Letters from the Executive Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County and the Commissioner of the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Community Development

From the Executive Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County

Greetings farmers, families, and neighbors. This issue of the Extension Connection magazine is an update on CCE Sullivan’s Agriculture and Food Systems program. Since 2014, this team has grown from 1.5 FTE staff members to a team of 10 FTEs. Two thirds of these positions have a focus in Sullivan County, and the remaining work on food system and ag marketing efforts across New York State through the Taste NY program. The department's growth reflects the strength of agriculture in Sullivan County and the Hudson Valley Catskills, and robust partnerships with local and regional producers, Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), Sullivan County Division of Planning, Community Development, and Real Property, Sullivan County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board (AFPB), Sullivan County Departments of Public Health Services and Community Resources, small scale food processors, local school districts, and many local, state, and national funders. The CCE ag team covers production and farm and business management topics identified by the CCE Sullivan Ag Plan of Work and the Sullivan County Farmland Protection Plan, many of which are highlighted in this issue. They work with local producers to improve crop and livestock cultivation outcomes, develop strong business and marketing plans, and increase access to fresh, healthy foods for Sullivan County residents and visitors, no matter their demographic or socioeconomic status. Together, CCE’s ag and nutrition teams educate consumers by promoting farmers’ markets, providing equipment for serving fresh foods in public spaces like schools, and public outreach to promote agriculture. These efforts round out the Extension approach and promote the health, economic, and environmental benefits of a thriving ag sector. In closing, if you are a Sullivan County resident AND a member of CCE Sullivan, you are eligible to vote in the 2022 Board of Directors’ elections by visiting: https://bit.ly/cceballot. You can also email, text, or call me before November 10th at sullivan@cornell.edu or 845-798-1258 to request a paper ballot.

Colleen Monaghan, Executive Director

From the Commissioner of the Sullivan County Division of Planning & Community Development

When Sullivan County’s Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan was completed in 2014, its number one priority was to “build capacity, organization, and collaboration." The significant growth of CCE Sullivan’s Agriculture and Food Systems program is evidence of meeting that goal. And as agricultural support services have grown in Sullivan County, so too have the number of farms and the amount of acreage devoted to farm activities. The last US Census of Agriculture, conducted in 2017, reported that the number of active farms in Sullivan County increased 14% since the previous agricultural census five years earlier, growing from 321 to 366. The amount of farm acreage here also grew during that time, by 11%, although the average farm size dropped by two percent. Smaller specialty farms are leading the agricultural resurgence in Sullivan County. Each year the Sullivan County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board receives applications from emerging farm operations seeing to have their property included in one of the County’s two agricultural districts so they can receive the right-to-farm protections of New York State’s Department of Agriculture and Markets. The next agricultural census will take place in 2022, and producers can register now to ensure they are included: https://www.agcounts.usda.gov/static/get-counted.html. And while it will be a few more years before the Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan is ready for an update, agriculture will be addressed in the upcoming Countywide Resiliency Plan.Changing weather patterns, including the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, will affect agricultural operations in the long term, and the Resiliency Plan will explore potential impacts and identify strategies to ensure agriculture remains a pillar of the County economy.

Freda Eisenberg, AICP, Commissioner