News stories tagged with "lisbon"

(10/05/09) North Country dairy farmers have been battered by this summer's low milk prices. The hundredweight price has remained well below the cost of production. In St. Lawrence County on Saturday, though, a bit of sun and big crowds pushed away the bad news for the 4th Annual Farm Day. It's a chance for the public to tour a working dairy farm, this year at the 175-cow Gendebien farm in Lisbon. It's also an opportunity to farmers to show their best face in hard times. David Sommerstein attended and sent this audio montage.

(07/01/09) June was National Dairy Month. But there wasn't anything to celebrate on the farm. The price farmers are paid for their milk went down again. It's now lower than it was 30 years ago, even though fuel and feed and everything else has skyrocketed. Milk is worth well less than what it costs to produce it. There are no hard numbers. But it appears few dairy farms have gone out of business - yet. Farmers are scrambling to hang on to their livelihoods - in their own barns and as part of a budding grassroots movement. David Sommerstein reports.

(01/20/09) Wear warm clothes, comfortable shoes and have patience - that's the advice given to students from Lisbon Central School who are in Washington DC for the inauguration today. Martha Foley has more.

(08/07/08) It was two years ago that beekeepers began reporting losing 30 to 90 percent of their hives. The phenomenon has become known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Nationwide, beekeepers have lost 36 percent of their managed colonies this year, compared to 31 percent in 2007. "No bees, no crops," was a common phrase heard earlier this summer at a House Agriculture subcommittee meeting in Washington. Farmers and business owners say food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved. But that devastating illness, called CCD, hasn't affected North Country hives as much as other parts of the country, although it has made an appearance. Todd Moe spoke to a couple of beekeepers who are expecting a good honey harvest this year.

(02/21/07) Last year, Occidental Chemical, a company in the Buffalo area, agreed to pay New York $12 million for dumping toxic waste in the Niagara River in the 1980s. The chemicals have spread downstream and contaminated Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. It's too late to clean up the mess now. So the Department of Environmental Conservation is going to spend the money on improving the fishery from Niagara Falls to Massena. The DEC is casting for the best "bang-for-your-buck" projects at meetings statewide. Last week, St. Lawrence County anglers made a striking showing at a meeting near Ogdensburg - more than double the attendance of the Rochester meeting. But as David Sommerstein reports, there was a sinking feeling big city wishes may trump North Country concerns.

(10/17/06) There's been little public opposition in the North Country to the growing number of Hispanic workers on dairy farms. But earlier this month, a small group protested outside the St. Lawrence County Farm Bureau's "A Day at the Farm" event at Jon Greenwood's dairy in Canton. Todd Moe has more.

(09/27/05) Ten million dollars from the New York Power Authority that was to have gone to a failed effort to build an aquarium and ecological center on the St. Lawrence River will now be used for economic development in the North Country. The Power Authority asked Tony Collins, president of Clarkson University, to pull community leaders together to explore how the money could be used. He spoke with Martha Foley.

(09/26/05) Two years ago, the New York Power Authority got a new 50-year license to operate the hydropower dam on the St. Lawrence River. One condition of the license renewal was that NYPA return 1,500 acres of once-private land to local hands. Much of it will go to the villages and towns in St. Lawrence County affected by the power project. But some was to be transferred to property owners who live along the river. The state Attorney General recently ruled that's unconstitutional, and that the land should be sold at fair market value. As David Sommerstein reports, many local residents feared something like this would happen.

(09/13/05) A Vancouver-based lumber company finalized the purchase of a proposed chipboard plant in St. Lawrence County earlier this month. After years of delays due to legal wrangling, the company may wait several more years to build the plant. David Sommerstein reports.

(07/21/05) Critics trying to stop the construction of a chipboard plant in St. Lawrence County were dealt a major blow in court last week. A State Supreme Court Judge threw out a lawsuit regarding the plant's air pollution permit. In an unusual decision, the judge also barred further lawsuits and ordered the plaintiffs to pay thousands of dollars in court costs. David Sommerstein reports.