fall2006

Feature ArticlesHow ‘Plain People’ Manage Risk . . . . . .Page 6

Growing Clean Water on the Farm . . . . .Page 7

Seasonal Dairy Start-up Adds Valuable Diversity to Dairy Industry . . . . . .Page 9

A New Way to Make Hay . . . . . . . . . . . .5

SMALL FARM QUARTERLYGood Living and Good Farming – Connecting People, Land, and Communities

Supplement to Country Folks

FALL 2006

Photo by Meredith Heuer

October 9, 2006 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY Page 3

With the flurry of summer field days, pasturewalks, and Empire Farm Days coming to aclose, there is a new hustle and bustle hereas students return to the Cornell campus. It’sgreat to see how many are interested in theSmall Farms Club and other farm-relatedactivities here like Dilmun Hill StudentOrganic farm. If these students are an indi-cator, there is a very bright future for smallfarms in the Northeast!

SMALL FARMS CLUB OFF AND RUNNINGThe Club had its first meeting in early Sep-tember and, by the time you’re reading this,will have held an apple-picking farm tour andwill be busy selling Halloween pumpkins andgourds on campus as a fundraiser for futurefarm tours. There is a whole new crop offreshmen club members with big ideas andlots of energy, so stay tuned for more!

GET YOUR SPIFFY SMALL FARMS T-SHIRT!Now you can tell the world how you feelabout small farms while supporting our Pro-gram. T-shirts are beige, 100% organic cot-ton. Adult S,M,L, or XL are $15; kids’ size 12just $12. To order send a check along withyour complete address and phone number,and the size T-shirt(s) you want, to: SmallFarms Program, 135C Plant Science Build-ing, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.

4-H TEENS EXPLORE THE SMALL FARM DREAMIn late June the Small Farms Program host-ed fourteen 4-H teens from eleven NYScounties in a 3-day session on “Exploringthe Small Farm Dream,” as part of 4-HCareer Exploration Days at Cornell. It wasgreat fun and a wonderful learning experi-ence for us all.

On the first day the group met with ChristyMarshall, Director of FSA Loan Operationsfor NYS and heard from teens Katie andBrittany Nellis about their FSA Rural YouthLoans. Then they heard from Steve Richardsof NY FarmNet/FarmLink Program aboutplanning and starting up or transferring afarm business. Cornell Animal Science stu-dent Betsy Howland talked eloquently abouther life on a small dairy farm in Tioga Coun-ty, and Janet Buonnano talked about learn-ing opportunities at Dilmun Hill StudentOrganic Farm.

On the second day we hit the road for Cayu-ga County, visiting with Chris and Kim Grantat Indian Chimney Farm in Groton; NevinMartin and his family at Hillcrest Dairy milkand cheese processing plant in Moravia;Kevin and Barb Ziemba at ZiemBarbWayFarm in Aurora; and Lou and Mervie Lego atElderberry Pond Farm and Restaurant inAurora.

The third and last day, the teens reflected onwhat they’d learned and wrote short articlesfor this issue of Small Farm Quarterly. Youcan read all about what they learned on theYouth Pages.

SMALL FARM GRANTS PROGRAMOur mini-grants program supports Extensioneducators in developing educational projectsthat specifically target and engage localsmall farm businesses. All 2005-6 grantsprojects were completed by the end of Sep-tember. Grants projects for 2006-7 will con-tinue our focus on developing farmer-to-farmer discussion groups and mentoringprograms, and producing fact sheets for thesmall farm audience.You can find reports onprevious year’s projects atwww.smallfarms.cornell.edu. Look under“Projects.”

RISK MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATIONS We’ve been delighted to have the help ofCraig Cramer, Communications Specialist inthe Department of Horticulture and formerEditor of New Farm Magazine, who hascoordinated a series of excellent articlesfocusing on risk management.You may havenoticed them peppered throughout the lastseveral issues of Small Farm Quarterly. This

project was funded by the New York CropInsurance Education Program under theRisk Management Agency (USDA) and theNYS Department of Agriculture & Markets,and assisted by a number of talented Exten-sion- and farmer-authors.

We’ll bring you further updates on ourBeginning Farmer Initiative, NYS OrganicDairy Initiative, and Small Dairy ExtensionInnovation Project next time!

How can I get Small Farm Quarterly?Country Folks subscribers automatically receive SFQ four times a year at

no extra cost. Country Folks is delivered weekly for $35 per year.

SFQ-only subscribers receive just the 4 issues of Country Folks that contain the SFQ insert for only $5 a year.

Cooperative Extension Associations and other organizations can offer their members a subscription to SFQ as a member benefit! Your organization collects the names, forwards them to Country Folks Subscriptions, and pays Country Folks just $2.50 for each subscriber.

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publication date - Fall 2006 copies need to be ordered by September 8.

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Cornell Small Farms Program Update

By Bill Henning

Worldwide we are facing an ever-escalatingcrunch as unbridled demand for energyoutpaces dwindling affordable supplies. Thegrowing demand for energy will increase allcosts, and not the least of which will be infarming. We have already witnessed evi-dence of alternative cost cutting measurethat prove to be as profitable, if not moreprofitable, than many ‘main stream’ produc-tion schemes.

Looking back in time might offer us somepractices we can integrate into more appro-priate modern production systems, systemsthat are healthy, profitable, bucolic, andsustainable. One example can be found inthe July 1919 issue of the Genesee CountyFarm Bureau News. It reads:

RAPE’S GREATEST VALUE IS FOR USEAS PASTURAGEAs Annual Forage Crop for Swine It CannotBe Surpassed – Not Easily Killed

The greatest usefulness of the rape plantlies in its value for pasturing. As an annualforage crop for swine it cannot be sur-passed. Before being pastured by hogs orlambs it should be allowed to attain agrowth of nine to twelve inches. Usually it isnot easily killed by trampling or grazing andif not pastured too closely will remain greenand succulent until frozen. If rainfall is abun-dant late in the season, rape may be suc-cessfully seeded in corn at the last cultiva-tion and furnish abundant fall pasturage.

GAINS ON RAPE PASTUREData from the Ohio station indicate that pigson rape pasture will gain practically as fastand require no more concentrate per 100pounds of grain if from five to seven insteadof 10% of tankage (animal by-products) isused in the ration. From weaning time untiltwo hundred pounds is reached anallowance of twenty-five hundredths to threetenths of a pound tankage, or its equivalentin some other high protein feed will not befar wrong, and will give good results.

CARRYING CAPACITY OF RAPEMany factors, of course, influence the yieldand therefore determine the number of ani-mals that can be carried. This green foragecrop is at best a supplement. When springpigs are full fed an acre of rape may beestimated to carry eighteen to twenty pigsfrom June until the close of the grazing sea-son. If the concentrated ration is limited tosay three fourths of a full feed an acre willcarry from twelve to fifteen pigs.Genesee County Farm Bureau News, July1919

INTEGRATING THE PAST INTO THEFUTUREThere has been a significant increase indemand for organic or natural pork fromolder breeds of swine that do better underlower cost management systems. TheNational Pork Board’s own survey(www.nichepork.org) indicates that between40 and 80% of pork consumers in the USwould prefer organic or natural pork. Thisproduction requires pasture systems inseason.

Rape can be incorporated into a crop rota-tion as a break point between alfalfa seed-ings. Alfalfa is a perennial high quality pas-ture crop for hogs. However, alfalfa seed-ings cannot be made without an alternatecrop being planted in between the two alfal-fa seedings.

Tankage is not allowed in natural andorganic hog feeding. As the article states,there are alternatives. Today we know muchmore about the specific amino acidsrequirements for growing swine and thesecan be accurately met with appropriateingredients.

In many cases, organic or natural produc-tion systems cost less to start and operate.Hogs harvest more of their own feed andspread more of their manure. Ventilation isnatural and the environment is healthier.

And by the way, natural andorganic pork products com-mand premium prices.

Our forefathers bequeathedus many time proven produc-tion practices that have beenforfeited with the adoption ofnewer technologies. Nowmight be the opportune timeto see how the new and theold, combined, can providethe best of all worlds.

Bill Henning and his wifeKathleen operate a grass-based beef and sheep farmin the Finger Lakes regionof New York. He is also theSmall Farms Specialistwith PRO-DAIRY/CCE-NWNY Dairy, Livestock,and Field Crops Team.

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By Mariane Kiraly

Editor’s note: This article is part of aseries focusing on risk managementfunded by the New York Crop InsuranceEducation Program under the Risk Man-agement Agency (USDA) and the NYSDepartment of Agriculture & Markets.

Your farm business faces risks every day.Bad weather can take a crop. Low pricescan steal your profits. Or lightening canburn down your barn.

While you have little control over weatherand markets, you still take actions to pro-tect your family and your farm from theunexpected. You buy crop or fire insuranceto protect your investments. You lock-in fer-tilizer prices or loan rates so rising costsdon’t eat into earnings. It’s just a sensibleway to do business.

Unfortunately, there are other risks thatclaim many farms each year because theyaren’t recognized as threats – or becausemany of us find it difficult or unpleasant toeven talk about them, much less plan forhow we can minimize them. I call them the“3 D’s” – death, disability and divorce.

YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOUWho likes to think or talk about death?Along with taxes, death is inevitable. Butmost farmers put off measures to ensurethe farm will continue should they die.Since farming is a very dangerous occupa-tion and most farmers are 55 or older,death is an important issue to face.

Untimely or not, there are things you cando to assure that your farm will live on:Meet with bankers and insurers to makesure that debt will be covered by life insur-ance and survivors can continue farming.

Plan for living expenses for survivors.While our Social Security system is a back-up for those who are vested in the system,survivors’ benefits will at best maintain onlybasic living expenses. Term life insuranceis relatively cheap and can be discontinuedwhen no longer needed.

Make sure successors know the farm busi-ness details, where important papers arestored, how the books are kept, and thefinancial status of the business.Have an updated and comprehensive will toprovide instructions to survivors and makebusiness transitions easier after a death.

New York FarmLink is an excellent resourcewhen making decisions regarding farmtransitions. Readers living in New YorkState can take advantage of the program’sfree consultation for business, retirementand estate planning. Contact SteveRichards: 800-547-3276, [email protected], or visit the FarmLinkwebsite: nyfarmlink.org.

DEALING WITH DISABILITYStop and think what wouldhappen to your farm businessif you or another family mem-ber faced disability due to anaccident, disease or illness.Without a plan in place, yourfarm could be forced out ofbusiness.

Insurance products canreduce the financial riskassociated with replacing a

key “labor resource.” (Using more personalterms, that’s you or another family mem-ber.) Some farmers carry disability insur-ance. Check with your insurance companyon rates as this kind of insurance historical-ly has been relatively inexpensive.

In this time of escalating medical costs,buying health insurance is an important riskmanagement tool. You can reduce the riskof disability by purchasing health insuranceand using it well. Many health problemscan be prevented or mitigated by regularcheck-ups. If this prevents a disability oreliminates thousands of dollars to diagnoseand treat a health problem, the cost of thehealth insurance is money well spent andwill ultimately reduce expenditures onhealthcare. Many states have programs tohelp farmers find affordable health insur-ance. See “Get Help with Health Insur-ance” in the Summer 2006 issue of SmallFarm Quarterly for more information.

You can also lower risks of injury and dis-ability by having machinery in top workingorder with all safety features in place.Many times when making repairs, you mayremove guards and be tempted not replacethem. Don’t fall into that trap -- literally.Old tractors without modern safety featuresare a safety liability on farms. It is better toreplace a tractor than risk injury or death.

The Northeast Center for Agricultural Medi-cine and Health (NYCAMH) is a greatresource for farmers when considering thesafety of their machinery. Phone 800-343-7527, email [email protected] or visittheir website at: www.nycamh.com.

Some disabled farmers are still able toassist in the management of a farm busi-ness, but are not able to do the physicalwork. Enlist assistance from New YorkAgrAbility Project to find out how they canbe of assistance with home and barn modi-fications for the disabled. Contact HollyCestero: 877-257-9777, email [email protected] or visit their website at:www.diaglab.vet.cornell.edu/aghealth/agra-bility.

INVEST IN RELATIONSHIPSDivorce is another unpleasant topic, but itshould not be overlooked as a risk that canruin a farm business. Divorce settlementsand associated legal fees can be very largefor a farm business to manage. This is notto say that a deserving spouse should notreceive what is fair. But the manner of pay-ments might make or break the farm.

However unromantic, many problems canbe prevented with a pre-nuptial agreement.The agreement can be worded so thatinstallments are paid over the course ofseveral years to settle a divorce. Use yourtrusted family lawyer who knows the familyand farm business to help you work out aprenuptial agreement.

If your betrothed only sees you away fromthe farm, they are in for a shock once thehoneymoon is over. Make sure a prospec-tive spouse understands the demands ofbeing a farmer and spends a good deal oftime on the farm before committing to mar-riage.

Be sure to spend quality time with yourspouse and family. Invest as much time,energy and love in them as you do in yourfarm. Take time to get away from the farmoccasionally. Vacations and outings neednot be lengthy or expensive. But they canhelp you gain a better perspective on yourwork, and a healthy perspective can helpprovide the glue that maintains lasting rela-tionships.

If you need help solving marriage or otherfamily issues, don’t be bashful about askingfor help. Seek expertise from a personal,marriage or family counselor. For NewYorkers, NY FarmNet has a trained group

of counselors who are ready to help. Con-tact Ed Staehr: 800-547-3276, [email protected] or visit their web-site at HYPERLINK "http://www.nyfarm-net.org" www.nyfarmnet.org.

You may still not like the idea of talkingabout the “3 D’s.” But as you can see,there are a lot of resources available tohelp you treat these risks the same waythat you treat other farming risks – by plan-ning how you can avoid the risk as muchas possible and minimizing their effectsshould they occur.

Yes, managing risks takes some time andattention. But the benefits – including yourown peace of mind – outweigh the costs inthe long run.

Mariane Kiraly is a dairy farm businessmanagement educator with CornellCooperative Extension, Delaware Co.

Page 4 SMALL FARM QUARTERLY October 9, 2006

MANAGING RISK

Taming the ‘Three D’s’How to Keep Death, Disability, and Divorce from Threatening Your Farm Business

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By Gary Goff & Tommy Brown

Editor’s note: This article is part of aseries focusing on risk managementfunded by the New York Crop InsuranceEducation Program under the Risk Man-agement Agency (USDA) and the NYSDepartment of Agriculture & Markets.The information in this article does notsubstitute for good legal advice. Wesuggest that you discuss your concernswith your attorney and insurance agent.

We live in a lawsuit-prone society. Whatwould happen if a snowmobiler is seriouslyinjured cutting through your land? Or atrespasser is pinned in the collapse of adilapidated outbuilding? Or a hunter acci-dentally shoots someone on your property?

Could any of these result in a lawsuit thatcould threaten your farm?

The answer is, of course: “It depends.” Butthere are practical steps you can take toreduce your liability in the event someoneusing your property for recreational purpos-es gets hurt.

In general, the law is on your side – assum-ing you are a reasonable and responsiblelandowner. Every Northeast state hasrecreational-use statutes. These laws rec-ognize that landowners who allow others touse their land for recreation are providing apublic service. The intent of these laws isto encourage landowners to allow recre-ational activities on their lands by limitingthe liability of those who do so.

These statutes vary in some aspects fromstate to state, but are very similar in manyways. Understanding the basics of thesestatutes will help you decide whether toallow various uses of your land, and thenhelp you manage your remaining liability toanyone using your land for recreation,including trespassers.

