Potato Surveys Begins This Month

From the USDA:

Beginning in late July, the Northeastern Regional Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will conduct the annual Potato Processing Survey. 

The results of this survey will be used to establish final USDA statistics about 2016 potato crop processing for official processing states. NASS gathers the data for the survey online, by mail, phone and in-person interviews.

“NASS safeguards the privacy of all responses and publishes only state- and national-level data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified,” stated King Whetstone, Regional Director, NASS -- Northeastern Regional Field Office.

NASS will compile and analyze the survey information and publish the results in the Sept. 14 annual Potatoes publication. The publication will be available on the USDA-NASS website at  https://www.nass.usda.gov/. 

For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Northeastern Regional Field Office at (800) 498-1518.

Red Meat, Corn, Soybeans Production Up in New York; Potatoes Down

Commercial red meat production for New York totaled 3.8 million pounds in October, up 12 percent from the 3.4 million pounds produced in October 2015.

Cattle slaughter totaled 3,300 head, up 10 percent from October 2015. The average live weight was up 6 pounds from the previous year, at 1,164.
 
Calf slaughter totaled 6,500 head, up 132 percent from October 2015. The average live weight was down 60 pounds from last year, at 115 pounds.
 
Hog slaughter totaled 5,500 head, up 15 percent from October 2015. The average live weight was up 4 pounds from the previous year, at 258 pounds.
 
Sheep slaughter totaled 4,100 head, 15 percent below last year. The average live weight was 103 pounds, down 3 pounds from October a year ago.

Corn production in New York is forecast at 83.8 million bushels, up 2 percent from the October forecast but down 1 percent from last year.
 
Based on conditions as of Nov. 1, yields are expected to average 133 bushels per acre, up 2 bushels from the October forecast but down 10 bushels from 2015. Area harvested for grain is forecast at 630,000 acres, unchanged from the October forecast but up 7 percent from 2015.
 
Soybean production in New York is forecast at 13.7 million bushels, up 2 percent from October and up 6 percent from last year. Based on Nov. 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 42 bushels per acre, up 1 bushel from last month but down 1 bushel from last year. Area for harvest is forecast at 326,000 acres, unchanged from last month.
 
Fall potatoes production for 2016 is forecast at 3.31 million hundredweight, down 20 percent from last year. Area harvested, at 13,800 acres, is down 7 percent from the previous year. The average yield forecast, at 240 hundredweight per acre, is down 40 hundredweight from last year’s yield.

USDA OKs 2 Types of Genetically Engineered Potatoes

Potatoes growing in a field

Interesting story about potatoes.

Go to http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/34942740-75/u.s.-department-of-agriculture-approves-two-types-of-genetically-engineered-potatoes.csp to check it out.

New York Potatoes Are A Must for Thanksgiving Dinner

An Adirondack blue potato

A can’t-do-without item on the Thanksgiving table is the potato.
 
No matter how you eat them — mashed, boiled, fried, scallopped or in a casserole — potatoes are a hearty starch filled with nutrients.
 
And yes, you can get potatoes grown in New York state.
 
There are 150 New York potato growers who grow and harvest 18,000 acres of the vegetable, mostly Upstate and on Long Island.
 
One is Jeff Hopkinson, who grows 70 acres of potatoes and seed potatoes in Williamstown, Oswego County. He finished harvesting his crop in early October and said the yield is good and the quality is “awesome.”
 
“We had a dry July and August, so I had to irrigate a lot,” he said. “But the size is good, the quality is fantastic, and there are no rotten ones. They are all nice.”
 
You can’t see much when you drive by a potato farm because all the growing takes place under the soil. Potatoes come in all sizes and different colors, such as red, white or blue. Some are better for varied types of cooking, whether it’s baking, boiling or frying.
 
And some potatoes aren’t eaten at all.
 
Hopkinson, a fourth-generation potato farmer, said he sells only about 20 percent of his 70 acres of potatoes for table stock. People come to the farm to buy them, and they are sold in some small stores. 

But the other potatoes are sold to potato farmers for seed stock, and Hopkinson said most of his go to Florida.
 
Many potato farmers in New York got involved in the seed business years ago, when it became another way to earn money. Hopkinson said that although the price of table potatoes can fluctuate wildly, seed prices are fairly stable.
 
