ALLOTSEGO 6-7-13

Page 1

All H P

OTSEGO.life

PAGE B-1

THURSDAY-FRIDAY, JUNE 6-7, 2013

583 FARMS FLOURISH LOCALLY

ORN OF

LENTY Visitors...

Plan Your Week of

Summer Fun! Coop Hawkeyes, Oneonta Outlaws Begin Their Semi-Pro Seasons Here

T

AllOTSEGO.com

Jim Kevlin/

Bill Gibson, a USDA retiree who went from president of the local Cornell Cooperative Extension board of directors to five months of duplicating the wanderings of a traditional Extension agent, surveys the Otsego County maps where he plotted 583 separate farm-related operations.

B

Gibson: Extension Agents Needed In Vital Farm Industry By JIM KEVLIN

ill Gibson got a call the other week from a woman in New York City. She owns farmland in Otsego County, and wanted to do an “organic something� on it. Bill didn’t have an immediate idea for her, and suggested she focus her thoughts in a mission statement. A few days later, the phone rang

C

T

BILL GIBSON’S FARM LOG o follow Bill Gibson’s dairy of his travels from farm to farm in April, visit:

WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM

again. It was a young man finishing his studies at SUNY Albany who wanted to grow organic berries. “These two people need to meet,� said Gibson, retired director of the USDA’s local Farm Service Agency,

who for five months has been ranging Otsego County seeking to answer the question: Are Cooperative Extension agents obsolete? Experiences like this one have convinced Bill the answer is an emphatic: No! Since February, Gibson, who has served as president of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Otsego & Schoharie Counties, has been playing the role of a traditional Extension Please See VITAL, B3

Farming Still Offers Challenge, Satisfactions By JIM KEVLIN

ooperstown Holstein Corp. has been identified lately with the fracking debate rather than dairying. Not in Bill Gibson’s mind. Despite the diversification of Otsego County farming, dairying still generates 80 percent of the revenue. And Jennifer Huntington’s Cooperstown Holstein Soy beans is, in Bill’s view, an are proexemplar of excellent cessed as dairying, well-posiauto fuel tioned to take advanand Fritolike chips for tage of future opporfeed. tunities. The other day, on a tour of her 250-milker operation – 550 head in all – Huntington deflected Gibson’s accolades to farmers: “I think you’ll find farmers very creative, very inventive. If you tell a

he Boys of Summer are back as the Cooperstown Hawkeyes open their season with a home game at Doubleday Field against the Utica Brewers at 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 5, with a second home game against the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs at 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 7. In Oneonta, the Outlaws play their first home game against the Sherrill Silversmiths at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 7 at Damaschke Field in Neahwa Park. FIRST FRIDAY: Enjoy carnival games, old-fashioned popcorn at downtown Oneonta’s second First Friday, 5-8 p.m. Friday, June 7. Offerings include an exhibit on Oneonta’s former Central New York Fair at the History Center, 183 Main St. And it wouldn’t be First Friday without an art exhibit! The “Anthology: Poetry and Portraits� exhibit and poetry reading opens at 5 p.m. at the Main View Gallery, 73 Main St. KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Walter Stahr, author of the nationally acclaimed “Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensable Man� gives the keynote address at the 2013 Conference on New York State History, starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 7. $5, and copies of the book will be available for autographs. Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 St. Rte. 80 Cooperstown. Info, (607) 547-1453. DINNER THEATER: A high-stakes bake-off, a family reunion, scandal and a tornado take center stage in The Catskill Community Players southern-fried production of “The Red Velvet Cake War.� Dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. with an 8 p.m. show on Friday, June 7 and Saturday, June 8, and 2 p.m. show and dinner to follow on Sunday, June 9. $35 adults, $30 seniors, $20 under 10, $15 show only. The Wieting Theatre, 151 Main St. Worcester, Info, tickets (607) 397-8500. A LEGEND SINGS: Singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III performs songs from his newest album, “Older Than My Old Man Now� at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 8 at the West Kortright Center, 49 West Kortright Church Rd. in East Meredith. Info, tickets, www.westkc.org.

AllOTSEGO.com

Jim Kevlin, Katie Monser/

Jennifer Huntington and her daughter, Molly, 15, inspect the milkers at Cooperstown Holstein Corp.

farmer it can’t be done, it’s a challenge.� As she tells it, Cooperstown Holstein’s history exemplifies that.

Her father, Peter L. Huntington, was one of six brothers raised on a farm in Westford. (Four brothers went Please See FARM, B3

LOVELY HORSES: Riders from across New York show off their equestrian skills at the 17th Annual Benefit Loudon Wainright III Horse Show, sponsored by The Farmers’ Museum, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday, June 9 at the Iroquois Farm Show Grounds, 1659 Cty Hwy 33 (River Rd), Cooperstown. Info, Meg Preston, (607) 547-1452.

THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL • HOMETOWN ONEONTA FOR DAILY NEWS UPDATES, VISIT www.

AllOTSEGO.com EVERY DAY


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.