By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
ALLEGANY — The U.S. needs small and medium-sized farms to spread the risk, but inflation is killing everybody and stalking our farmers, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., said Monday.
Thompson’s comments come in spite the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting in May that inflation dropped to 3.27%; down from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022.
Speaking during a meeting of the Right Thinkers at The Hall in Allegany, Thompson said of the bipartisan dairy bill, that the full House would pass the farm bill by August and then negotiate any differences with the Senate bill.
Four Democrats joined all 29 Republicans on the committee to pass the farm bill 33-21.
Thompson said the Farm, Food and Nutrition Security Act of 2024 that came out of the committee addresses many issues, including improving the dairy margin program that offers protection to producers when milk prices drop. That is important because agriculture is the top industry in many states including New York and Pennsylvania.
“It’s a great conservative bill,” Thompson said.
The Republican-sponsored bill slows the growth of social programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) at the price of increased industry-based resources geared toward farmers.
Thompson said he realizes these conservative programs will be on the line when the Republican House and Democratic Senate begin negotiating which programs will ultimately be included in the farm bill. “That’s the way it works,” he told the Olean Star in a brief interview prior to the meeting.
U.S. agriculture needs to address another crisis that is unfolding as the age of farmers increases each year without provisions for younger farmers — often family members — to take over.
The Right Thinkers panel was moderated by co-founder Nate Smith.
State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said the biggest challenge New York farmers faced was New York state government.
He said there are members of the Senate from Downstate that “can’t understand where food comes from.”
Borrello said New York has lost nearly 10% of its farmland in the past five years. Solar and wind farms “represent the number one threat to New York farmland.”
It’s hard to blame cash-short farmers from leasing their land for solar or wind production, but it is a scam. Developers are making money on the incentives, not producing electricity, Borrello added. The solar and wind developers are maximizing their profits while driving up energy costs. “Our children and grandchildren will pay for it.”
“There is no such thing as a solar farm,” Thompson declared. “It’s a solar installation.” He explained that farmers are turning to leasing to solar developers because farming is no longer profitable. We’re going to make it profitable again.”
No USDA money will go to supporting solar in the new farm bill, he added. “We put farm back in the farm bill.”
Former State Sen. Cathy Young of Olean, who grew up on a farm near Avon and once sat on the Assembly and Senate Agriculture committees, said she is “against taking good viable farmland out of production” to site solar and wind farms.
“We need more farmers and growers for the next generation,” Young said. “The stronger our farms are, the stronger our communities will be. Technology will make the job easier for farmers and producers.”
Young resigned her Senate seat in 2019 to become director of the Center for Excellence for Food and Agriculture at Cornell Ag Tech.
Young agreed with Borrello, saying “And we do have a lot of people in Albany that think that milk comes from the store, right? Not from a cow.”
Young said the New York City legislators passed the state farm labor law that increased costs for farm labor, but there are still opportunities.
She cited as one example of opportunities the new $800 million Great Lakes Cheese plant in Franklinville would not only double employment from the existing plant in Cuba, but double the amount of milk purchased from local dairy farmers.
“I think there will be opportunities for dairy farmers to expand production and add cows,” Young added.
Another panelist at the meeting, Norm Ungerman, a longtime businessman and former Allegany County legislator said small farmers were reeling from the new overtime requirements for farm workers. Overtime used to kick in at 60 hours, but it is being reduced four hours a year until it reaches 40 hours.
Faced with paying higher wages, more farmers will turn to automated equipment like robot milkers to do jobs formerly performed by workers. “It’s hard to get help these days,” Ungerman added.
