grown or raised right here in Onondaga County and how eating fresh is best.

The program already has a waiting list of kids wanting to get in. 

"We had a great first day," Palladino said. "On the first day of sign-ups 30 kids responded already more than the 25 limit placed on all clubs. The school decided to expand the club to 50 kids and over 60 signed up! We already have more than 10 kids on the waiting list for the fall."

Eagle Hill Elementary teachers have already requested Farm Bureau expand the program there in the fall.  

The first club event was hosted by the Onondaga County Dairy Princess team with our new New York state Princess Sarah Rohe, and Onondaga County Alternate Princess Zoie Skinner and Ambassador Nataila Palladino.  

Palladino said the girls split the hour into exercise for the kids with refueling with chocolate milk to teach the benefits of daily exercise and the benefits of replenishing essential nutrients with chocolate milk.  

The second half of the program was teaching the process "From Cow to You" (covering how the farmers take care of the cows, environmental stewardship the benefits of dairy nutrition and the importance of three dairy servings every day). Samples of chocolate milk and cheese sticks were provided by the Onondaga County Dairy Promotions Committee.  

Next week is Maple Week and Dutch Hill Maple from Tully will be teaching about maple production and the differences between Real New York maple syrup and artificial maple syrup. The kids will be able to sample maple candy and will have activities and contests to learn about maple production.

The farms taking part in the program are:
Dutch Valley Maple, Tully, Nate and Christie Williams
Hiwire Honey, LaFayette, Chip Lowe
Clean Slate Farm, Apulia, garlic and fermenting, Dave Lenweaver
2 Kids Goat Farm, Cuyler, cheese making and goat care, Barry Sperat
Piglets and raising pigs, Pompey, Rich Root
Pastureland Dairy (organic dairy tour), Pompey, Pete Mapstone

Onondaga County Farm Bureau Wants Phone Calls Made to State Legislators about Minimum Wage Proposal

From Onondaga County Farm Bureau:

On Monday, March 14, Farm Bureau is urging everyone to call their legislators in Albany and let them know that increasing the minimum wage to $15 is bad for New York. 

We are asking everyone, whether in agriculture or not, to take a good hard look at what this increase will do to our local businesses and the people already making more than minimum wage and make those calls to Albany on Monday. 

We need to overwhelm the phone system in our state’s capital. 

Here are some facts to help you understand why this act is so bad for New York:

• Farm and Small Business labor costs will immediately go up 67 percent%.

• Agricultural businesses do not set their prices they are nationally or globally market driven and we cannot offset our higher costs by increasing price

• Pennsylvania ($7.25) and neighboring States (all less than $10) will have a significant cost advantage over NY production.

• Our 36,000 farms are labor intensive and will be forced out of business or to spend on automation to replace our 200,000 employees. The automation is mostly foreign produced.

• Many farms and small businesses already pay experienced workers more than $15 hour but Farms also employ a large number of young inexperienced workers who are our State's future. Farms and other small businesses cannot afford to pay non-experienced workers $15/hr while training these workers with new skills. These people will lose many opportunities.

• New York State is the 3rd largest Dairy state in the nation and top 5 in many other commodities. Agriculture is one of the few thriving industries in New York State and will be decimated by this drastic change in costs.

• This is not a Wall Street versus Main Street issue. Wall St. does not pay workers minimum wage, small labor intensive businesses do. This act will not impact the wealthy, it will only hurt small businesses, farms and especially those businesses close to state borders.

Please make that call on Monday!!

Peterson Brothers of Parody Fame to Speak at 2016 Celebration of Agriculture Conference

The Peterson Brothers of farm song parody fame are coming to Central New York.

The brothers will speak at the 2016 Celebration of Agriculture Conference Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in DeWitt.

 Come and learn from the Peterson brothers, who have made agriculture a common theme and learning experience via social media. Attendees will be able to pick up some pointers from the brothers on how to enrich your farm image, share your success stories and get the biggest bang from your operation.

Farmers from Kansas, the brothers are well known on YouTube for their parodies with agricultural themes. There often are some good educational tips in the songs too.

Also at the conference, attendees will be able to attend a variety of workshops covering photography, public speaking, enhancing your farm image and adding dollars to a county farm bureau treasury.

There also will be and extended Young Farmers conference with networking, leadership programs and tours.

A morning session for young farmers Saturday, March 12 will feature Greg Peterson of the Peterson Brothers. 

For more details, to view the conference agenda or to find a registration form, go to http://bit.ly/1ZpZ3wL

Meal registration deadline is March 2. For information or to answer other questions, call (800) 342-4143 or email membersupport@nyfb.org

Go to http://www.dailyliked.net/farmers-feed-the-world/ to see a couple of the song parodies.

Onondaga County Farm Bureau Has New Leader

Go to https://www.morningagclips.com/onondaga-co-farm-bureau-leadership/ to check out the story.

Howard Haffenden, AI Technician, Dies in Syracuse

Go to http://obits.syracuse.com/obituaries/syracuse/obituary.aspx?n=howard-a-haffenden&pid=166398151&fhid=16148#fbLoggedOut to see the obituary for Howard Haffenden.