Seneca County Farm Bureau News

Seneca County
Farm Bureau News
New York Farm Bureau
P.O. Box 5330
Albany, NY 12205
To Serve And Strengthen Agriculture
March 2016
Seneca County Farm Bureau
46th Annual Rural Urban Dinner
Monday, April 4 at the Holiday Inn Waterloo
Seneca County
Farm Bureau News
Conversation and Cocktails at 6:30 pm
Dinner and Program at 7:00 pm
The Millennial Generation of
SIGN UP NEW FARM BUREAU MEMBERS
AND RECEIVE AWARDS
Seneca County Farm Bureau
Board of Directors
Sponsors:
2016 MEMBERSHIP
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS AND INCENTIVES
MVV (MOST VALUABLE VOLUNTEER) CLUB
Write 5 new memberships and NYFB will show its
appreciation for your hard work by awarding you special
Farm Bureau apparel
IMPACT CLUB
Write 1 new membership and NYFB will recognize your
accomplishment by awarding you a special gift at your
County Annual Meeting
Contact your local Field Advisor with any questions
1-800-342-4143
NYFB.org
Limited Time Offer
New Members—$99*
for 2016 and all of 2017
*Offer expires June 30, 2016
Ann Marie Heizmann, President ............ 315-729-6088
Rodman Lott, Vice-President ................. 315-277-0862
Bruce Maybury, Treasurer...................... 315-952-2509
Mary Murray, Secretary ......................... 315-651-8746
Emory Oese-Siegel ................................. 315-651-8177
Bruce Austic ........................................... 607-387-6860
Brad Huffines ......................................... 607-582-6009
Brian Flood ............................................. 607-342-0965
Jeff Rosenkrans ...................................... 315-277-0414
Carol Doolittle, Pro-Ed Chair ................. 607-387-9619
Kelsey DeCloux Rappleye, YF&R Chair ..... 607-387-3418
John Sorbello, State Director .................. 315-730-2670
Skip Jensen, Field Advisor ..................... 315-536-1437
NYFB State Office ................................. 800-342-4143
CNYFB Regional Office ........................ 315-252-1367
Waterloo Rotary
Seneca Falls Rotary
Waterloo Lions
Ovid-Willard Lions
Agriculture in Seneca County
Marry Murray, Muranda Farm
Jeff Rosenkrans, Rosenkrans Farm
Heidi and Tamara Lott, Lott Farms
$25 per person
RSVP by March 31
Checks payable to
to 315-252-1367 or
Waterloo Rotary Club
[email protected]
Seneca County
Farm Bureau
Seneca County Board of Directors usually meets on
the first Thursday of the month immediately following
the Monthly Mingle (schedule inside).
For more information, call 315-252-1367. Payment in advance can be mailed to
7413 County House Road, Auburn, NY 13021. We hope to see you there!
President’s Report:
Ann Heizmann
I hope you can join us for an
evening celebrating the partnership between agriculture
and our community at the 46th
Annual Rural Urban Dinner on April 4 (details on the
front cover). We are very excited to have four of our
bright, energetic young farmer’s leading the program,
providing an insightful look into the future while also
sharing the latest trends and new practices.
At the beginning of the month, we traveled to Albany
to take part in New York Farm Bureau’s Taste of New
York Reception and Lobby Day. Taste of New York is
always well attended by elected officials and decisionmakers and provides a unique opportunity to talk about
agriculture while showcasing our wonderful locally
produced and sourced products. We rocked the reception! A display of our members “Why I Farm” articles
that appear in the Between the Lakes/Reveille (be sure
to look each month for the latest in the series) was a
great conversation starter.
SCFB Booth at
Taste of NY.
From l to r: Carol
Doolittle, Missy
and Emory OeseSiegel.
We also spent a day meeting with lawmakers to talk
about policy. We advocated for adequate funding for
critical farm programs including ag education, animal
health, promotion and research program. We spent
time addressing the need for parity in funding for infrastructure improvements and ways that would ease
some of the burdensome regulations that farmers incur. The dominant issue in all of our meetings was
the proposed minimum wage increase. We believe
that these conversations, especially with urban legislators, was time well spent. Hearing the impact that a
$15 an hour minimum wage would have on a farm,
from farmers themselves, made a lasting impression.
