Washington, DC, Jan 02, 2013 — Tucked into the fiscal package passed by Congress last night is a nine-month extension of the farm bill. The massive five-year farm bill expired last fall when the House wouldn't vote on a new version passed by the Senate.

This extension includes a safety net for dairy farmers. But it axes many popular programs.  Go to full article

Washington, DC, Dec 13, 2012 — New York's senators are ramping up pressure on House Republicans to pass a new farm bill before year's end.

Democrat Chuck Schumer held a phone conference with reporters Wednesday to urge House Speaker John Boehner to bring the farm bill to a vote.  Go to full article

Massena, NY, Dec 11, 2012 — Almost ten years ago, a visiting speaker at St. Lawrence University planted a seed. Economist Michael Shuman told an audience that farmers could jolt the North Country economy by producing a lot more meat. "You have a lot more room to produce your own beef cows," Shuman told the Burt Symposium in 2003. "You could produce a lot more of your own pigs. And chickens are not even in the game."

Community leaders have recalled that advice, to have the thousands of local residents who eat chicken buy it from a local farm, many times since.

The idea is about to bear fruit. The first USDA certified poultry slaughterhouses in the North Country are nearly set to begin production.  Go to full article

Dec 04, 2012 — One big item caught up in gridlock created by the current budget debate, with its "fiscal cliff" threat, is the federal farm bill.

Most farmers are still covered by crop insurance and other programs until next planting season, but that's not true of dairy.

Dairy farmers now have no safety net if milk prices fall. And with feed prices soaring, many feel they're falling off a cliff of their own.  Go to full article

Brasher Falls, NY, Nov 20, 2012 — Looking for that local touch for your Thanksgiving table? Try cranberries, fresh from a bog in northern St. Lawrence County. Peter Paquin owns Deer River Cranberries in Brasher Falls.

He says local sales of his cranberries have grown fivefold. He sells to North Country apple orchards and stores in Potsdam and Lake Placid. Paquin says people even drive up to the farm to load up coolers full of berries. "Yeah, they basically come in with coolers and we fill 'em up, basically 50 pounds in a cooler," says Paquin. "We've probably sold to 20 different people in the area, a hundred pounds each. We're moving a lot of berries locally."

Paquin says the hot, dry summer and the recent freezing nights have meant a late harvest. But he says cranberries remain as lucrative a crop as ever. David Sommerstein visited Paquin's cranberry bogs in 2008.  Go to full article

Lowville, NY, Oct 19, 2012 — You may have heard about "food deserts", low income areas in cities where supermarkets won't open because they won't make enough money. Area residents struggle to find affordable and fresh fruits and vegetables. Food deserts are widely considered to be one cause of America's obesity epidemic.

It turns out rural areas have "food deserts", too - even when there's a roadside farm stand right down the road, and the USDA's food desert map shows much of the rural North Country falls into that category.

Cornell Cooperative Extension recently won a $96,000 grant to try to improve both consumer access to fresh fruits and vegetables and local farm production. Jefferson and Lewis County Extension Research Educator Amanda Root spoke with David Sommerstein.  Go to full article

Canton, NY, Oct 02, 2012 — Yesterday when you woke up, you may not have felt different. But farm country did. The federal farm bill expired because Congress wasn't able to pass a new one by the September 30th deadline.

The farm bill is huge. It funds everything from food stamps to wetlands restoration to school nutrition - in addition to helping to pay for commodities like corn, soybeans, milk, and cheese.

So now that there's no farm bill, it's hard to know what's changed. David Sommerstein joins us to sort through it all.  Go to full article

WELLESLEY ISLAND, NY, Sep 27, 2012 — It's harvest season, and nearly two dozen farmers and farm businesses in Jefferson County are opening their doors to the public this weekend. Livestock, vegetable farms, wineries and retailers specializing in locally produced goods are participating in the 2012 Harvest Tour Weekend on Saturday and Sunday.

Dani Baker, co-owner of Cross Island Farms on Wellesley Island, is one of the co-organizers of the Tour and her farm is open to visitors, too. She said it should be a great opportunity to make connections with area farmers.  Go to full article

Washington, DC, Sep 20, 2012 — UPDATE: Thursday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal reports House Speaker John Boehner has officially confirmed that the farm bill won't be taken up until after the November elections.

North Country farmers are anxiously watching the status of the new farm bill in the House of Representatives. The current farm bill expires on September 30. The Senate passed a new five-year, $497 billion farm bill over the summer. But House leadership has yet to let its version come to the floor for a vote. "Tea Party" Republicans want to see much deeper cuts in the biggest item in the bill -- the federal food stamp program.

So what if the Farm Bill isn't passed by the end of the month? How would that affect North Country agriculture?  Go to full article

Keene Valley, NY, Sep 20, 2012 — It'll be all things rutabaga in Keene on Sunday. The Fifth Annual Great Adirondack Rutabaga Festival begins at 9am on Marcy Fields--the final event of a week-long celebration of local food in Essex County. Last Saturday, the Adirondack History Center Museum and Adirondack Harvest kicked off the festivities with "A Taste of Local" in Elizabethtown. Chefs and culinary artists showcased their favorite appetizers, entrees, desserts or other prepared items featuring local foods.  Go to full article