Aside from granting access as a goodneighbor, there are several mutually benefi-cial reasons to allow recreation on yourland. For example, recreational hunting ortrapping can help you manage nuisancewildlife such as deer, geese, muskrats, andbeaver. If harvesting timber is an objective,allowing visitors to remove low-grade trees(non-commercial firewood cutting is cov-ered by limited liability statutes in somestates) can improve growth of higher valuetrees. The periodic presence of neighborsand friends on your land can discouragetrespassers and unwanted activities.

GET RID OF HAZARDS“Limited liability statutes” cover all non-commercial (free access) recreation activi-ties in most states, with the notable excep-tion that the New York law does not coverswimming. In some states, covered recre-ational activities also include gleaning,gathering wood, and improving the land fora given activity. (See the online Table ofState Liability Laws listed in the ResourceSpotlight for the statute in your state.)

The extent of your liability generally variesdepending on whether or not you allowaccess “free of charge.” Maine law allowssome payment to owners if it is not forexclusive access to the property and if theuse is not primarily commercial. Massa-chusetts law allows a voluntary contributionto be made to the owner. In other statesany payment voids the limited liabilityoffered under the statutes.

The limited liability statutes in each stateare very similar about the duty of carelandowners owe to recreationists. Whenthey apply, the laws state that the landown-ers do not assume responsibility for injuriescaused to recreationists, nor do they havethe duty to keep the premises safe for useby others, nor must they give warning ofhazardous conditions.

However, owners aren’t protected from lia-bility if they “willfully or maliciously” fail toguard or warn against a hazardous condi-tion or use, or in other states, if theyengage in “willful, wanton, or reckless con-duct.”

Some examples of cases where ownershave been found liable despite the protec-tion of limited liability statutes include main-taining on the property an unprotectedopen well, a hazardous fallen-in building, ora high structure with deteriorated walkways.Natural hazards such as steep slopes orlakes and streams generally don’t putlandowners at risk.

Where owners were found liable, plaintiffssuccessfully showed that the owner:

• Knew about the condition.• Failed to minimize the hazard.• Knew people engaged in recreation

activities in the area.• Had the opportunity to warn people

about the hazard, but failed to do so.

Note that even a trespasser could potential-ly win a lawsuit in any state in the North-east involving this type of hazard. So youneed to protect yourself against such haz-ards. Get rid of them if at all possible. Ifthat isn’t possible, put barricades aroundthem and post “Keep Out” and warningsigns.

SUITS ARE NOT LIKELYGenerally, limited liability statutes carry thesame weight regardless of whether youhave given permission to a recreationist ornot, and regardless of whether your proper-ty is posted or not.

Limited liability statutes have held up verywell in court cases, even on appeal to high-er courts. In New York, for example, thebasic limited liability statute was enacted in1956. Since then, we have not found onecase that was decided against a privatelandowner for activities covered under thestatute, except for the type of obvious haz-ards (such as abandoned wells and oldbuildings) referred to earlier. A very smallnumber had to be appealed to a highercourt,

Claimants can bring suits regardless. Buttheir legal council is unlikely to pursue acase when these statutes can be invoked indefense because the chance of a favorabledecision is extremely small.

Many landowners are further protected bytheir liability insurance policies. Mostinclude an “obligation to defend” clausestipulating that the insurance company willprovide the insured with an attorney at nocost should the landowner be sued. If your

policy does not include that clause, youmay still win the case, but you will beresponsible for your legal fees.

If you have livestock, be sure to check withyour agent to make sure that you are cov-ered should livestock injure recreationists.

PAY TO PLAY?What if you charge people to use yourproperty for recreation? A genuine gift giv-en after the experience as a “thank you”(not required nor expected) for access typi-cally does not invalidate limited liabilitystatutes. But receipt of special considera-tion or compensation – money, goods, orservices – in payment for access generallyshifts more responsibility to the landowner.In such circumstances, landowners do havethe responsibility to keep the property in areasonably safe condition and must warnthe user of any known dangerous condi-tions that could cause injury.

Keep in mind that even a verbal agreementis a legal and binding contract when bothparties know of and expect that access tothe land is contingent upon some form of“payment.” So it is wise to prepare a writtencontract – with the aid of an attorney – thatspells out the specifics of the agreement. Agood contract that protects both partiesagainst “surprises” is well worth the modestcost.

Obviously, you should also inform and workwith your insurance company regarding any“pay-to-play” endeavors. Few homeownerinsurance policies will cover suits broughtagainst the landowner where recreationistsare required to make payment for access.Usually for a small premium increase, youcan add a rider in the policy that coversspecific, occasional “for-fee” uses.

It is a good idea to have all recreationistsusing your property sign a “hold harmless”or “waiver of liability” form to release thelandowner of liability for specific activitiesand specific types of injuries. For example,hunters should acknowledge that otherhunters may be on the land while they arethere, and recreation vehicle users shouldacknowledge that they know they mayencounter fences and gates on your prop-erty. Such a document will not provideabsolute protection, but it will strengthenyour case should you end up in court. Notehowever that hold harmless releases arenot valid for minors, even if their parentssign the waiver.

There is much you can do as a landownerto manage liability obligations to recreation-ists who use your land. (See summary side-bar: How to reduce recreational use risks.)Be aware of legal obligations and take rea-sonable precautions. If you use commonsense and are smart about transferringmost of the obligations (including insuranceand legal fees) to the users, your obligationsneed not be worrisome, or costly.

Gary R. Goff is a Senior Extension Asso-ciate and Tommy L. Brown is a SeniorResearch Associate in the Departmentof Natural Resources, Cornell University.

FOREST AND WOODLOT

Reducing Recreation Liability RiskWhen People Come Onto Your Land to Play,Make Sure You Don’t Have to Pay.

Recreational vehicle access is commonlyincluded in most states limited liability laws.

Photo courtesy Arctic Cat.

Providing recreational access to your landscan provide neighbors with unique opportuni-ties without burdening you with too much risk.

Photo courtesy Steve Morreale

How to Reduce Recreational Use Risks• Understand the basics of recreational-use liability statutes.• Know who is likely to be on your land, when they will be there and what activities theywill be pursuing.• Identify what dangers exist.• Eliminate known hazards.• If you can’t eliminate a hazard, barricade it and/or post warning signs.• Inform users of the potential hazards.• Check the provisions of your home- or farm-owner liability policy. Make sure yourinsurance agent knows about recreational activities on your property and be sure thatthe scope of activities and settlement coverage are adequate.• If you are leasing recreational access to others, work with your lawyer to prepare con-tracts with clearly detailed provisions that adequately protect both your rights and therights of the lessees.

Resource SpotlightReducing Recreation Liability Risk

Recreational Access and Owner Liability.Tommy Brown. Fact Sheet. DNR, Coop.Ext., Rm. 108, Fernow Hall, Cornell Univ.,Ithaca, NY 14853. 4pgs. www.dnr.cor-nell.edu/ext/info/pubs/index.htm

Publications from Natural Resource, Agri-culture, and Engineering Service(NRAES). See links below or request cat-alog from: NRAES, P.O. Box 4557, Itha-ca, NY 14852-4557. Phone: (607) 255-7654.

Forest Landowner’s Guide to Evaluatingand Choosing a Natural Resource-basedEnterprise. Jonathan Kays and Joy Dro-han. NRAES-151. www.nraes.org/publi-cations/nraes151.html

“Recreational Access to Private Lands:Liability Problems and Solutions.” JohnCopeland. pgs. 237-250 In NaturalResources Income Opportunities for Pri-vate Lands Conference, Hagerstown, MD.1998. NRAES-140. 275pgs.www.nraes.org/publications/nraes140.html

Table of State Liability Laws.www.imba.com/resources/trail_issues/lia-bility_chart.html

Hunting Leases that Protect theLandowner and the Resource. RobertMalmsheimer and David Colligan. NYForest Owner. July-Aug., 2001: pgs. 8-10.

New York Forest Owners Association, 1-800-836-3566 or online atwww.nyfoa.org.

SMALL FARM QUARTERLY October 9, 2006

By Bill Henning

Editor’s note: This article is part of aseries focusing on risk managementfunded by the New York Crop InsuranceEducation Program under the Risk Man-agement Agency (USDA) and the NYSDepartment of Agriculture & Markets.

When most of us think of risk management,some kind of insurance often comes tomind – or maybe safety training or diversify-ing our farm to reduce financial risks. Somefolks might just figure it’s safer to stay inbed in the morning.

“Plain people” – old order Mennonites andAmish – approach risk differently than most“English” farmers, as the plain people referto the rest of us. Can we learn somethingby looking at how they cope with risk?With few exceptions, yes.

Many plain people grow up farming, somein more primitive fashion than others. Theygrow up exposed to risks of which we arecompletely unaware.

One example is farming with horses. Someof these faiths do not allow tractor farmingor automobiles. Children raised in theseplain families grow up with the risk of realhorsepower, and learn to deal with it assecond nature. For many English, workingwith horses would be an accident waiting tohappen simply because technology hasremoved us far from a very natural experi-ence.

There are many more examples too numer-ous to delve into here, from navigating highbeams during a barn raising to working dai-ly with ancient equipment built long beforethe advent of safety shields. Care andcommon sense keep these calculated risksfrom turning into disasters most of the time.

Common sense also rules when it comesto reducing production and marketing risks.Most plain farm families don’t put all theireconomic eggs in one basket. Many relyon diverse rotations that include smallgrains and forage crops to feed livestock.They often have multiple enterprises andeven small, farm-based businesses tomake the most of their industrious laborthrough the seasons – not to mention a biggarden that provides a harvest of healthfulfood for the family.

But the plain people have other means ofliving with risk that are firmly grounded intheir religious beliefs. An important part ofthat belief system involves “taking care oftheir own.” Plain people do not partake ingovernment programs and avoid insurance.Much of their risk management involvestreating neighbors the way they would liketo be treated.

INSURANCE ALTERNATIVESWhile the details vary from church tochurch, this alternative to insurance is com-

mon in plain communities. If a member ofa community has a misfortune, perhaps abarn fire, the losses are made up forthrough a fund supported by free-will dona-tions. Victims often handle smaller lossesindividually, while very large losses arehandled by a fund supported by numerouscommunities. However, in every case, thelocal community plays an important role.

The question might now arise: What’s thedifference between this concept and insur-ance? There are five major differences:Losses are compensated for out of volun-tary contributions. No one is paid for admin-istration.Compensation is only for materialthings. The local community provides thelabor, free of charge. There is never anyprofit involved. Emotional support is auto-matically included.

An example of that emotional support: Inmy area a man of a “horse and buggy” faithis currently in the hospital for an extendedperiod of time. Members of the local com-munity pay the transportation cost for hiswife to travel – every day – to and from thehospital. People go with her to comfortboth her and her husband – every day –while other community members look afterthe children at home – every day.

HEALTH CAREThe plain people deal with health careissues in much the same way as other nat-ural catastrophes. When plain peoplebecome ill or are injured, getting the workdone at home is not a problem. All theneighbors just pitch in and help until thedisabled party is back on his or her feet.

The community also supports people withchronic or longer-term disabilities. Forexample, if an individual has a heart condi-tion and can’t work, the local communityprovides an ongoing stipend to support thefamily for as long as necessary.

Among all the plain communities, the risingcost of health care is a big concern. Plainpeople don’t have health insurance, but paycash when they need treatment. Whilesome hospitals and other providers willnegotiate discounts for prompt payment,others say they give no discounts at all.

Of course, it’s pretty well known that – evenafter any discount – individuals pay signifi-cantly more than what insurance compa-nies reimburse providers for the same serv-

ices. In some circles, the question arises:“What is the value of all this medical tech-nology when it becomes beyond the reachof common people?”

THE LARGER COMMUNITYNeighbors helping neighbors does not stopat the doors of any particular plain denomi-nation. The Mennonite Central Committee(MCC) provides assistance across thecountry and around the world. Each year,volunteers (mostly Amish and Mennonite,but anybody is welcome) process tractor-trailer loads of meat in an MCC mobile can-ning factory that travels across the U.S. andinto Canada. Donations pay for all expens-es. The meat goes to feed folks in needresulting from catastrophes.

Mennonite Disaster Services (MDS) pro-vides labor to assist with catastropheswhere other help would not be available.This could be cleanup after fires, icestorms, tornados, etc.

Sometimes it involves rebuilding. Occa-sionally MDS offers other forms of assis-tance. For example, during theNorth Country ice storm in1998, Finger Lakes area farm-ers loaned more than 90 gen-erators through MDS. Many ofthese generators ended upserving two or three farmseach, allowing thousands ofcows to be milked until powerwas restored. Several localpeople went along to northernNew York to assist with distri-bution. No one knew when orhow these generators wouldreturn. But within four weeksall the generators were back.It all worked out well.

OLD AGEThe concept of “retirement,” aswe know it, does not exist inthe Bible. Among the plaincommunities, three genera-tions often live at the sameaddress. While obtaining thecritical mass of money to sup-port retirement is a lifelongchallenge for many “moremodern” cultures, plain peopleare born with the concept thatthey will always care for oth-ers, and others will alwayscare for them. In this manner,plain people are born with thatcritical mass, and never haveto sweat about saving for oldage.

Please note that Mennonitesand Amish do not want anyrecognition for their deeds,whether taking care of eachother or helping others outsidetheir communities. Recogni-tion is not their motivation, andthey purposely avoid notice.They care for each otherbecause it is the right thing todo, and they are called to it bytheir faith. Their good deedsare reported here simply to

demonstrate other ways the plain communi-ty deals with risk.

Risk management, as exercised in the plaincommunities, does not answer every ques-tion. They recognized risk as part of life – anatural phenomenon. In the end, theirmeans of living with risk really revolvesaround one word – love.

Bill Henning is a small farms specialistwith Cornell Cooperative Extension’sNorthwest New York Dairy, Livestock,and Field Crops Team/ Pro-Dairy, a SmallFarm Quarterly editorial team member,and a farmer.

‘Horse and buggy’ faiths face different kindsof risks, and often cope with them as a com-munity. Photo by Bill Henning

How ‘Plain People’ Manage RiskOld Order Amish and Mennonites Rely on Diversity and Community to Help Themselves and Others.

Many ‘plain people’ grow up with the risks ofreal horsepower and other hazards, and learnto deal with them as second nature.

Photo by Bill Henning

What can we learn from the Amish and Mennonites about risk management?

We can learn that coping with risk on the community level is often as much about giving as it is about receiving:

Reduce production and marketing risks by diversifying your rotations, enterprises and businesses.

Prevent health problems by getting plenty of exercise, eating healthy food and avoiding vice.

Pitch in if a sick or injured neighbor needs short-term help. Contribute labor, transportation, childcare and emotional sup-port even if you can’t help financially.

Be generous and “invest” in your relationships with family, friends, neighbors and others in your community.

Volunteer to help with disaster relief – near and far.

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By Jennifer Morrill and Kirsten Ferguson

For the first time in ten years since theAmerican Farmland Trust (AFT) establishedits annual Steward of the Land Award, aNew York State farmer has been selectedto receive the prestigious national honor.

AFT, an organization dedicated to protect-ing our nation’s strategic agriculturalresources, selected DeLancy dairy farmerTom Hutson from over 75 outstanding final-ists from all over the country for the awardthat recognizes the American farmer orfarm family who best demonstrates leader-ship in protecting farmland and caring forthe environment.