Hopkinson is a certified seed provider — one of eight in New York state — meaning his farm undergoes about five inspections of his crop each year to ensure the potatoes used for seed are healthy and not spreading any diseases, such as the harmful potato leaf roll and potato mosaic viruses.
 
Certified seed is recognized in national and state legislation as meeting high standards for genetic purity and quality.
 
Hopkinson explained that seed potatoes don’t look any different from the vegetable that could grace a person’s plate. The difference is the inspections and care to be sure they are disease-free and that they always are kept in a cool, darkened storage area for sale later when they have begun to sprout eyes — those hard, beige tubes that grow out of the sides of potatoes. These eyes are the seeds and eventually grow into brand-new potatoes.

Here are the eight certified seed potato program participants in New York state:



** Ayers & Gillette, Pike, Wyoming County, 585-493-2394, T1ayers@yahoo.com
** Kurt Brehm, Wayland, Steuben County, 585- 315-8746
** Childstock Farms, Inc., Malone, Franklin County, 518-483-1239, rchild@childfarm.net
** Hopkinson Farms, Williamstown, Oswego County, 315-964-2221
** Andrew Pryputniewicz, Waterville, Oneida County, 315-841-8426, seedpotato@frontier.com
** Bruce H. Pryputniewicz, Sauquoit, Oneida County, 315-839-5301, bp1potato@frontiernet.net
** Tucker Farms, Inc., Gabriels, Franklin County, 518-637-1230, adkspud@hotmail.com , potatofarmer@westelcom.com , www.tuckertaters.com
** Cornell Uihlein Potato Farm, Lake Placid, Essex County, 518-523-3258, cmn5@cornell.edu , klp3@cornell.edu, uihleinfarm.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu

Potato Facts
** New York ranks 14th in the country in potato production. Idaho is first and Washington second.
** Potatoes are filled with fiber, Vitamin C and potassium, and they have no fat or cholesterol and only 100 calories per serving. The vegetable is 90 percent water.
** New York potato producers grow the vegetable for Cape Cod, Wise, Utz, Herr’s, Terrell’s and other regional potato chip companies.
** It is said that the potato chip was born in New York. In 1853, railroad magnate Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt complained that his potatoes were cut too thick and sent them back to the kitchen at a fashionable resort in Saratoga Springs. 
To spite him, chef George Crum sliced some potatoes paper-thin, fried them in hot oil, salted and served them. Vanderbilt loved his “Saratoga Crunch Chips,” and potato chips have been popular ever since.
Source: Empire State Potato Growers

For more great stories like this one, subscribe to the monthly Empire Farm & Dairy magazine by writing to the Watertown Daily Times, 260 Washington St., Watertown, NY   13601

FDA OKs Genetically Engineered Apples, Potatoes

Go to http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/national/genetically-engineered-apples-and-potatoes-approved-by-fda-20150322?utm_source=dPkmGL&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=wdt.me&utm_content=http%3A%2F%2Fl.facebook.com%2Fl.php%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwdt.me%252FdPkmGL%26h%3D6AQG7DiXpAQH5e5pkB89DUnnI8Vokd3k716m0UNjTusUdPw%26enc%3DAZNMGPUxtCDwwPiydz1a3f3uQOYoZaFvowVpijDGQk8i_IJ6CWELBKloyYBzqOF868wU7m0z-eDNR8ztgU1LY3IOs9yhCaItsAkG4rI6_QVGqikxSBv0O4bCYfgV3dT1vnsvUXb0vt_TxVx-D6Lu-sA2dQuRfIuW-SL8ktidiyPX2g%26s%3D1 to see the story

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. 

And please, as you count your blessings, be sure to thank the farmers who toil every day for every morsel of food you enjoyed today.

Check Out the Winter Farmers' Markets

From the governor's office:

Even though it's winter, you still can go to a farmers' market.

The locations of 116 winter farmers' markets --an all-time high number in New York state -- can now be found on the state's open data website at Open.ny.gov .

This comprehensive data website will help provide New Yorkers with a user-friendly way to search for farmers' markets near their homes this winter.

The number of winter farmers' markets in the sate has grown 190 percent since 2007. 

2007-08 -- 40 winter markets
2008-09 -- 60
2009-10 -- 87 
2010-11 -- 87
2011-12 -- 94
2012-13 -- 110 
2013-14 -- 116

While consumers will have more selection at farmers' markets during the spring, summer and fall growing season, winter markets offer a variety of choices, such as potatoes, onions, cabbage, winter greens such as kale and chard, wreaths and Christmas trees. 

