In support of the Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan

Tom Kappner
Posted 8/21/12

In the discussions around drafting Sullivan County’s Strategic Economic Development Plan, the participants all felt that the story of economic development for Sullivan County is one of failure to …

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In support of the Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan

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In the discussions around drafting Sullivan County’s Strategic Economic Development Plan, the participants all felt that the story of economic development for Sullivan County is one of failure to realize our immense potential. But we do have some very real advantages. I used to do some consulting work for the United Nations Development Program evaluating development projects in Latin America, and the one salient factor that jumped out was that the economies that have a diversified economic base always did better. In developing the plan, we focused on our own diversified, three-pronged economic foundation—agriculture, tourism and health care—and the connections among them.

Agriculture in Sullivan County has been uniquely connected to tourism going back 100 years, when the farms were boarding houses over the summer months. That led to the resort industry. And we all know about the huge and growing wellness movement and the ever increasing demand for healthy, nutritious foods.

Data from the 2012 Agricultural Census illustrates the continuing importance of the agricultural sector. Agricultural industries, including agricultural production, support services and manufacturing contributed $714 million in output and nearly 1,500 jobs to the Sullivan County economy. Just about everything is connected to agriculture in one way or another. Every dollar generated goes further and stays locally.

Additionally, our agricultural sector is well diversified. Dairy farming may be declining, but fruits and vegetables, beef cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, alpacas, horses, poultry and eggs, cheese and maple production are all growing slowly, but steadily. And though a majority of these enterprises earn less than $10,000 a year in gross sales, their growing numbers and cumulative impact is considerable, and they are more resilient and less vulnerable to market fluctuations than commodity farming.

We have developed an Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan that is a solid, substantive, and well thought-out document providing a wealth of material detailing the makeup and nature of our agricultural sector. And unlike most well thought-out plans—and I have seen plenty of them at the UN—which remain statements of lofty goals collecting dust, this has mechanisms built into it to push it forward to realization.

To begin with, this plan calls for an advisory task force to see to its implementation. It should consist of representatives of organizations that support agriculture—like the Agricultural Advisory Board, Cornell Cooperative Extension and Farm Network—and representatives of organizations with the resources and wherewithal to make things happen, like the county’s planning department, IDA, and Partnership for Economic Development.

In addition, it has as one of its priority initiatives the creation of an agriculture business retention and expansion program. Central to the success of this program and of the other initiatives in the Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan is creating the position of coordinator, able to draw on a staff to help implement the plan. This individual will visit farmers and work with them to provide assistance and referral of resources in such areas as business planning, marketing, value-added processing and diversification. The coordinator is also tasked to see that the other priority initiatives are carried out, and will act as a spokesperson or advocate for agriculture in Sullivan County.

To make sure that the coordinator carries out his or her tasks in a way that ensures the ultimate success of the overall plan, the position must be adequately funded. Budgetary constraints notwithstanding, there is no investment that would produce such high dividends for our future and is more worthy of our support.

[Tom Kappner is a retired college professor who has resided in the Town of Delaware for more than 35 years and is on the Agricultural Advisory Board.]

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