Hutson received a check for $10,000 at aceremony on the steps of City Hall in Man-hattan. The following day another presenta-tion and picnic took place at a picturesquepark on the river near his farm.

“Tom has always understood how his farm’sstakeholders include not only the con-sumers of his products but the residents ofNew York City, whose clean drinking waterdepends on environmentally friendly agri-culture,” said Ralph Grossi, AFT president.“Tom both works the land and sustains it.His nomination really stood out as an

example of what the future of farming couldbe.”

“It’s fitting that we recognize Tom, since ithonors the memory of AFT founder PeggyMcGrath Rockefeller. Peggy was avidlyinvolved in the New York state dairy indus-try,” Grossi added.

River Haven Farm is nestled in New York’sCatskill Mountains where Hutson has 380acres and a herd of 108 Holsteins. He rais-es corn, alfalfa hay and grass hay, alongwith oats and barley for grain, and straw forbedding. There are 57 acres of hardwoodforest on the farm. He also raises Hi-HO’s,a Holstein-Scottish Highland beef cattlecross.

PROTECTING THE NYC WATERSHEDHutson was one of the first farmers to par-ticipate in pilot programs administered bythe Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC),which manages waters quality protectionprograms in the New York City watershed.In order to reduce the risk of agriculturalrunoff reaching the Catskill/Delaware reser-voir systems, Hutson installed filter stripsand other technologies to filter runoff andprevent agricultural waste from entering thewater supply during rainstorms. Filter stripsare permanent rows of vegetation that slow

water runoff and erosion ofriverbanks, and filter out dam-aging substances from thewater supply.

By permanently protecting hisfarm with a conservationeasement acquired by theWAC, Hutson has made surethat he and future owners ofRiver Haven Farm can contin-ue farming the land while lim-iting economic pressure toredevelop and subdivide hisproperty.

His land was made for farm-ing, level and fertile withsome of the best soil in thestate. The conservation ease-ment prevents non-agricultur-al development of this impor-tant natural asset. Wildlifebenefit from the sustainablefarm environment, too. Along-side one conserved field in ahuge sycamore tree, baldeagles tend to a nest of threefledglings.

Nearly a hundred of Hutson’sneighbors, fellow-board mem-bers and organizational rep-

resentatives were on hand to witness hisself-effacing and humorous nature inaccepting the award. “I am humbled toreceive this,” he said, adding that the awardbelongs “to all of us.”

Sharing the conservation messageHutson’s gift for sharing his love of the landwith the community makes him “the great-est one-man public-relations agency landconservation has ever seen,” says WACcommunications director Karen Rauter. Tomhas shared his experiences with his peersand advocates through numerous on-farmdemonstrations and speeches to countlessvisitors, media and groups. His one-on-oneconsultations with other farmers haveresulted in numerous applications to theWAC conservation easement program.

Fred Huneke, chair of the WAC and fellowdairy farmer, added his praise for Hutson’sefforts. “New York City faced a looming cri-sis in 1990—spending billions of dollars tobuild and operate a water filtration system.Instead, they came up with a novel plan toprotect the water supply and keep it cleanby partnering with farmers like Tom whowork to manage their farms in environmen-tally positive ways. Tom has encouragedfarmers in the watershed to join him inthese efforts and that’s meant the City hasbeen spared a huge financial burden.”

And Ira Stern, director of watershed landsand community planning for NY City’sDepartment of Environmental Protection(DEP), couldn’t agree more.“Tom is a visionary and gutsy man whojumped into a project that had never beentried before. Tom is a man of courage, witha strong sense of what is right, and he isalways a gentleman.”

Stern and his colleagues realize that it has-n’t always been popular for upstate farmersto cooperate with New York City, and addedthat because Hutson was the willingguinea-pig for almost every pilot project, hehelped develop programs like the WholeFarm Planning process that’s being under-taken voluntarily on over 90 percent of thewatershed’s farms.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE“I wouldn’t have signed up for the pilot pro-gram if we didn’t have the local agenciesand local people involved,” Hutson says.“WAC is farmers dealing with farmers.That’s the whole key to it: local involvement,local farmers on board. I don’t believe thecity ever believed we would get what we’vegot going now. I would hope that we couldbe a model. The lessons learned hereshould be able to be replicated in otherwatersheds.”

Ralph Grossi echoes Hutson’s sentiments.“Tom is a champion of good agriculture,leading and showing by example on hisfarm how you can provide consumers withfood and environmental benefits, andattract wildlife at the same time.”

The award was presented several weeksafter AFT called for a new direction in U.S.farm policy— one that links support to landstewardship rather than to the production ofspecific commodities. In a report thatdetailed priorities for such a bill, AFT pro-posed rewarding farmers for protecting theenvironment and for providing public bene-fits such as wildlife habitat and clean water.

According to Grossi, “Green payments”would create greater incentives for farmersto deliver environmental benefits, andwould reward stewards like Hutson. “Tom isa true steward of the land and a greatinspiration to farmers across the country,the kind of farmer that the public needs tosustain.”

Jennifer Morrill is the media relationsmanager and Kirsten Ferguson is awriter/editor for American FarmlandTrust. They can be contacted at 202-378-1255, or at [email protected] [email protected]. AmericanFarmland Trust is a national nonprofitorganization working with communitiesand individuals to protect the best land,plan for agriculture and keep the landhealthy. AFT’s Northeast office is locat-ed in Saratoga Springs, New York. Formore information, visitwww.farmland.org.

STEWARDSHIP AND NATURE

Growing Clean Water On The FarmDeLancey, NY, Dairy Farmer Tom Hutson is Honored with aPrestigious Environmental Stewardship Award

In order to reduce the risk of agricultural runoff reaching the Catskill/Delaware reservoir sys-tems, Hutson installed filter strips and other technologies to filter runoff and prevent agricul-tural waste from entering the water supply during rainstorms. Photo By Meredith Heuer

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By Darrell Frey

Energy conservation and the reduction offossil fuel usage are important priorities insustainable development. Innovative agri-cultural operations can help contribute tothe search for alternatives to fossil fuels.More and more farms are implementingsustainable agriculture principles, wherefarming practices make efficient use ofrenewable (or replaceable) resources underthe fundamental principle of not harmingthe environment or local ecology.

One example would be choosing crops tosuit the climate, thus reducing the need forirrigation. Other solutions lie in conserva-tion, selecting the appropriate tools andequipment for a job and working with thecycles of nature. Agricultural goods con-sumed locally also contribute to energyconservation by reducing the fuel used toship farm products nation wide.

THREE SISTERS FARM AND BIOSHELTERAt Three Sisters Farm, clean energy andconservation are a priority of our farm’soriginal design and ongoing development.Three Sisters Farm is a small-scale inten-sive market garden farm near Sandy Lakein Mercer County, PA. The bioshelter atThree Sisters Farm is a combination pas-sive solar greenhouse, barn and compost-ing facility. A major departure from tradition-

al greenhouse design and operation, abioshelter represents a synthesis of energyefficient architecture and ecological design.

The building is designed to capture andstore solar energy, reducing the need forexternal energy input. Much of the growingspace is deep soil beds, designed formature crop production, rather than stan-dard benches. Poultry and compost binsare located in contained areas, providing avariety of functions, such as gas exchange,heat production and heat storage, as wellas producing food and compost. Thebioshelter serves as the heart of the farm—allowing year round production of vegeta-bles, herbs, flowers, various other usefulplants, eggs, meat, as well as high qualitycompost.

ENERGY CONSERVATIONEnergy conservation is the first step inreducing fossil fuel use. At Three SistersFarm we have designed many conservationstrategies into our bioshelter. Strategies toconserve energy include the use of wind-breaks, earth berms and heavy insulationto reduce heat loss from the building. Simi-larly we have designed our building to havenatural lighting, and passive cooling, viawindows and vents, to reduce cooling costsin summer months.

Our high tunnels -- unheated greenhousesthat help extend the growing season -- areconfigured to reduce both heating and cool-ing costs, and our poly-tunnel greenhousesare designed to eliminate the need for cool-ing fans. These two high tunnels are fifteenfeet wide and forty-five feet long, providingsix hundred square feet of protected grow-ing space.

By orienting these tunnels to prevailingwinds, keeping them under fifty feet longand having wide doors on each end, theyare cooled passively and do not requireelectric fans to ventilate. During the heat-ing season, they are sealed on the endsand protected on the north side by a row ofstraw bales, reducing heat loss and extend-ing the season by several weeks into thefall and spring.

FIREWOODThree cords of wood provide back up heatto the bioshelter each winter. Firewood isrenewable in a lifetime and the carbonreleased has not been stored geologicallyfor many million years. Rather it is consid-ered “biogenic” or of biological origin. The

forest area of Pennsylvania has increasedin recent decades, as farmland is aban-doned and reverts to woodlands. Addition-ally many foresters are advocating sustain-able management practices. These consid-erations allow proper use of firewood to beconsidered a sustainable practice in Penn-sylvania.

SOLAR ELECTRICITYThree Sisters Farm received a grant forinstallation of a photovoltaic irrigation sys-tem in the spring of 2004. The grant wassponsored by the Pennsylvania Associationfor Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) and wasfunded by the Pennsylvania Department ofEnvironmental Protection's Energy HarvestGrant Program. Photovoltaic power gener-ation offers a way to reduce demand on theelectric power grid and therefore reduce airpollution and carbon dioxide productionassociated with electric generation.

Application of photovoltaic technology onthe farm is best suited when sized for andapplied to specific applications. Seasonalirrigation and livestock watering needs aretwo good examples of the application ofsolar power to a farm. Grid inter-tied photo-voltaic systems are more expensive butallow a farm to contribute clean energy tothe national grid during off peak hours anddraw from the grid when needed.

BIOFUELSThe use of biodiesel fuel is a fast-growingtrend, and biodiesel is especially suited foragricultural uses. Plant based oils can sup-plement and replace fossil fuelto power tractors, trucks andother diesel powered fuels.

Biogas production from agri-cultural waste is also a viableoption being developed bydairy farms. These systemscan be costly to construct, butproperly designed and man-aged can provide clean renew-able energy.

BIOTHERMAL ENERGYUntil the 20th century manymarket gardens made use ofhot beds to use heat fromcomposting organic matter to

promote plant growth. We have modernizedthis system at Three Sisters Farm. Poultrymanure and horse manure obtained fromnearby stables is composted in the com-post chambers. Compost chambers areclosed systems, featuring a series of airducts to provide ventilation to assist thedecaying process. Heat and carbon dioxidefrom the compost is blown to deep gardenbeds in the bioshelter, enhancing crop pro-duction in the winter months.

THE BOTTOM LINEEnergy conservation makes good economicsense, in addition to being good for theplanet. When we built our bioshelter in1988, we estimated a similar sized green-house would require $3,000 per year toheat with over 4,000 gallons of fuel oil.Even at 2004 prices this would be nearly$8,000 per year. It is accurate to say that75% of our $80,000 initial construction costhas been paid back in fifteen years, in fuelcost savings alone.

Darrell Frey is a permaculture designspecialist at Three Sisters PermacultureDesign in Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania. Formore information about the Three Sis-ters Farm or about energy-related tech-nologies and practices for your farm,contact Darrell at 724-376-2797 [email protected]. For more infor-mation about the Pennsylvania Associa-tion for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA)call 814-349-9856 or visit www.pasafarm-ing.org.


STEWARDSHIP AND NATURE

Sustainable Energy SystemsOn the FarmThree Sisters Farm in Sandy Lake, PA, Has Been ExploringInnovative, Energy-Conserving Technologies Since 1988.You Can Too.

The bioshelter at Three Sisters Farm is a combination passive solar greenhouse, barn and com-posting facility, allowing year round production of vegetables, herbs, flowers, eggs, meat, as wellas high quality compost. In the foreground is the solar pump.

Until the 20th century many market gardensmade use of hot beds to take advantage ofheat from composting organic matter to pro-mote plant growth. Three Sisters Farm hasmodernized this approach, with a compostchamber featuring a series of air ducts. Heatand carbon dioxide from the compost is blownto deep garden beds in the bioshelter, enhanc-ing crop production in the winter months.

Poultry provide eggs and meat year-round, as well as manure for compost and thermal energyfor winter crop production.

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By Fay Benson

This spring residents of New York’s Cort-land County driving by the well knownSpace farm noticed some cows of a differ-ent color out in the pastures. The farm iseasily recognized by the large “SPACE”shingled into the 140 foot long roof of themain barn.

The cows look different because they’recrossbreds. But that’s not the only differ-ence on this farm; Bob and Nancy Spacehave rented the farm to Jim and AnnePhilips who farm it as a seasonal dairy. ThePhilips only produce milk 9 to 10 months ofthe year. For the remaining 2-3 months ofthe year, people and cows take a break.

Seasonal dairying takes advantage of thelow cost associated with grazing dairycows, by making milk when there is grassgrowing. It is one of the techniques smalldairies are using to remain profitable in thedairy industry. In Cortland County, as withthe rest of the state, there has been anexodus of small dairies, those milkingunder a hundred or so cows. The trend hasbeen towards larger farms where efficiencyof scale can be captured.

For those farmers that want to managesmaller dairies, seasonal milking is just oneof the solutions to remain profitable. Othersolutions include managed grazing, farm-stead cheese production, or transition tothe organic dairy market.

EXTENSION -- A RESOURCE FOR NEW FARMERSJim and Anne contacted the CortlandCounty Extension office in 2004 looking fora farm in Central NY. They had a herd ofcows in Ohio and were looking for a farmlocated near Cornell where Anne hadagreed to work. Cornell Cooperative Exten-sion has historically been a source of net-working for those looking to buy or rent afarm and those that have a farm to rent orsell.

Besides helping the Philips locate farms tolook at in the area, the South Central NYDairy Team, which is centered in Cortland’sExtension office, assisted them with devel-oping a business plan. The team's FarmBusiness Specialist, Jacob Schuelke,helped work through the different types ofarrangements that the Philips’ were consid-ering.

The Spaces, having retired from dairying afew years ago, were committed to keepingtheir land in farming even though the landaround them is highly sought after forhousing lots. The desires of the two familiesmade for an easy match. I was asked tofacilitate the discussion that resulted in therental agreement between the two families.

SEASONAL DAIRYINGThe Philips farm isn’t the only seasonaldairy in the area. Just a mile up the roadMike Carroll and his father Earl have beenseasonal dairy farmers for a number ofyears. They find the change in seasonsenjoyable. Milking cows twice a day for 365days a year can be wearing to some farm-ers and their families. The two to threemonth break during the winter provides anice change of pace.

Both the Carrolls and the Philips are regu-lar participants in educational meetingsduring the winter and long family vacationsare possible too. In March and April whenthe baby calves are being born there areplenty of long nights and teaching a years’worth of calves to eat from the feeders inone month takes a lot of patience. But asMike Carroll says, “Once it’s over I don’thave to do it again till next year.”

Cows give the most milk shortly afterthey’ve had their calves. This means springcalving fits well with Central NY’s climate,since the spring is when the most nutritiousgrass grows. This is the synergy thatmakes seasonal dairying profitable. Whenthe animals need the highest nutrition,nature provides it in grass, which is a crop

that is relatively inexpensive to grow andneeds no herbicides.

Since the cow is harvesting the grass her-self and is spreading her manure back onthe land, fuel costs are also low. When thecows are “dry” (8-10 weeks before theycalve again) they don’t require as high alevel of nutrition. So the stored grass har-vested in the summer goes a long way inkeeping them in the winter.

