News stories tagged with "new-york-farm-bureau"

(06/08/07) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid insists an immigration overhaul is not dead, although he has pulled the bill. Farm Bureau leaders see a glimmer of hope there for New York farmers. Not enough senators voted yesterday to limit debate and speed the compromise bill's passage, prompting Reid to pull it from the floor. He says he looks forward to passing the bill, but a crowded Senate calendar complicates its prospects. New York's two senators voted for the bill. Increasingly, New York crop and dairy farmers rely on workers from central America and Mexico. New York Farm Bureau President John Lincoln, a Rochester area farmer, joined other advocates in Washington last week to lobby for the cpmpromise. The bill's failure last night surprised Bob Hokansen, national affairs coordinator of the New York Farm Bureau. He told Martha Foley the Farm Bureau will keep working.

(01/12/07) Yesterday Governor Eliot Spitzer nominated Patrick Hooker to be his agriculture commissioner. That was good news for the agriculture industry. Hooker has been public policy director for the New York Farm Bureau since 1999. His longtime colleague is Julie Suarez, the Farm Bureau's manager of governmental relations. Yesterday at the 175th New York State Agricultural Society's annual meeting, she told David Sommerstein agriculture has been on the back burner in recent years.

(04/15/05) A group of cyclists will start biking from St. Lawrence County to Albany tomorrow. The 2nd Annual "Tour de Burn Barrel" is to draw attention to the health and environmental hazards of burning trash outdoors. The Environmental Protection Agency says one burn barrel can produce as much air pollution as a modern incinerator burning 400,000 pounds of garbage. Trash burning releases toxic chemicals like dioxins, arsenic, and lead into the air. Those chemicals can cause asthma, lead to thyroid problems, and increase the risk of cancer. Trash burning is legal in most rural parts of the state. David Sommerstein spoke with Chris Neurath, publisher of burnbarrel.org. He's helping to organize the Tour de Burn Barrel bike ride.