The Winter Farmers' Market Dataset includes information detailing the hours of operation and location of community markets as well as the name and phone number of the manager. 

Winter Farmers’ Markets List: https://data.ny.gov/d/3tmh-kuni
Winter Farmers’ Markets Map: https://data.ny.gov/d/88k7-ujm4

To confirm the hours and location before traveling, contact the local market.

Book Published on Muck Farms of Oswego County

Earl Sheldon, harvesting onions on his Route 176 farm, circa early 1940s. The

Sheldon family is part of the recently-published book on the muck farms of Oswego County.

 

A book about the importance of muck farming in Oswego County has been published and will be discussed by its writer at 3 p.m. Nov. 10 at Springside at Seneca Hill in Minetto.

Also during his program, writer Jim Farfaglia will include a slideshow with photos used in the book, an overview of why muck farming has been so important to Oswego County and stories told to Farfaglia by local muck farmers.

“The idea for this book started with an event at the Fulton Public Library in March 2012,” Farfaglia explained. “I was conducting a reading from my book of poems, Country Boy, which is about growing up in rural Central New York and working on my uncles’ muck farms. Members of several muck-farm families attended and, after my reading, these farmers started telling stories and comparing experiences from the mucks.

"I saw people nodding in agreement with each anecdote and noticed how one story built upon another. As I listened to the emotion underlying each farmer’s recollections, I knew I wanted to capture their memories,” he said.

Farfaglia proceeded to interview muck farmers, their family members, neighbors, workers and
agricultural specialists. Using the interviews, photographs and maps, he created the book.

“I like to say that I compiled and edited the book instead of saying I wrote it,” Farfaglia said. “About 90 percent of the book is the story of the mucks in the interviewees’ own words. After all, the people who lived and worked the mucks should be the ones to tell their story.”

Following the Nov. 10 program, a complimentary copy of the book will be given to each farm family he interviewed. He also will introduce the farmers to the audience and take questions about the book. Refreshments will be served.

Because of limited seating, reservations to attend the event are required. Please contact Farfaglia at 402-2297 or sjimf903@twcny.rr.com to register.

Oswego County Harvest Dinner Oct. 18

There is one great way each year to savor all of the agriculture in Oswego County.

That's the Oswego County Harvest Dinner, this year set for 6:15 p.m. Oct. 18 at the American Foundry in Oswego. The event features local chefs using vegetables like onions, fruits like apples, various cuts of meat and other foods grown right in Oswego County to make delectable dishes.

This year boasts the fourth annual Harvest Dinner and believe me, the event has grown in popularity each and every year. Tickets sell out fast.

Tickets for the event are $35 for one or $65 for two and must be purchased ahead of time. Prepaid reservations can be made sending payment to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County, Harvest Dinner, 3288 Main St., Mexico, NY 13114. No tickets will be sold at the door.

I went to this dinner last year and believe me, it is worth the price. The food is excellent and it really is thrilling to hear about the foods grown in Oswego County and the hard-working farmers behind them.

The evening begins with a social hour, including a sampling of Oswego County beverages. Guests will be served a six-course meal showcasing the scrumptious and diverse agricultural products grown and made in Oswego County.

Guest speaker for the evening will be Chris Fesko, an award-winning agricultural educator who runs her On the Farm Discovery Center in Spafford, Onondaga County, where she takes in school group tours throughout the spring.

She also is the creator and producer of the "On the Farm" video series that helps children and adults understand farming, the work that is done on the farm and how all of that work is responsible for the food we eat each day. Her videos have won four Telly Awards, three Parents' Choice awards and many other honors. She won the Ag Promotion Award this year from the New York State Agricultural Society.

There also will be raffle baskets featuring Oswego County’s finest agricultural products and more.

For more information on the Oswego County Harvest Dinner please call 315-963-7286 or e-mail lkw39@cornell.edu.

Cornell Plant Pathologists Battle Late Blight in New Jersey

Late blight can be devastating to crops, especially tomatoes and potatoes.

Go to http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/07/mercer_case_of_late_blight_worries_local_farmers_hints_of_potential_economic_impacts.html

_of_potential_economic_impacts.html to see the story of what Cornell University professors are doing to help eradicate this problem.

Congressman Tours North Country Potato Enterprise

Photo from Cornell University

Go to http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/537604/A-spudding-interest.html to see the story.