DIVERSITY LEADS TO STRENGTHSeasonal dairying isn’t for everyone; itrequires a different type of management,one that focuses more on cost controlrather than on production. That is the bene-fit of having a diverse dairy industry in theNortheast; where a variety of farming stylesexist to suit the diverse types of farmerslooking to farm. This diversity encouragesan influx of new dairy farmers, which isimportant to those who are already farmingin a region.

Without new farmers taking the place ofthose that have transitioned out of the busi-ness, there wouldn’t be the critical mass offarms which need the products and servic-es that agri-business provides. Manyregions of the state are experiencing longerdrives for machinery parts, less choices forVeterinary services, and more difficulty infinding other support services.

WHAT’S NEXT?The Philips are in the process of transition-ing to certified organic dairy production aswell. Their plan is to eventually have Annestay at home and work on the farm withtheir three young children. In order to besuccessful they realize they will need tobuck a few trends along the way.

Fay Benson is the Small Farm Educatorwith Cornell Cooperative Extension,Cortland County. This article is reprintedwith permission from the Cortland Stan-dard, June 1st 2006


By JJ Schell

October is a busy time for farmers. Thework of bringing in the fall crops to store forwinter is well underway. The buzz of forageharvesters and combines can be heardacross the region as picturesque cornfieldsfall victim to the voracious appetite of thecutter head.

Corn silage is the backbone of many dairyand beef rations, and numerous acres areharvested every fall. Safety is a concernduring all phases of corn silage harvest,but safety on the highway stands out as amajor concern. Many farmers have to travellong distances to harvest crops from widelyseparated fields.

Unfortunately, you can’t control what otherdrivers do. But you can take steps to makeyourself more visible and reduce the likeli-hood of an accident. Most producers make

sure the equipment they operate is safeand road-ready, but sometimes, when timebecomes a factor in harvesting the crop,safety is compromised.

It is important to make sure all lights, mir-rors, brakes, and steering are adjustedproperly and working correctly. . A tractor

used during the day that has no amberhazard lights or headlights will become anaccident waiting to happen if the harvestpushes into the nighttime hours. Improper-ly adjusted or missing mirrors on tractors,with cabs, will create challenges when turn-ing in and out of fields.

Before going to the field, make sure allsafety devices are in operating condition.Find and fix any safety-related problemsyou may have noticed but did not take timeto repair, such as a missing or brokenshield, burned-out light bulb, or trouble-some switch.

Make sure you have a Slow Moving Vehiclesign prominently displayed and properlyfastened to the rear of equipment such as agravity box or self-unloading wagon. Fadedor dirty reflective strips and Slow MovingVehicle symbols should be cleaned orreplaced.

Pull-type forage harvesters, if not properlylighted, become a big safety risk at nightdue to their slow speed and width. Usereflective tape to outline the dimensions of

the equipment so motorists can make outthe size at night.

Another good practice is to use a flag per-son to help you get in and out of fields on abusy highway, or near blind spots on hillsand curves. The flag person can also sig-nal to motorists that there is a need to slowdown.

It’s this simple: If you make your field equip-ment more visible you are less likely tohave a serious accident. Farming is danger-ous. Take the time to maintain and operatemachinery safely so you and your familycan have a successful fall harvest seasonwithout personal injury or property damage.

For more information, the New York Centerfor Agriculture Medicine and Health is agreat resource for information on how youcan make your farm equipment more visibleto motorists. You can contact NYCAMH toll-free at 800-743-7527.

JJ Schell is Agriculture Program Leaderwith Cornell Cooperative Extension ofSchoharie County.

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Jim and Anne Philips moved from Ohio to New York to start a small, seasonal dairy farm withtheir three children. Photo by Fay Benson

By Molly Edwards, Putnam Valley, NY

Ever since I can remember I have enter-tained the idea of having a small farmwhen I grow older. I haven’t grown up on afarm, though I was in a 4-H club for a timethat was based at a farm. I recentlyjoined a small organic farm/ food co-opwhere we plant, take care of, and harvest amultitude of varieties of vegetables, fromthe 50 different kinds of lettuce to Asiangreens to corn and pumpkins.

However, this small farm is extremely dif-ferent from the farms that our group visit-ed during Career Explorations. My smallexperience in farming didn’t prepare me forwhat I saw and learned during my stay atCornell. I knew farming was a tremendouslydifficult way of life, but I had no idea justhow hard it actually was. One farmer wemet said that he still had a couple ofyears to go until he broke even.

I also learned that there were a lot ofdirections you could go if you choose torun a farm. We visited ZiemBarbWay Farmthat is actually a boarding house for cowsand specializes in embryo transfers. Wetoured Hillcrest Dairy, a family-owned pro-cessing plant which takes the milk fromtheir cows and sells it or turns it intocheese. Yet another farmer chose to opena restaurant that uses the organic fruitsand vegetables that he grows.

I have decided that, after touring thefarms and talking to people in my groupthat live on farms, I will still have a smallfarm when I grow older, but it will most like-ly be smaller than what I would like andwould probably be a hobby farm, not a fullworking farm. By taking part in CareerExplorations this year, I have definitelygained a whole new level of respect for peo-ple who run any farm small or large. I had

By Alicia Keller, Corfu, NY

On June 27-29, 2006 hundreds of 4-H youth attended the NYS 4-H Career Explorationstrip on the campus of Cornell University. I represented Genesee County as a “focusassistant” for the session called “Exploring the Small Farm Dream.”

Our group consisted of 14 youth representatives and 5 adult volunteers. Two group coor-dinators from Cornell’s Small Farms Program arranged an educational experience in whichwe had the opportunity to explore the lives of small farmers. The first day we heard sixspeakers, and the second day consisted of visits to four local farming operations. Thefinal day consisted of debriefing and reflection on our own agricultural dreams and ambi-tions.

This issue of the SFQ Youth Pages features the reflections of our group members onwhat we saw and what we learned.


Our 3-day session on “Exploring the Small Farm Dream” began in the classroom, where weheard from resource people like Christy Marshall of USDA Farm Services Agency, and fromyoung people like ourselves who are already farming or thinking about farming.

Small Farm Quarterly

Youth PagesExploring the Small Farm Dream With 4-H Career Explorations

Refining My Small Farm Dream

Traveling Through the Mindsof Small Farms

By Samantha VanAlstine, Springfield, NY

For the past few days, I have spent timeat Cornell University with students frommany counties in a program on Exploringthe Small Farm Dream. All of these pre-senters had very interesting, surprisingand strange information to say and Ithink that anyway it was said; we alllearned something different from it.

Several of the farmers told us that if you

want to succeed and you try hard, andyou love what you do, you can do it. Welearned that there are many differentways you can succeed on a farm, such asElderberry Pond Farm which has their ownrestaurant and grows their own fruitsand vegetables.

In this program, I have learned many newways to succeed in farming. There aremany people out there that will help you ifyou just ask for it.

My Own Small Farm DreamBy Elizabeth Trombly, Chateaugay, NY

My father owns a cash crop farm and we have asmall barn for our animals. We started out withjust two horses, and now we have seven heifersand one cow. I won the cow through the NYSGuernsey calf scholarship program, in May shehad a set of twin girls.

While here at Cornell I was able to discoversome new aspects of small farming. One offarms we visited was ZiemBarbWay farm ofAurora, NY. Here the owners board and raisedairy cattle for other people. The special partof the farm is that every cow is worth $20,000or more. Along with boarding, they also doembryo transfers on most of the animals. Both

the husband and wife graduated from CornellUniversity. The husband has a degree dealingwith dairy genetics; this was something newthat has sparked an interest in possible degreechoices for me.

Some day after college I myself plan on having asmall farm (less than 50 head of cattle), alongwith a second job. My experience over this timehas allowed me to see and hear the point ofviews from many farmers. Though they all saythat it’s very hard work, they all agree thatthey couldn’t see themselves doing anythingelse and that they have a great passion fortheir lifestyle. This program has only encour-aged me and has given me new connections tofulfill my own small farm dream.

Lou Lego explains apple pest management strategies at Elderberry Pond Farm.

Hillcrest Dairy showed us the whole plant where they make cheese and bottle their own milk.

Chris and Kim Grant of Indian Chimney Farm explained the challenges and rewards of running asmall agritourism operation.

no idea what a farmer’s life was really like,and this program has given me a good view

of that life and helped me decide about myfuture.

By Anna Plattner and Ashley Schoenborn,Greene County, NY

We never realized exactly how much work wasinvolved with farming until we attended CareerExplorations 2006. The farmers that we visitedall had to farm along with a second job just tomake ends meet. We learned that to be afarmer you have to have a passion for what youdo. Without a passion there is no way you canwake up with the sun just to feed your animals

and milk your cows.

We learned that farming isn’t just a job, it’s awhole way of life that few have the patience andperseverance for. Career Explorations 2006was a truly inspiring trip that gave us a wholenew perspective on farming and its manyaspects. No one should ever say farming is triv-ial because it’s just about the hardest, mostchallenging, passionate career out there, and werespect anybody who is brave enough do it.

By Elizabeth Ochieng, Poughkeepsie, NY

Before coming to Cornell for Career Exploration,I was interested in having a small farm of myown in the future because some of the farmerswhere I come from made it seem very easy.

Well, whoever said that farming is easy iswrong. After traveling to Indian Chimney Farm,Hillcrest Dairy, ZiemBarbWay Farm and Elder-berry Pond Farm and Restaurant, I found out

that owning a farm is not such an easy job. Youhave to put a lot of things at risk, you have tobe brave and dedicated, and you also have tolove what you are doing. Farmers have to makea lot of sacrifices that I think many peoplewould never do.

What I learned is that if you want to be afarmer, you need to have a plan, you need to beprepared for any disaster, and also… don’texpect success every single time.


Want to write for the Youth Pages? Writers need not be 4-H members.Please submit your article or letter to:

Celeste Carmichael, 4-H Youth Development Program Specialist, CCE State 4-H Youth Development Office,

340 Roberts Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853Phone 607-255-4799, Fax 607-255-0788, http://cce.cornell.edu/4h

Getting a Reality Check on Farming

Hard Work, Rewarding LifestyleBy Kathryn Davis

I recently attended Cornell Career Explorations,in the group called Exploring the Small FarmDream. We visited four small farms and thecommon theme I got from all of them is that itis a lot of hard work -- but it is a very rewardinglifestyle. I also learned that to be profitablesmall farms have to find ways to be different sothey stand out and don’t get overlooked orovershadowed by large farms.

I don’t currently live on a farm but I plan to oneday. I want to have free range chickens, dairygoats, and hair sheep. The chickens I will usefor eggs and meat, I will milk the goats andmake cheese and soap, and I will raise the sheepfor meat. I also want to grow fruits and veg-etables. I want to be self-sufficient and sell theextra products I have to people who like freshfarm products. This is my idealistic dream. Iknow that things may not end up this way but Iam going to try.

A Passion for Farming Resource SpotlightThe Beginning Small Farmer’s Guide to SuccessBy: Justin Fish, Schenectady County, NYNY FarmLinkhttp://nyfarmlink.org/about.htmCheck out this organization that helps sup-port those in pursuit of the small farm dreamby connecting them with other beginning farm-ers and people who want to experience thefarm lifestyle.

NY FarmNetwww.nyfarmnet.org This organization helps support farmers dur-ing challenging times like farm transitions.

FSA Rural Youth Loanswww.fsa.usda.gov/DAFL/youthloans.htm Young people can check out this website tofind out ways to gain financial support to helpmake their farming dreams come true.

NY Farm Bureauwww.nyfb.org/programs/YF&R/yngfarm.htm The New York State Farm Bureau organizesleadership events, activities, and providesachievement awards for young farmers andranchers.

By Craig Lesser and Kyle Dente

ActivityWORD SEARCH: Pursuing the Small Farm Dream

H K R A U V L L T V G D F D S T M A A D H R E N ZY F C L P L V M D C M B B R X E O N S N Z A X E TI R H L E I Y W Y R I U E N C I V D R O X G P G NM Y I N S R E F S N A R T O Y R B M E P K X B C OT Y R A D R Y C O W S W N T C Z H S C Y Z V J Q UC O Q X D S E G A A K O M H G M Z U O R U O E K OC T K M G T E B E I M K E I G B H B N R W M E D GE Z K M L F S O O I O E E N L G B S V E U P V A BP O C K Y O A E E U S Q I O E K C I E B O I M S PU N V Y C Z K S R E J S G H I I R S N R M N R F JR D I V B S O O M C S Q P M E D F T T E Q G P G SS J N C I F Y A T E L J V J U S Q A I D L I B D XN S X I S N K D C M E L M A A H C N O L R A W B VO O W C J I D O E U A S I F S J O C N E B H S H MQ X A O N Z R I N H Z Z C H H X R E A Z Z B E X NU L H G C P C G A X Q L L S Z C C F L M A I M W SE Z S Y K H I V M N C W J O Y I J A B A F L R C KW S A L O V S P G L C P J F G N A R Q E J I U L TS F I U H R U E U H V H D R Z A L M R C Q N W K XI M S F W M H N R V D Y I C W G P I D W V L D X QI X T E T T Z F T F R S Z M W R A N C G A A L H XY A W B R A B M E I Z N O A N O C G R T R R D M JH Q A W Y R I A D V B C W G V E A P A G R V H V BR P A S T E U R I Z A T I O N D Y K F Q C C L F SF L Q O Y C P K M I M C H K W E O K Z A X T P E Q

By Lauren Pitman and Kyle Donnan

After visiting several small farms and listeningto people for the “Exploring the Small FarmDream” Career Exploration group at CornellUniversity, we got many new insights on thesmall farming perspective. The biggest mes-sage was that you absolutely have to love whatyou do.

It would appear as though you can’t make awhole lot of money, extra money anyway, byworking on a small farm, but you sure do spenda lot. Whether you raise alpacas, goats, cows,or veggies, you absolutely have to have a busi-ness plan – you have to know what you want todo and how you are going to go about doing it.

The owners of all four farms we visited work atoutside jobs to help support the family. Theyalso have businesses branching off from thefarm to bring in some extra money by selling itsproducts, such as honey, produce, or wool. Theywork day in and day out to keep things runningsmoothly. Basically, there isn’t a whole lot oftime for relaxation. But the people we met tru-ly do love what they do and are happy with theirlives.

Living on small farms ourselves, we could relateto a lot of what we heard. After this trip, Kyleand I realized that we definitely do not want tolive on a large farm of any sort, but anothersmall hobby farm would suit us just fine. Kylewould like a larger farm of crops and beef, butLauren, would be happy with a couple beef cows,a milking cow, some horses, oxen, and other var-ious animals to play around with and have it

still feel like I can be living some of my smallfarm dream as well.

This Career Exploration group was a good helpin educating us about how small farms are runand how they fit in our society. We enjoyed theprogram very much and would recommend it toanyone who would like to further explore theirsmall farm dream.

You Gotta Love It!

ALPACACHEESE MAKINGCONVENTIONAL

CORNELLDAIRY

DRYCOWSECONOMIES OF SCALE

ELDERBERRY PONDEMBRYO TRANSFERS

FRESH COWSHEIFER

HILLCREST DAIRYINDIAN CHIMNEY

MILK PROCESSING

ORGANICPASTEURIZATION

RAWMILKSUBSISTANCE FARMING

ZIEMBARBWAY

SOLUTION ON PAGE 18

Do You Care About Farming? New online youth magazine

wants to hear from you!