Here at home, a huge step forward in our ag infrastructure was completed with the ribbon cutting at the
new Auburn Road Rail Terminal opening easier pathways to market farm products (find out more on the
next page).
An important change to note - we have been experimenting with holding our Board Meetings immediately following the Monthly Mingle. Below you will
find the schedule. If you have any questions on this
(or anything else), please call 315-252-1367 or email
[email protected]. Keep an eye
out for emails and visit our Facebook page for more
details. Join us for a fun, relaxing evening with your
neighboring farmers. It has been a great way to connect, learn and mingle!

Monthly Mingle Calendar
April 7- Cayuga Lake Creamery * Interlaken
Ice Cream Production Tour
July 7 - Finger Lakes Cider House * Interlaken
Farm Tour
August 4 - Cabin View Alpacas * Trumansburg
September 24 - Meadeville Farm Pumpkin Patch
As part of Grains and Planes in Seneca Falls
October 20 - County Annual Meeting
As part of the County Annual Meeting in Romulus
November 1- Frontenac Point Estate Vineyard
and Winery * Trumansburg
To stay up-to-date like us on Facebook and keep an
eye on your email!
From l to r: Bruce Austic, Emory and Missy OeseSiegel, Carol Doolittle, Senator Nozzolio, Ann Heizmann and Assemblyman Palmesano.
There will be no Monthly Mingle or scheduled Board Meeting
in May or June (Planting Season). If it is raining on the first
Thursday, a Board Meeting will be held at Meadeville Farm
Pumpkin Patch.
Expanding Opportunities
On February 24, 2016, The Finger Lakes Railway held an
opening ceremony for its new agricultural transfer facility in
Seneca Falls. The Auburn Road Rail Terminal will be a "drop
and pick" site for products such as grains and fertilizers. Bruce
Maybury proudly represented the Seneca County Farm Bureau
at the ribbon cutting for the Auburn Road Transfer Terminal.
As the liaison between the SCFB board and FGLK, he demonstrated how grain will be loaded into railcars to be shipped all
over the world.
A truck from Maybury Farms in Fayette was on
Mike Smith, President of the Finger Lakes Railway said the
site to demonstrate how soybeans would be loaded
new terminal will allow local farmers to access a larger market- onto a rail car at the Route 414 rail siding.
place. "One of the things we like to point out to people is that
railroads connect their communities to the rest of the world,"
Smith said. "This railroad is a perfect example of how trade is promoted by the fact that there is a rail line that
customers can utilize. This railroad in particular enables our customers, your local employers, to serve the market throughout the rest of the world."
One example is the new capability of expanding the soybean trade with Asia. Smith said that soybean farmers
can deliver their crops to the terminal, where train cars will transport them to Solvay. There, the beans will be
picked up by the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway and transported to a port in North Bergen, New
Jersey. They're loaded onto a ship set for Asia. This terminal will eliminate local farmers from needing to
transport their crops to Solvay. "It's been a tremendous program for local farmers," Smith said.
Mushroom Cultivation Workshop
Thursday, April 14
5:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Seneca Falls Community Center
35 Water Street • Seneca Falls
Space is limited. Registration is required.
$30 per person includes handouts, mater ials and an
inoculated log. To register call Seneca County CCE at
315-539-9251, email [email protected] or register
online at www.senecacountycce.org.
Join Cornell Cooperative Extension Agroforestry Specialist Steve Gabriel for an evening presentation on successful cultivation of shiitake, oyster, lions mane and
stropharia mushrooms for home or small-farm production. Learn the proper tree species and techniques for
cultivation, along with the basic economics and mattering of gourmet specialty mushrooms. Students will get
to inoculate their own log to take home.
For additional information contact Derek Simmonds at
315-539-9251 or [email protected].
Save the Date
2nd Annual Grains and Planes
Meadeville Farm Pumpkin Patch
September 25, 2016
If you would like to volunteer, have
Ideas or want to be involved,
please call 315-252-1367 or email
[email protected].
Members Only Discount
Farm Bureau Members are eligible
for $500 off the purchase or lease of
a qualified 2015 and 2016 Chevrolet, Buick or GMC vehicles, from
Silverado to Encore to Terrain and
more!
Must be a member for 30 days, stackable with more GM offers, visit
www.FBverify.com/GM to print your Membership Verification Guide.