What does soul music, wireless technolo-gy, and provocative advertising have to dowith changing the food system? Find outin REAP/SOW (www.reapsow.org), a newyouth-driven, online magazine for the sus-

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REAP/SOW is a creative space for youth-ful thinkers and doers working to build ahealthier, more sustainable food system.We want young people to contribute theirown art, songs, recipes, farm techniques,

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ZiemBarbWay Farm

Elderberry Pond Farm Hillcrest Dairy

By Jean Burr

I met Meg and Bruce Schader, owners ofWake Robin Farm, in April of 2006 when ateam from Onondaga County Soil andWater Conservation District went out totheir farm to look around and make somerecommendations. As the Grazing Special-ist, I was primarily looking at their pasture,the number of cows, and if they planned toget bigger. I came to realize that this was afarm in the midst of a very interesting tran-sition.

THE BEST LAID PLANS….For six years, Wake Robin Farm was a suc-cessful CSA on the outskirts of Jordan,New York. A couple of years ago, theSchaders started planning to milk cows. InNovember of 2005, they built a buildingthey call the Creamery as the first step intheir transition from a vegetable CSA todairy production. In the spring of 2006,they bought 4 pregnant jersey heifers, andplanned to start processing milk, makingcheeses and yogurt as the cows calved.

It hasn’t quite worked out that way.

Meg and Bruce had originally planned tonot plant any vegetables this year, but didplant vegetables when plans for the cream-ery weren’t coming together in a timelymanner. They also switched from a CSA toretailing their vegetables from the sale floorin the creamery and at the Regional Market

in Syracuse. Almost an acre of pick yourown flowers are also available. These aretheir only sources of income until thecreamery is productive.

Why would a successful CSA transition todairy? Schaders see more income in“cream on top” milk, yogurt, and eventually,cheese. They plan to sell locally to the net-

work they have in place from the CSA, andas they get bigger, to wholesale products,mostly cheeses. Bruce adds, “These soilsdon’t grow vegetables well.” He says thatwas the first mistake, growing vegetables inground better suited to growing grass.

20-20 HINDSIGHTThe move from vegetables to cows seemedlogical, Meg says, since Bruce grew up ona dairy farm. But this transition period hasbeen hard, with equipment installation andstart up not going well. The pasteurizerhad to be sent back to the manufacturertwice for repairs. That set the timetableback significantly.

The second mistake, Meg thinks, was tomake their own hay. They rented 18 acresof hay ground, and found it was more timeintensive than they thought it would be.Buying hay would have been a betteroption.

The 4 cows have all calved now, and havegrazed the summer on just 1.5 highly pro-ductive acres, moving to a new paddockafter each milking. This was a good year tobegin grazing. The cows started grazingearly, and with enough rain this summer,they got all their summer forage from the

pasture. They also get some grain in thebarn at milking.

LOOKING AHEADBruce seeded down 6 more acres to grazethis fall and next year when cow numbersare planned to increase. The maximumnumber of cows will be 10-12, all Jerseys.

Wake Robin Farm is not yet certified asorganic. As a CSA, they communicatedwith all of their customers, and everyoneknew that the crops were grown naturally.Certification wasn’t something they neededto sell their product.

Getting certified may be something they willdo when they are able to wholesale, andare selling to people who don’t know themand the farm. But, Meg says, the cowsaren’t yet certifiable, and the land they tookhay from is not, as it was conventionallyfarmed just last year, so that isn’t yet anoption.

Meg recommends that anyone starting asmall creamery get in touch with their localinspector before they even think aboutbuilding, and establish a good working rela-tionship. The inspector from NYS Depart-ment of Agriculture & Markets, Bob Har-rington, has been an excellent source ofinformation and advice.

The Schaders are very grateful for theadvice and technical assistance they’vegotten from a number other resources aswell. These include Graze NY, OnondagaCounty Soil and Water Conservation Dis-trict, Karen Sullivan of Grazing Lands Con-servation Initiative, NY FarmNet. Fellowfarmers Dave and Sue Evans of EvansFarmhouse Creamery in Norwich, andCarmella Hoffman of Sunset View Cream-ery in Odessa have been valued mentorsas well.

Preserving farm land is very important tothe Schaders. They like producing safe,natural food that is high in quality. Theyvalue the tradition of farming, and helpingpeople become connected to the food theyeat and the land it is grown on. Mostimportantly, they appreciate living the lifethey want to live; being home with theirson, having their own schedule, and work-ing out of doors doing what they love.

Jean Burr is the Grazing Specialist withOnondaga County Soil and Water Con-servation District.


COWS AND CROPS

From Vegetable CSA to SmallDairy CreameryWake Robin Farm Makes a Challenging Transition

Meg and Bruce Schader ran a vegetable CSAfarm for six years before starting their dairyherd with four pregnant Jersey heifers.

The Schaders tapped into lots of resourcesfor advice and technical assistance to starttheir new grazing and creamery enterprises.

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By Martha Herbert Izzi

Dairy farmer John Clark has big plans forJanuary 1, 2008. “I’m going to sleep thewhole day.”

That may be a modest dream to some, butit will be the first New Years day in hismemory that he hasn’t gotten up to milk thecows. And it is a date that he and his wife,Judy, have been working long and hard toachieve as the senior Clarks transfer themanagement of their 327 acre organic farmin Hyde Park, Vermont to their two sons,John and Jason and their families.

What sets this transfer apart from others isthat most farms today are not going toyounger members of the family who havevastly different business plans for the farm.

The Clark family has been milking 65 regis-tered Holsteins since 1965. Now they areready to move on to a new chapter, a slow-er pace, perhaps try out some new skills.Their story began years ago when theywere struggling to pay the bills and keepfrom going under. They were determined tomine every possible avenue of assistanceto survive. They quickly learned the valueof reaching out, building a network andbeing open to new approaches to farming.

BUILDING THE DREAM TEAM“We found the resources right under ournoses,” says Judy. They began sharingideas with what came to be known as “thedream team” -- neighbors, friends, family,exchange students, Judy’s work colleagues.The team grew to thirty people who wantedto help sustain all farms, most critically theClark’s.

“They were dedicated and they met over aperiod of ten years and we miss them,”says Judy. “One was Peter who did eco-nomics and marketing. Others, for exam-ple, were teachers who organized fieldtrips, and showed us how to employ propersafety standards”

They also sought out the help of profes-sionals, like Willie Gibson of the Universityof Vermont who took them through acourse in holistic management, based onthe premise that each of the farm enterpris-es “must be profitable to be sustainableand if they aren’t get rid of them.”

“He was tremendously helpful,” Judyexplains. “He made us look at the whole,our quality of life, our energy, and our prod-ucts. And the sustainable part was, did wehave an equal energy exchange?” Or wasit too much in and too little out? From thatexperience they diversified the farm andopened their doors to agritourism and wentto a certified organic dairy about six yearsago.

At the same time the Clarks began to think

about their eventual retirement and thefarm’s future. Oldest son John, Jr. hadgoals for a different career and maybe a“hobby farm with no more than five acres,”he smiles. But his roots caught up with himand he found himself looking at the possi-bilities. He and his wife, Rocio, who hadcome to Applecheek as an intern from Cos-ta Rica, were attracted to a “more efficient,simplistic system.”

DOING THEIR HOMEWORKAnd they have done their homework. Forexample, John, Jr. found that he can getnineteen pounds of cheese out of 100pounds of milk from a Devon, a sixteenthcentury grass-efficient English breed, ver-sus ten pounds of cheese from a Holstein.So they “are going through the kinks” ofcrossing Holsteins with New ZealandFreisians and experimenting with Devons atthe same time. They are well on their wayto operating a diversified, grass based, lowtillage dairy, including pastured poultry anda cheese making business.

The existing barns are being refitted toinclude a New Zealand Swing System formilking, as well as new viewing and salesrooms for the organic beef, veal, chicken,eggs and cheese products they will offer.Judy says, “It’s hard to keep up with thechanges,” as she looks out at new the26x30 chicken tractor. And John Jr. eagerlychimes in saying, “Pastured poultry eggshave a 1-1 ratio of omega-3 and omega-6compared to conventionally raised hens,plus higher beta carotene. We are experi-menting with moving broilers on pasture,too.”

Then there is Jason, the younger, newlymarried Clark son who is a graduate ofJohnson and Wales and a passionate chefand caterer. “I planned to own a restau-rant until I got the idea of catering on farm.”To that end, his parents loaned the moneyfor a heated building with a commercialkitchen large enough to house conferences,workshops, family reunions, a few wed-dings and children’s birthday parties. All ofwhich have been happening over the pastfive years.

As a member of the Vermont Tourism Net-work, Jason is looking at the motor coachmarket as a means of expanding the busi-ness. He also caters off-farm, and that con-stitutes about twenty percent of his opera-tion. The extensive herb and vegetable gar-dens outside the catering facility under-scores Jason’s interest in fresh, organicproduce, and assure visitors who want toknow where their food comes from thattheirs is grown just outside their diningroom window and will be fresh and deli-cious!

COMMUNICATION’S THE KEYOn a personal level, the family has facedthe biggest challenge and that is communi-cation amongst themselves. Everyoneagrees that “communication is the mostimportant!” When it became apparent thatthe sons were going to take over the farm,the Clarks began to schedule weekly familymeetings “on how to run the business,”which are easier to maintain in winters thansummers.

According to Judy, “The family meetingshave been a vital tool for us to respect, lis-

ten, and effectively express ideas and opin-ions and deal with perceptions.” Even so,new issues crop up all the time and thereare tensions to be addressed. “So we havemet with a mediator, twice so far, and it hasbeen effective.”

Once again they are reaching out and find-ing the help they need to effect the actualtransfer. “We’re looking for a format that willwork for six members of the family plusthree children,” according to Judy. And theyhave found financial aid in the form ofgrants from various sources to help themdevelop business plans for each of theApplecheek enterprises.

The family is working with UVM extension,the Vermont Department of Agriculture andIntervale consultants. They received a$10,000 grant from Vermont Housing andConservation Board for business consult-ants, another $5K grant from the VHCB, a$2500 grant recently towards the poultrybusiness, and a NOFA mentoring grant toRocio for her to attend cheesemaking edu-cation seminars along with the mentoringassistance.

The family has settled on a plan thatincludes turning over the management ofthe farm to the younger members while thesenior Clarks retain the real estate at theoutset. They are looking at the Limited Lia-bility Corporation (LLC) model. With theLLC “money will go into the pot and every-one will take an income.”

The visitor comes away with a sense ofoptimism, that these five people are dedi-cated to moving forward and making thiswork, despite the financial uncertainties,despite the obstacles. Besides, John Sr.has promised himself a long winter’s nap.

For more information e-mail:[email protected], orwww.applecheekfarm.com.

NEW FARMERS

When The Time Comes…Transferring Applecheek Farm

Farm Transfer Trends in Vermont

According to Deb Heleba, Coordinator of Land Link Vermont, farm transfers “are more aprocess than a one time deal.” Often the complications of family dynamics, communica-tions especially, make it difficult for producers to decide how the farm will be transferred.Eighty-eight percent of farms in Vermont are sole proprietorships. So workshops are thecommon entry point where people begin to think about what they are going to do. Hele-ba says that “the Clarks are ahead of many families because at least they try to commu-nicate.”

“How to equitably divide the farm when one son or daughter lives and works on-farm, andanother lives on the west coast, for example, is a major problem,” says Bob Parsons, UVMextension specialist who teaches farm transfer workshops around the Northeast. Heopens his programs with a business management focus and asks, “How do you want toretire?” From there he gets into to estate planning, management, ownership, and income.

A popular vehicle for transferring farms is the Limited Liability Corporation as the Clarksare using, which allows seniors to transfer pieces of the business over time; labor, man-agement, business, and real estate.

Land values in Vermont soared after 9/11. And that has made it very difficult for new peo-ple to get into farming. Then too, there is “the changing face of agriculture in Vermont,”according to both Heleba and Parsons. “We’re seeing an increased demand for smallscale diversified farms principally vegetable production. So how to match the demand forabout twenty acres to grow vegetables with the average dairy farmer who has 200 acresto sell is a major headache for the people at LandLink.

“People want to farm” says Heleba. “We just did a workshop where forty prospectivefarmers attended, mostly wanting to get into vegetable production.” While “there has beena huge growth in organic,” she says, people are not getting into livestock.”

Resource SpotlightLand Link Vermont: Keeping Land in Farming

Many people want to farm in Vermont, but finding a place to do it can be challenging. LandLink Vermont, coordinated by Deb Heleba, addresses the obstacles farmers face in secur-ing and transferring land. The program manages a matching service that connects new-entry and transitioning farmers with retiring farmers and non-farming landowners. LandLink also offers workshops, publications, and consultations that provide information aboutfarmland tenure options, inter-generational transfer of farms, and farm management. Formore information contact Debra Heleba at 802-656-5459 or [email protected].

Judy and John Clark are looking forward tomore R&R in 2008 after the transfer ofApplecheek Farm is completed.

The Clark family has settled on a transferplan that includes turning over the manage-ment of the farm to the younger memberswhile the senior Clarks retain the real estateat the outset. They are looking at the LimitedLiability Corporation (LLC) model.

Younger son Jason Clark says “I planned toown a restaurant until I got the idea of cater-ing on farm.” The farm now boasts a commer-cial kitchen and a space large enough tohouse conferences, workshops, familyreunions, weddings and birthday parties.

With the help of some creative thinking from adiversified “Dream Team,” older son John Clarkand his wife Rocio are well on the way to oper-ating a diversified, grass based, low tillagedairy, including pastured poultry and a cheesemaking business.


By Celeste Carmichael

Raising kids is about much more than get-ting everyone to where they need to be ontime, car pooling, exact discipline methods,and chore charts...isn’t it?

Last winter I attended a conference in Myr-tle Beach, South Carolina on StrengtheningFamilies. It was organized by the ClemsonUniversity Cooperative Extension Youth andFamilies Program. Looking back, I proba-bly attended the conference for all thewrong reasons (did I mention that the con-ference was in Myrtle Beach?). Well, thatis okay – because I came back with a lot ofinformation and am still talking about what Ilearned.

“Begin with the end in mind”, advised ToniPipkins, former state 4-H Youth Develop-ment Leader from South Carolina and cap-

note speaker at the conference. “The waythat we raise strong families is to think firstabout what we want our children to be likeas adults. For most of us, what we areafter in the “end” is caring, competent, con-tributing adults.” Although how we getthere might include a few car pools andchore charts…there really is much more toconsider.

WHY TALK ABOUT STRONG FAMILIES?These are stressful times for families.Strains on time, money and emotions canmean that home becomes the place whereeveryone is worn out or angry. Dysfunc-tional family relationships are often at theroot of problems such as early teen sexuali-ty, youth suicide, teen pregnancy, run-aways, substance abuse, childhood andadolescent depression, child abuse andneglect, and family violence.

SO… WHAT MAKES FAMILIESSTRONG? Researchers have worked hard to answerthis question and agree that strong, healthyfamilies have some important traits in com-mon (see sidebar.) These traits are found infamilies across the board – different races,social backgrounds, nationalities, and reli-gious beliefs.

When a family is pretty balanced in all ofthese areas, it is more likely to bounceback from the normal kicks and bruises thatlife gives. The good news is that intention-ally building in time to build up healthy fami-ly traits can help us keep it all together.

Celeste Carmichael is Program Special-ist with the NYS 4-H Youth DevelopmentOffice.

HOME & FAMILY

On Raising Rural KidsThe Importance of Strong Families

Simply spending time together is one of thekey traits of strong families..

One way to build family commitment is topractice family traditions, which may be assimple as reading stories before bedtime,

Key Traits of Strong Families

Being caring and be appreciativeEven when a family member makes many mistakes, members of strong families findways to encourage and support each person. Strong families notice positive behaviors,talents, skills and achievements and compliment each other.

Spending time togetherWhen 1,500 school-age children were asked, "What do you think makes a happy fam-ily?" the children didn't list money, cars, big homes or televisions. The answer they gavemost was “doing things together.” Children want parents to be available, to have time,to show interest in their activities, to do things with them and to talk with them. Eatingmeals together, working together, making treats together, and watching movies or play-ing games are examples of shared activities.

Receiving and giving encouragementMembers of strong families feel they really belong in their family. Family members feelaccepted for what they are and promote one another's self-esteem. They celebrateeach other's successes and help each other learn from mistakes.

Showing commitmentMembers of strong families are committed to the family.They value the things that maketheir family special. One way to build family commitment is to practice family traditions.The tradition may be as simple as stories before bedtime, or as elaborate as an annu-al big vacation. One of my kids’ favorite traditions is “donut day”. Donut Day is official-ly scheduled at our house on Saturdays when my husband and two year old son go foran early morning haircut.

Practicing good communication skillsStrong families communicate. They talk. They share themselves. They share their feel-ings, hopes, dreams, fears, joys, sorrows, experiences, growth, mistakes and needs.They also take the time to listen and respond to what others have to say.

Coping with changeAll families develop habits, routines, and a set of rules. These patterns are ways to dealwith day-to-day life. As changes happen in families, often routines are disrupted –increasing stress for the family. There are a number of common changes most familiesface. Children get older. Adults switch jobs or retire. Families are reshaped by birth,adoption, marriage, divorce, sickness, and death. Families move to different communi-ties, etc. Being flexible, a good communicator and extra loving during changes helpsfamily members to ease through change.

Being spiritualResearch confirms that those who find peace in their faith live longer, happier, moreconnected lives. Members of strong families share a belief in something greater thanthemselves. They agree about what is right and wrong and what is really important tothem. Shared values and beliefs provide these families with purpose and meaning, andhelps provide unity to their goals. They look to these values and beliefs for guidelinesto live by. In strong families, spirituality is a powerful and important source of strength.

Nurturing community and family tiesAlthough busy schedules can make it hard to spend time with people outside the fam-ily, ties with relatives, neighbors, and friends are especially important.Strong families draw on other people and institutions for support. If they have a hardtime dealing with a problem, they are willing to seek outside help. Strong families alsotend to be closely involved with the schools, churches, and local organizations that pro-mote the well-being of the community and the individual.

Having a clear role.Members of strong families have a clear idea about their day-to-day roles and obliga-tions to the family. Strong families also make decisions, solve family problems and dofamily work together. Everyone participates. Parents are the leaders, but the children'sopinions and efforts are encouraged and appreciated.

By Celeste Carmichael

Reverend Nancy Rehkughler is Senior Pas-tor of the Fayetteville United MethodistChurch and Elder of the North Central NewYork Conference. She has counseled manyfamilies over the years and has the addedexperience of being the mom of four.

Q. Given all of the stresses that familiesexperience these days, what advice do youhave for families?

A. I should first say that from where I sit Ihave learned that there is no such thing asa “perfect” family. But a healthy family –one that is respectful and loving to oneanother, kind and generous…that is some-thing to work towards.

I would say that the first on my list of advicewould be to be intentional - know and liveyour values. Work together as a family tofigure out what is most important to all ofyou. Take time to talk and figure out - whatare your values? Make a family project ofit. As a family grows and matures dailychoices should be consistent with familyvalues. Ask yourselves regularly – “are thethings that we are doing consistent with ourvalues?”

I would say to strive for balance. There areso many choices today. Families should beaware of and do activities that fulfill theirmind, body and spirit. People don’tacknowledge their need to be spiritual inthis day and age. Being spiritual includesservice to others, being a part of a faithcommunity etc. What spiritual is to one fam-ily may very well be different in anotherfamily depending on cultural values. Bal-ance also includes being attentive to yourphysical well being. We need to be goodstewards of our bodies as well.

And I would say it helps to love learning,and always be willing to learn and grow.When parents model this, kids more oftenfind learning enjoyable.

Q. What observations have you madeabout families today?

A. People have a tendency to over-sched-ule their lives so that there is no time to just“be” together. Being in constant motion isalso not conducive to the spiritual life,

which requiressome contem-plative time. It istough to goagainst the grainof hyper-activity,since this iswhat everyoneis doing, butsometimes thebest thing is justto say “no” to activities. Do the things thatyou love…but don’t try to do everything.Focus on the things that you are really pas-sionate about. Become excellent at a fewthings. Spend some Sabbath time eachweek.

I would also observe that today’s familiesseem to have a difficult time resisting thetemptation of materialism. Parents givetheir children everything. This makes itmore difficult to “be spiritual” because toomany possessions actually numb the spirit.

Q. If you could suggest two approaches tobecoming a healthier family, what wouldthey be?

A. Family dinners! I think that family din-ners should be a priority. From having atime to be thankful and grateful together tosharing the highs and the lows of every-one’s day it is a great way to spend timetogether.

I would also recommend participating incommunity service together. Workingtogether on a service project brings thefamily together around something that isabove their own self-interest. This mightsimply be establishing a tradition of Christ-mas giving to a needy family, an organiza-tion, or a ministry of your choosing.

Thank you Pastor Nancy for these insightfulcomments! Parenting is tough work…butwell worth the time, and energy…especiallyif we think about what we are workingtowards.

Celeste Carmichael is Program Special-ist with the NYS 4-H Youth DevelopmentOffice. If you would like to nominate afriend (or yourself!) for an interview inthis column contact Celeste at 607-255-4799 or [email protected]. Any topicrelated to rural youth will be considered.

HOME & FAMILY

Advice For Building a Strong FamilyInterview with Reverend Nancy Rehkughler

Reverend Nancy Rehkughler

By some estimates, as much as 25 percentof a hay crop can be lost to inclementweather. So, speeding up the process formaking haylage – finely cut hay stored insilos or feedbunks - while improving thequality of the cut forage equals time saved,a better dairy feed, and increased milk pro-duction.

With funding from the Northern New YorkAgricultural Development Program, farmers,Cornell University researchers and CornellCooperative Extension (CCE) educatorshave begun evaluating wide-swath mowingand hay conditioning as a speedier way forNorth Country farmers to cut, harvest andstore haylage all in one day.

Wide swath mowing spreads cut forage to90 percent or more of the cut width, creat-ing up to three times more sun exposureover traditionally-harvested narrowwindrows. Conditioning forces the moistureout of cut stems and leaves and may speeddrying time by as much as 30 percent insome areas.

Project leader Cornell Crop and Soil Sci-ence Professor and NYS Forage SpecialistJerry Cherney says, “While conditioningclearly helps make baled dry hay, it is notclear that conditioning, with either rollers orfinger-type conditioners, provides signifi-

cant help during the drying down processto harvest haylage. Conditioning requiresincreased power output with added fuelcosts, so if that step can be eliminated,farmers save.”

Cornell Animal Science Associate Profes-sor Debbie Cherney says same-day wideswath harvesting allows the hay to continueto photosynthesize after cutting and avoidsovernight loss of sugars in the forage. Ahigher sugar content makes a higher quali-ty forage and higher milk production.

Wide swathing offers a gain of 300 lbs.worth of potential milk production in everyton of dry matter fed as silage and a nineor more percent increase in milk produc-tion, says Tom Kilcer of CCE RensselaerCounty. “The value of wide swath harvest-ing to farmers is more than $40 per ton ofdry matter fed as silage.” Kilcer is creditedwith initiating research into the benefits ofwide swathing for making an on-farm feedsource more easily digested by cows.

Extension educators harvested first-cuthaylage with a nine-foot wide swath discmower on the St. Lawrence County dairyfarms of Bernie Moulton and Jon Green-wood. They also cut narrow swaths with amower and finger-type conditioner, used amower-conditioner fitted with a wide swath

kit mounted behind the con-ditioner, and used a mower-conditioner to cut a narrowswath that was immediatelytedded out to 100 percent ofcut width.

For comparison, haylage wasalso harvested from narrowwindrows that were left to dryovernight. Analysis of thewide and narrow cut haylagesamples is underway at Cor-nell labs. The extremely drydays on which the hay wascut may skew the first yeardata.

“Our quality analysis is notyet complete, but we expect,

because of the unusually fast drying times,that all treatments, both narrow and wideswath will ensile well. Scientifically, howev-er, we need to reserve judgment until moredata can be obtained for comparative eval-uation under different cutting and climateconditions,” Cherney says.

Dairymen Jon Greenwood of GreenwoodDairy, Canton, and Bernie Moulton of Par-adise Valley Farm, Madrid, say the projectis a good start toward learning if the hay-lage harvesting technique of wide swathmowing without conditioning will help NorthCountry farmers.

Greenwood says, “Same day harvestinggives us an advantage over the next day’sweather. The project results should help usanswer the questions of how important isconditioning or is it necessary. Whateverpractice we use needs to produce a highquality forage and easily marry the

research datawith on-farmpracticality.”

Moulton, whoalso customharvests hay,says, “If welearn that wecan cut betterquality for-ages to feedand buy lessgrain, we will

save on feed costs. I am looking forward tothe results of the quality analysis and tofind out how much grass we can expect tomow in the morning and have harvested bynight in one day.”

CCE St. Lawrence County Field CropsEducator Peter Barney says farmers whobale dry hay are calling to ask if wideswathing might also speed the process forproducing early-cut baled hay to feed onthe farm and to sell.

“Dairy farmers looking to improve their prof-itability by feeding high quality forage areinterested in the results of this project. If afarmer can harvest quality feed the sameday, eliminating the variables that MotherNature brings in the weather and the plant’sexposure overnight, wide swathing will be agood thing. We need to wait for Dr. Cher-ney’s final report on how well wide swathingcaptures quality and if the quality gainmakes the wide-swathing system, the laborcommitment and the possible purchase ofnew equipment profitable.”

The Northern New York AgriculturalDevelopment Program funds researchand education outreach for Essex, Clin-ton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Lewis andJefferson counties. A final report on thewide-swath haylage project in NorthernNew York is expected later this year. Formore information, go online towww.nnyagdev.org.


Resource SpotlightStrengthening Families

Want to know more about studies related to strengthening families or rural youth? Hereare a few of websites to get you started:

Building Strong Families (University of Missouri website)http://extension.missouri.edu/bsf/index.htm

Building Family Strengths (Auburn University website)http://www.humsci.auburn.edu/parent/strength/

Issues Facing Rural Youth: A Compendium of Research, Reports, and Public OpinionPolls. http://www.national4-hheadquarters.gov/library/ruralresearch.pdf

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COWS AND CROPS

A New Way to Make Hay?Wide swath mowing is the focus of Northern NY AgriculturalDevelopment Program research

On Bernie Moulton’s St. Lawrence County dairy farm, Cornell Cooperative Extension educatorsharvest first-cut alfalfa-grass haylage using a nine-foot pull-type mower-conditioner with awide swathing kit attachment. Photo: Cornell University

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After 24 years with the same comfort stalls, my brothers and I decided that if we were going to be dairy farmers another 24 years,we were going to need new stalls.

We looked around for a few years and had seen an ad in Country Folks for your company. After speaking with John and receivingyour literature, we decided that we would use CK Replacement Stalls when we were ready. Mainly due to two factors: price and thesame company that makes the stalls would install them. After a long day in March of fixing leaky water pipes, bailing the gutter out, and duct taping a stall back together, we decided it was time.

We talked to both of you again to get more details and checked on some of your references (everyone we spoke to was verypleased). We were able to schedule an installation for three weeks later.

The crew arrived right as we were letting cows out in the AM: They introduced themselves and proceeded to start hanging the pipe line and tearing out our old stalls. The sight of this was a little nerve racking but the crew assured us they would becleaned up and out of the way before milking that night.

My whole family commented on how professional the crew was and how hard and fast they worked, only stopping for lunch.“Definitely not union workers”, my father said. The job was completed in 1 1/2 days which was a 1/2 day faster than estimated fordoing 60 stalls and was completed for the quoted price!

Our herd of Jerseys were a little nervous at first with all the shiny silver stalls but adapted quickly to the new design. They alsoloved the new water bowls wth the super flow valves. Our bowls filled faster than they could drink, solving a problem we’ve had in thepast. I think the new water bowls and stalls will definitely help milk production.

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By Bernadette Logozar

Are you a small-scale, diversified farmer?Do you grow or raise a variety of agricultur-al products? Do you sell these productsdirectly to customers either through a farmstand, roadside stand or at the farmersmarket?

If so, then you are a “direct market farmer,”even if you sell only a portion of what youproduce on your farm directly to customers.Most of the folks I work with are sellingtheir products directly to theircustomers…hence they can all be pooledunder the banner of “direct marketers.”

It doesn’t really matter if you are sellingfreezer lamb, beef, chicken, fruits, vegeta-bles, eggs, cheese, jams and jellies, honey,yarn, maple syrup, hay or whatever… forANYONE who sells directly to their cus-tomers, there are certain skills and knowl-edge that cross commodity and industrylines. Now notice I did not say “con-sumers”. And the reason for that is there isa difference between “customer” and “con-sumer.”

What is the difference between customerand consumer? And why should I care?

Often these terms are used interchange-ably, and buyers are often in fact both con-sumers and customers. However, the dis-tinction can be made around the fact that acustomer is the one who purchases andpays for a product or service. The con-sumer is the ultimate user of the product orservice, however she or he may not havepaid for the product or service.

A simple example can highlight the differ-ence between customer and consumers.Let’s say you have started a cheese-mak-ing business and are trying to developsome wholesale accounts at small gro-ceries and specialty food stores in yourregion. As far as your wholesale businessis concerned, your customers are the dairy-department buyers at the stores you wantto sell to. Your consumers, on the otherhand, are the individuals who will actuallyeat the cheese.

Now, in terms of its marketing effort, whoshould you target, the customer or the con-sumer? In reality – you need to understand

the needs and wants of both the customerand the consumer. You need to develop astrong understanding of the needs of theretail food stores in terms of their require-ments for purchasing cheese, includingpackaging, labeling, pricing, delivery, andpayment systems.

You also need to understand the needs andwants of the consumer. How are tasteschanging? Are consumers happy with thetaste of your product? Is the packagingattractive? It would be a good idea to getyour customer -- the food store buyer – tohelp you better understand your con-sumers.In essence, your customer is the individualdoing the purchasing, while the consumeris the individual that is ultimately the end-user of the product or serv-ice. If you are selling directlyto the end consumers via afarm stand, roadside stand,or farmers’ market, your cus-tomer and consumer is onein the same.

Even direct market farmersneed to understand who yourcustomers and consumersare, what they want and howmuch they are willing to payfor it. This is the first step inmarket analysis.

You can find more helpful marketing tips atwww.tutor2u.net.

Bernadette Logozar is Rural & Ag Eco-nomic Development Specialist with Cor-nell Cooperative Extension of FranklinCounty. She can be reached at 518-483-7403 or [email protected].


MARKETING

Customers vs ConsumersEven if You’re a Direct Marketer,They’re Not Necessarily the Same

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DairySanitations

By Bill Henning

The results of USDA’s report on the num-ber of farms in the US for 2005 aren’t thatsurprising. The number of farms with grossannual sales under $250,000 declined by0.8%. USDA defines farms in this categoryas “small.” The number of farms with annu-al sales over $500,000 increased by 3.8%.

This report substantiates a trend that hasbeen continuing for many years. In his1918 text book Farm Management, G.F.Warren of Cornell University told us, “Butso long as farmers become more efficient,we will need a smaller and smaller percentof the population engaged in farming.”

For the young person yearning to be afarmer, not a farm hand, all this is far fromencouraging. How can young people todayafford to pursue an occupation where theeconomies of scale seem so stackedagainst them?

But contrary to the paradigm so often pre-sented by the agricultural economists, thereare actually two economies of scale. Andthey are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

The economy of scale so often referred toinvolves massive inflows of money formega-farms with lots of land, hundreds tothousands of cows, gigantic machinery,numerous employees, public relations chal-lenges, multi-lingual capabilities, and a nev-er ending race to get bigger before the oth-er mega-farms get too much bigger thanyou. This paradigm says if you’re not get-ting bigger you’re going backward. Get bigor get out!

However, today’s agriculture still offersopportunities for efficiency of scale at theother end of the spectrum. To take advan-tage of this economy of scale, though, yourearnest desire to have your own farm mightwell be tested.

The test that many farms have failed overthe years is simply that of maintaining thecost of family living. Of all farm costs nonehas escalated nearly as much as the costof providing for the family. The real culpritin this expense is the cost of wants asopposed to needs. In this world of masscommunication so many people are leftbelieving they must have what everyone

else is thought to have: cell phones, snow-mobiles, designer clothes, eating out, foot-ball games… The list goes on and on.

On the other hand, many people havefound that a “no frills” life can be a reward-ing one. One such New York farm family Iknow has lived comfortably, but simply, forover twenty years. They sent all three chil-dren through college. They never milkedmore than 35 cows and still see no reasonto milk more. Another left a position as aphysicist with NASA to support his familywith just 8 Jersey cows and direct market-ing. The possibilities can expand signifi-cantly when the focus is on meeting needsand weeding out the wants.

Accomplishing enough with very little oftentakes advantage of the opposing economyof small scale. If something needs to bebuilt some people will start sawing theirown lumber. With help from the community,they will do their own construction. Fire-wood might be the cheapest way to heatthe home. Milking by hand might be anacceptable way to eliminate a significant upfront cost. Some folks still harvest their earcorn by hand. And, from just one cornseed, the return can be 100 fold. The familygarden extends this experience while cut-ting out all the middlemen. The point issimple - we have been provided abundantopportunities to meet our NEEDS.

This is not a path for the faint of heart. If allthis sounds laborious – you’re right. Butthen these folks don’t need to pay for agym for exercise. If it sounds like lowreturn per hour of work, some people’saccounting involves more than dollars. Forthose with an occupational passion, work issimply an enjoyable part of life. If it soundslike a life of deprivation, happiness in thepursuit of a dream is not the experience ofa deprived person.

What might seem like a mundane task or awaste of time to some just might be the ful-filling means to an end for someone else.Whether or not you want to farm, how youmake your desire your reality, and exactlyhow you want to farm is your own particularchoice. Weigh your options and your risks.You are only limited by your imagination.

And about that trend, the opportunities forsmall-scale farms are greater today thanthey were in 1918.

Bill Henning and his wife Kathleen oper-ate a grass-based beef and sheep farmin the Finger Lakes region of New York.He is also the Small Farms Specialistwith PRO-DAIRY/CCE-NWNY Dairy, Live-stock, and Field Crops Team.

Economies of ScaleEconomies of Scale are Available Not Just to Large Farm Operators, but to Small Farm Families Willing to Adopt a Different Lifestyle.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT


The Northeast Sustainable AgricultureResearch and Education (SARE) programhas a Farmer Grant program for eligiblefull- and part-time commercial farmers. Thisprogram works on the assumption thatfarmers, with the right kind of support, canconduct on-farm experiments that will makeinteresting, important contributions to thesustainability of farms across the North-east. Here are answers to some basicquestions about the program.

WHAT DOES SARE MEAN BY “SUSTAINABLE?”To be considered sustainable, a projectmust improve profits, advance environmen-tal stewardship, and benefit the wider farmcommunity.

WHAT’S INVOLVED IN APPLYING FOR A GRANT?Farmers develop their ideas and write thegrant application, but SARE also requiresthat a technical advisor review each pro-posal. Typically, this is an extension agent,a crop consultant, or other professional.Being a technical advisor involves talkingwith the farmers as they develop a viableplan, reading the proposal, checking inperiodically once a project is up and run-ning, and perhaps helping a farmer tell oth-ers about the project, often through a flyer,extension newsletter, or a web summary ofthe results.

CAN I BE COMPENSATED FOR MYTIME? Grant funds can be used to pay the farmerfor time spent on the project, and the tech-nical advisor, outside consultants, and oth-er collaborators can also be compensated.

WHAT’S THE ROLE OF AN EXTENSION AGENT?Extension educators are often a goodjudge of who is most likely to be a strongapplicant, and they can help deliver SAREprogram dollars to farmers with experience,imagination, and farming skills. An agent’shelp can improve a farmer’s chances ofgetting a grant. The educator should allowtime to read the farmer’s draft proposalcarefully, comment on it, and sign the finalproposal.

After that, the farmer should substantiallyrun the project. Some farmers without inter-net access may need help in sending inreports, and it’s not uncommon for an agentto write up project results for a newsletteror a web site posting as part of an outreach

plan. Farmer-run projects often result infresh, interesting copy for regional andstatewide publications.

HOW LONG DO THESE PROJECTS RUN?Most Farmer Grants happen over thecourse of one growing season, althoughsome run longer. Since the awards arecapped at $10,000, there is a natural limiton how much effort the award can support.If a project shows continued promise orraises new, interesting questions, thefarmer can continue the work by applyingfor another grant.

WHAT KINDS OF PROJECTS GET FUNDED? We have funded projects that explore newmarketing and production techniques, pestmanagement, cover crops, composting,agroforestry, new crop trials, bee healthand alternative pollinators, new tool devel-opment—you name it. Projects must test agenuinely new idea, or give a new twist onan old one, and show evidence of goodplanning. We won’t fund projects that allowfarmers to merely adopt a proven sustain-able technique—SARE money is reservedfor innovation and exploration.

Past projects, with brief descriptions, areposted to the Northeast SARE web site. Goto www.uvm.edu/~nesare and click on “Pro-ject Reports” at the top of the page. Thenset your search for “Northeast” and “FarmerGrants.” There are more than 500 sum-maries and descriptions posted, so youmay want to narrow your search by using akeyword or looking at projects only in yourstate.

WHAT IF THE PROJECT DOESN’T GOAS PLANNED?Some projects don’t—this is the price ofinnovation. SARE accepts that new ideasare risky and not all new ideas work out.But keep in mind that what others mightsee as failure we tend to see as usefulinformation, and we ask that problems andunexpected results be reported to usfrankly so that others can learn from them.Farmers who come up with a differentapproach to the original problem areencouraged to apply again.

IS THE APPLICATION COMPLICATED?No—successful proposals consist of ten totwelve well-written paragraphs; the applica-tion format is straightforward and designedto be easy for people who have never writ-

ten a grant proposal before.Each section is a question(“What do you want to do?”

“How will you measure your results?” etc.),and there is also a how-to booklet thatgives advice and examples and explainshow budgets work. This booklet is postedon the Northeast SARE web site and isalso available in print – see below.

WHAT IF I’M NOT A FARMER,BUT I HAVE A GREAT IDEA ANDWOULD LIKE TO TEST OR DEMONSTRATE IT WITH SOME OF THE FARMERS THAT I WORK WITH?You should apply for a SARE PartnershipGrant. These awards allow you to work withone or more farmers, with you as the proj-ect manager, on their farms. You would bein charge of writing the application, runningthe project, collecting the data, and doingthe reporting, and the funds would flowthrough your organization rather than theirfarm. Partnership Grants are also useful forthose times when a farmer has an interest-ing idea but no time to manage a controlledtest of it. Partnership Grants are specificallyfor extension and other agricultural profes-sionals who are uniquely positioned to doon-farm research, marketing, and demon-stration projects with farmers as coopera-tors.

I HAVE AN IDEA FOR A GRANT. ISTHERE SOMEONE I CAN TALK TO? Dale Riggs, the Farmer Grant specialist,can be reached at 518/733-0602, and here-mail is [email protected]. Shecan answer questions, arrange for the mail-ing of printed materials, or direct you to theweb site where the application and thehow-to booklet are posted. She is alsoavailable to lead workshops on how to writea Farmer Grant.

HOW DO I GET MORE INFORMATIONAND AN APPLICATION FORM?To find out more, or to request printedcopies of Farmer Grant materials, you cancall the Northeast SARE office in Burling-ton, VT at 802/656-0471, or email us [email protected].

To read and download Farmer Grantapplication materials online, go towww.uvm.edu/~nesare. In the left-handcolumn, select “Information for farmersand growers,” and, under “What are youinterested in?” select “Farmer Grants.”

RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT

Northeast SARE Farmer Grants

Lou Lego is one the many Northeast farmers who have written successful SARE grant propos-als. Here he is explaining to a group of 4-H teens how he manages apple pests, applying resultsof his on-farm research that has been supported by SARE.

Rt. 20 Sharon Springs, NY • (800) 887-1872 or (518) 284-23461175 Hoosick St. Troy, NY • (518) 279-9709

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Readers may remember Alice Allen’s article “KEEPINGTHE SMALL FARM LEGACY ALIVE” in our Summer2004 issue. It was great to get the following updatefrom her. Keep up the great work Alice!!

Dear Joanna,

Quite a bit of time has passed since I last got in touch withyou! As always, though, The Small Farm Quarterly is awelcome addition to "Country Folks"! We've also been sub-scribers to Farming Magazine from Mt Hope, Ohio. Davidand Elsie Kline do a fantastic job.

The big news here is that we've just sold 32 head to anAmish farm in New Providence, PA and are transitioning toorganic our tiny remaining dairy herd---long shot at best!And, we've been funded for the third year with the farm andconservation summer day camp (BLUE Team). With thatgrant came money for a feasibility study to determine ifthere is a local need for these projects, including the muchanticipated "farm-based elder community” for which, believeit or not, there is a waiting list of elders!

The VT/NH Milk Marketing Study Group continues toorganize meetings. This year our summer meeting featurednone other than Dr. Kamyar Enshayan from the Universityof Northern Iowa! We were just thrilled to have him cometo speak!. Best --

Alice AllenAl-lens FarmWells River, Vermont

We also received the following message from Rita andMarty Reed, updating us on their daughter Meridith’saccomplishments since her Youth Pages article waspublished in our very first issue, Summer 2003.

I thought that you might like a short up-date on Meridith'slife. She is now 18 and, as is common for many home-schooled students, she completed high school a year early.She then started college at home for her Senior year ofhigh school. She began working with "College Plus" inNovember and has completed 54 college credits as of thisdate. If she can stay on track she will finish her undergrad-uate communications degree by Sep. 2007. She then plansto attend a "brick and mortar" school to work on her Mas-ters.

Meridith has had many honors during the past few yearsincluding the leading role in 2 musical productions and twotrips to sing at the White House for Christmas. Most recent-ly, she won a regional competition for both her vocal anddramatic presentations. She then went on to Chicago towin a gold medal in the vocal competition and was honoredto win the overall competiton with her dramatic presenta-tion.

As you can see, she has had a very full few years and webelieve that many of her accomplishments can trace theirroots back to beginnings in 4-H. Last year she was alsohonored with the "I dare you award" through 4-H. Well,enough parental bragging!!!

Marty and Rita ReedPennellville, NY

Readers Write


By Roger Doiron

Editor’s note: This article is reprinted with per-mission from the Federal Reserve Bank ofBoston's quarterly magazine Communities &Banking, fall 2005, volume 16, number 4. Theviews expressed are not necessarily those ofthe Federal Reserve Bank of Boston or theFederal Reserve System. Information aboutorganizations and upcoming events is strictlyinformational and not an endorsement.

“We must all hang together, or assuredly weshall all hang separately.” Those words, spokenby Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Dec-laration of Independence more than 200 yearsago, could very well be the modern-day mottoof the Northeast farm sector and its supportersas they look toward the future.

Despite the common misperception that theNortheast is a marginal agricultural region,Northeast farmers—and consumers— are find-ing new ways to hang together to keep theregion’s agriculture literally on the map.

The challenges are formidable. Farms andfarmers continue to disappear from the North-east landscape at an alarming rate. Accordingto the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s lastCensus of Agriculture, the Northeast lost 4.9percent of its farms between 1997 and 2002.

When farms disappear, so do preciousresources, both natural and human. During thissame census period, the Northeast saw itstotal farm acres decrease by 6 percent, muchof it gobbled up by suburban sprawl. At leastas worrisome is the loss of expertise as farm-ers quit the business or retire without a suc-cessor.

In many ways, the challenges facing Northeastagriculture are not unique to our region. Com-munities across the nation are grappling withmany of the same issues. What is unique tothe Northeast are the solutions that are cur-rently being put in place and the opportunitiesfor the future.

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL It was Earl Butz, former U.S. Secretary of Agri-culture, who famously offered his own success

formula to farmers back in the 1970s: Get bigor get out. For many farmers in the Northeast,however, getting big is simply not possible, giv-en land values and the nature of the land-scape. So farmers are developing alternativesto getting out.

A growing number of farmers in the Northeasthave done well for themselves by taking Butz’sadvice and turning it on its head. Rather thantrying to get big, many have succeeded by pur-posely staying small—in scale, in productionmethods, and in how they market their prod-ucts to customers.

Similarly, rather than getting out of agriculture,many farmers from the region have gone intotheir communities to restore the farm to itsrightful place at the center of a healthy society.For example, the Northeast leads the way inthe growth of Community Supported Agri-culture (CSA).

With CSA, a farm and a community of support-ers create a partnership of mutual commit-ment. In the CSA model, farm supportersshare both the benefits and the risks of thefarm’s operations by agreeing at the start ofthe growing season to buy a certain quantity offarm products for the year.

When a CSA farmer in New York was awardeda prestigious MacArthur Foundation fellowshipin 2004 for her work on the development oflocal food systems, Cheryl Rogowski contend-ed that it validated everyone in the CSA move-ment. “Farmers are often the economicengines for their communities,” she said. “Theyprovide a quality of life to the community byretaining the open spaces and rural characterthat so many people are seeking.”

While Rogowski and her CSA colleagues havebeen redefining what a farm can be, Tod Mur-phy of Barre, Vermont, has been working tosustain local agriculture by reinventing therestaurant. Murphy is the founder, owner, andoperator of the Farmers Diner, a 60-seateatery that has attracted national attention bydoing something unusual for a restaurant: Itmakes local and organic foods not only deli-cious but democratic.

No foie gras or truffles are mentioned any-where on the menu, which instead featuresordinary foods like omelets and milkshakesmade from local organic eggs and milk, pan-cakes, bread and pastries made with localgrains, and meats raised and cured in Ver-mont. Murphy wants the diner ultimately tosource 100 percent of its ingredients fromfarms located within 50 miles of Barre. That’san ambitious goal. According to the World-Watch Institute, the ingredients that mostrestaurants use travel on average 1,500 milesfrom field to fork.

Murphy enjoys seeing the steady flow of satis-fied customers passing through his restaurant’sdoors, but his favorite part of the job is writingchecks to farmers. He writes a lot of them. By2003, the diner was buying $15,000 per monthfrom local farmers and spurring local economicdevelopment and innovation. Murphy wants thediner to be the catalyst for farmers and foodbusinesses to take chances with new products.“There’s a lot of support in the communitywhen the community understands that this isabout the people they know and the placesthey drive by on the way to work in the morn-ing,” he says.

The success of private initiatives like the Farm-ers Diner is inspiring other food-serving estab-lishments— schools, colleges, hospitals—tofollow suit. In New England, colleges such asBates, Middlebury, Yale, and Hampshire haveattracted notice for their farm-to-cafeteria pro-grams. A growing number of these programsuse produce grown by the students them-selves on educational farms that serve astraining grounds for the next generation offarmers.

The momentum of the Northeast’s local foodsector is unmistakable, whether it’s measuredin the growing number of farmers’ markets,CSA farms, or “buy local” campaigns. Suchenergy is essential for powering the region’sdiverse agricultural base in the face of growingnational and international competition—but is itsufficient?

ONGOING FOOD-SUPPLY CHALLENGES Food and agricultural professionals and advo-cates recognize that ensuring the long-termhealth of the Northeast’s agricultural sectorrequires stronger regionally scaled cooperationamong all the main actors in the food chain—producers, processors, distributors, retailers,and consumers—as well as support by policy-makers.

Consider the beef sector. Telling the region’scattle farmers to think small and local maywork for a few well-situated farms, but notmost. Like other commodity farmers in theNortheast, beef producers are seeing theirmargins squeezed by larger farms from out-side the region that have lower productioncosts. Some of the largest Midwestern feedlotshave as many as 50,000 cattle each, morethan all of Maine’s beef farms combined.

Rather than racing Midwestern megafarms tothe bottom through lower costs, more andmore farmers in the Northeast are looking atnew ways of rising to the top by offering premi-um products and by participating in innovativecooperative arrangements that give them bet-ter bargaining power with wholesale buyers.

One example of the latter is Wolfe’s Neck Farmin Freeport, Maine. Wolfe’s Neck Farm built anatural beef business from a single herd nowup to 60 different family farms cooperativelyselling beef to retail outlets across the region.The assets were transferred to PinelandFarms Natural Meats Inc. of New Gloucesterin June, and the endeavor has continued toflourish under the new auspices.

Whether additional new forms of cooperationlike this emerge will depend in part on thechanging food policy landscape. There are stillmany state and federal regulatory barriers hin-dering the development of regional-scale agri-culture and food enterprises. Regional policynetworks like the Northeast States Associa-tion for Agricultural Stewardship are work-ing to examine such barriers and create aregional identity among state-level lawmakers.

Similarly, members of the U.S. Congress fromthe Northeast have started thinking regionallythrough an informal policy coordination groupknown as the “Eggplant Caucus.” The caucushas a big task ahead of it with a new federalfarm bill expected in 2007. Historically, theNortheast has been more of a policy takerthan a policy maker at the national level.

But a rising tide of pressure is coming fromfarmers in the region to make federal policymore relevant for their farms. One way thispressure is exerting itself is through a louderand more concerted push for reducing the sizeof government payments to the very largestfarms, few of which are located in the North-east. A new policy approach that rewards farm-ers for how they farm, not what or how muchthey farm, would be a transforming advantagefor Northeast farmers.

Intelligent policies and new forms of regionalcooperation can help ensure the future vitalityof Northeast agriculture. In the end, though,the type and scale of our food system willdepend at least as much on consumer choic-es. If there are enough eaters voting with theirforks in support of locally and regionally basedfarms, then those farms will not only survivebut thrive.

We are well on the way to developing a senseof Northeast “food citizenship.” Many eatersexpress loyalty to locally grown products, and“eating regionally” is emerging as a highly mar-ketable concept. With Cape Cod cranberries,Northeast beef, and restaurants that featurelocal produce, hanging together has neverbeen so easy.

Roger Doiron is regional organizer for theNortheast Sustainable Agriculture WorkingGroup. He is based in Scarborough, Maine.

COMMUNITY/WORLD

The Taste of Place

Resource SpotlightNational Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture Helping you stay informed and active in national agriculture policy

Do you care about protecting farmland, soil, clean water, and wildlife habitat? Ensuring theeconomic viability of farmers and rural communities? Providing opportunities for newfarmers and ranchers? Fair treatment for farm workers? Equitable access to healthy food?

An excellent way to stay informed about these issues and ensure that you know whenaction is urgently needed to support them is to join the sustainable agriculture movement’selectronic mailing list, managed by the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture.This list makes it easy for you to speak out when your voice is needed most and turn yourpersonal concerns into simple, effective advocacy for national change.

The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture (www.sustainableagriculture.net) is anon-profit organization that unites a diverse nationwide network of hundreds of groupsand individuals to shape national policies that foster a sustainable food and agriculturalsystem -- one that is economically viable, environmentally sound, socially just, andhumane. It works with extraordinary advocates in Washington who follow legislativedetails so that sustainable agriculture supporters nationwide don't have to. It providesgrassroots groups and individuals with timely, crucial information on how they can changehistory by a simple phone call or letter.

Together, our movement has created a record of impressive successes. For example,every year, we coordinate a grassroots campaign to get maximum funding for federal pro-grams crucial to the sustainable agriculture movement. We help protect the meaning ofthe term organic. We fought successfully in the 2002 Farm Bill for programs that encour-age and reward farmers for sustainable practices, and continue to pressure the USDA toimplement them well.

The 2007 Farm Bill Is Coming Up!With a new Farm Bill coming in 2007 your voice is needed now! So go online to www.sus-tainableagriculture.net/signUpAA.php to join the movement’s e-mail list and learn more.Get involved, and support the effort to develop a new direction in federal agriculture poli-cy that makes sense for both people and the land. We've done it before, but it takes all ofus speaking out together!

H K R A U V L L T V G D F D S T M A A D H R E N ZY F C L P L V M D C M B B R X E O N S N Z A X E TI R H L E I Y W Y R I U E N C I V D R O X G P G NM Y I N S R E F S N A R T O Y R B M E P K X B C OT Y R A D R Y C O W S W N T C Z H S C Y Z V J Q UC O Q X D S E G A A K O M H G M Z U O R U O E K OC T K M G T E B E I M K E I G B H B N R W M E D GE Z K M L F S O O I O E E N L G B S V E U P V A BP O C K Y O A E E U S Q I O E K C I E B O I M S PU N V Y C Z K S R E J S G H I I R S N R M N R F JR D I V B S O O M C S Q P M E D F T T E Q G P G SS J N C I F Y A T E L J V J U S Q A I D L I B D XN S X I S N K D C M E L M A A H C N O L R A W B VO O W C J I D O E U A S I F S J O C N E B H S H MQ X A O N Z R I N H Z Z C H H X R E A Z Z B E X NU L H G C P C G A X Q L L S Z C C F L M A I M W SE Z S Y K H I V M N C W J O Y I J A B A F L R C KW S A L O V S P G L C P J F G N A R Q E J I U L TS F I U H R U E U H V H D R Z A L M R C Q N W K XI M S F W M H N R V D Y I C W G P I D W V L D X QI X T E T T Z F T F R S Z M W R A N C G A A L H XY A W B R A B M E I Z N O A N O C G R T R R D M JH Q A W Y R I A D V B C W G V E A P A G R V H V BR P A S T E U R I Z A T I O N D Y K F Q C C L F SF L Q O Y C P K M I M C H K W E O K Z A X T P E Q

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Smaller farms promote deeper connections between the farmers and their animals, and thatleads to more humane and sustainable practices that are not always consistent with maximumproduction. High Lawn Farm's Jersey cows spend a significant portion of their lives on pastureand are only milked twice a day, compared with three or four times a day for some larger, highercapacity dairies.

The Scottish Highland Cattle, raised for beef at Moon in the PondFarm in Sheffield MA, live on diverse pasture all their lives, oftensupplementing a grass diet with any number of wild plants fromthe edges of the woods.

The pigs at Flying Pigs Farm in Shushan, NY live in large areas in the woods and fields. Havingplenty of space per pig keeps them clean and healthy, while their rooting tills the land thattheir waste fertilizes.

Raising animals on pasture often requiresextra attention compared to raising animalsin more controlled indoor environments. Dur-ing the winter lambing season on Lila Berle'sfarm in Great Barrington, MA Lila must be onhand to transfer lambs and their mothers tothe barn to protect the newborns from exposure.

Kids and animals are a natural match,increasing the quality of life for both. Small-scale farms are safe and manageable withchildren, and taking care of the animals devel-ops a sense of stewardship that will guide thechild's decisions for years to come.

Pigs at North PlainFarm in Great Barring-ton, MA grow up, asthey should, with theirmothers and siblings.

This baby Large Black pig at Moon in the PondFarm was stepped on by its mother and badlyinjured. On a small farm like this each andevery animal is worth the extra effort. Thispiglet was sewn back up(on the kitchen table) andsurvived to return to itsmother and siblings.

The chickens at Crazy Wife Farm in Alford, MAare completely free ranging. The eggs withtheir deep orange yolks and strong shells arecoveted at the corner store that sells them.

From Fieldto Plate

Photo Essay by Jason Houston

I photograph farming to inspire conversa-tions on the many related issues I feel areimportant. The subjects I choose to focus onand how I choose to photograph them directthose conversations. The farms depictedhere represent alternatives to the way mostmeat animals are raised. They are not typi-cal, and I say this to celebrate their distinc-tion.

The reality for the majority of animals thatprovide for us is a hidden one of confine-ment and crowding, antibiotics and growthhormones, maxed-out production cycles,significantly shortened life-spans, inade-quate socialization with other animals muchless their human stewards, and sometimeseven outright cruelty as workers strugglewith and react to their own feelings aboutwhat they experience.

As we all know, the issues around meat arecomplex. To simplify it for myself, I was veg-etarian for many years. I now eat meat, butonly occasionally and only when it’s from afarm where I know the farmers, the animals’living conditions, and how that animal diedfor me.

Jason Houston has been photographingfarms in the North Eastern US for the pastsix years. His work has been published inprint and online around the world and wasrecently on display at Yale University and ina solo exhibition at Spike Gallery in NewYork City. His most recent project was onagricultural issues and alternative approach-es in southern Nicaragua with RARE Con-servation. www.jasonhouston.com.


By Thomas Becker

The Farm Service Agency has a Youth Loanprogram to assist young future farmers in get-ting starting in the agriculture industry. Thispast spring, Peter Martens applied for a YouthLoan to plant organic corn, oats, soybeans,peas and spelt in conjunction with his parent'sfarming operation.

GOING WITH THE GRAINThis is the second year for Peter’s operationunder the Youth Loan program. He had a suc-cessful season in 2005 through the use ofsound management and some solid guidancefrom experienced mentors. These included hisparents Klaas and Mary Howell Martens,Penn Yan agriculture teacher and FFA advisorJohn Kriese, and Farm Service Agency staff.

Peter’s profit from 2005 enabled him to pur-chase a tractor and to increase the amount ofrental property for 2006. Peter is up to about180 acres under his control. The Youth Loanhas helped Peter understand break even

points along with using crop insurance to mini-mize risk and safeguard against natural disas-ters.

Every year, as part of the loan application, theFSA loan officer develops a farm businessplan with Peter that both he and his mentorsare comfortable with. Peter is able to lock inprices for the crops he will be producingthrough Lakeview Organic Grain, a Penn Yanfeed mill owned and operated by his parents.

The Youth Loan program helps Peter pullresources together to gain the knowledge andexperience he’ll need to pursue farming on hisown. Peter also serves as Treasurer of thePenn Yan Future Farmers of America chapterand plans to participate until graduating fromhigh school.

SPRINGING AHEAD WITH HEIFERSPeter’s sister Elizabeth Martens also receiveda Youth Loan this spring for a heifer raisingproject. Through her research, Elizabeth dis-covered that certified organic Holstein spring-

ing heifers have a high market demand andpay a premium above conventional heifers.

With the assistance of FFA advisor JohnKriese, her parents and the FSA loan officer,Elizabeth was able to develop a farm businessplan that involved purchasing 4 open dairyheifers, feeding them organic grain grown onthe family farm along with some purchasedorganic feeds, breeding the heifers via artificialinsemination, and selling them as certifiedorganic springing heifers.

Elizabeth diligently researched the require-ments for organic certification of milk cowsand developed a time line to ensure thatorganic certification would be obtained prior tosale. She had to carefully evaluate her costsand the tools available to minimize risk. Eliza-beth was able to get some of the samplegrains from Lakeview Organic Grain for free tohelp lower her feed expense, and she wasable to add the cattle to her parent’s farminsurance policy.

Elizabeth’s long term goal is to study veteri-nary medicine. She wants to establish severalagriculture enterprises to help finance her col-

lege. Currently, her responsibilities on thehome farm include taking care of the familyanimals, assisting with the grain crops andhelping to bale hay. She is also active in FFA.

Thomas Becker is a Farm Loan Officerwith USDA’s Farm Service Agency in Bath,NY.You can reach him at 607-776-7398 orby email at [email protected].

NEW FARMERS

Getting a Head Start Farm Service Agency Youth Loans Help Prepare These TwoYoung Farmers For Success.

With the help of an FSA Youth Loan and somededicated mentors, Elizabeth Martens andher brother Peter are developing their ownfarm enterprises while still in high school andliving at home.

COWS AND CROPS

Animal Welfare -- What DO People Think?By Larry E. Chase

Animal welfare is a hot topic among someproducers and consumers of animal prod-ucts. But what does the general public thinkabout farm animals and their well being?

We can get some insight from a surveyconducted in 2004 by the Social Responsi-bility Initiative at Ohio State University.Andrew Rauch and Jeff Sharp from theDepartment of Human and CommunityResource Development were the authors.

Surveys were sent to 3,500 randomlyselected Ohioans. The response rate was56%. The majority of the respondents livedin a city or suburb (62%) and about 4%resided on a farm. Here’s what they found:

92% of respondents agreed or stronglyagreed that it is important for farm animalsto be well-cared for.85% indicated that the quality of animal

lives is impor-tant eventhough someanimals areused for meatproduction.81% believethat the well-being of farm

animals is just as important as the well-being of pets.75% of the respondents felt that farm ani-mals should be protected from physicalpain.Only 33% were interested in learning moreabout farm animals.47% said they agreed or strongly agreedthat increased regulation of the treatment of farm animals is needed.59% said that they would be willing to paymore for meat, poultry or dairy productslabeled as coming from humanely treatedanimals. Within this group, 43% said theywould be willing to pay 10% more for theseproducts, and 12% said they would pay25% more.

These results demonstrate that people inOhio are concerned about how producerstreat their animals. It is interesting that amajority are willing to pay more for products from “humanely treated” animals.It would be helpful to have similar data forthe Northeast.

Reprinted from the January 2006 DairyAgent Update, from Cornell University’sTotal Dairy Management Program.

Larry E. Chase is a Professor in theDepartment of Animal Science at Cornell University.

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