HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-01-14January 14, 2015
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Town of Dryden
Agriculture Advisory Committee
January 14, 2015
Members Present: Evan Carpenter, Chair, Joe Osmeloski, Kim LaMotte, and Doug Barton
Town Hall Representative: David Sprout, CEO
Liaisons: Jason Leifer, John Kiefer and Craig Schutt
Guests: Monika Roth and Debbie Teeter, Cooperative Extension, Craig Anderson
Review and approval of minutes from November 2014:
J. Osmeloski moved to accept the minutes as presented. K. LaMotte seconded the motion and the
minutes were unanimously approved.
J. Leifer shared information regarding the New York Rural Water Association. Steve Winkley from the
Water Association is collecting data and helping towns prepare local source water protection plans. J.
Leifer believes that the information will be valuable during the Comprehensive Plan update. See
attached document for more information.
J. Leifer is asking a couple of members from various boards to serve on a committee to support and
assist Mr. Winkley. Joe Osmeloski from the Ag Committee, Craig Schutt from the Conservation Board
and John Kiefer from the Planning Board agreed to represent their volunteer boards.
Monika Roth has drafted an agreement between the Town and Cooperative Extension. She will get it to
Supr. Sumner soon.
She has three different models for producing the plan: one is for an outside consultant (She did not
recommend this option), one is based on the Town staff doing the work and the third option is for
Monika and Debbie writing the plan.
The agreement states that Cooperative Extension will provide “general project services” such as
arranging meetings with the committee, the farmers, etc., and will ensure the Committee sticks to a
time line. Ms. Roth wants to look at what other towns are doing and what their plans encompass. They
will look to ensure that the plan encompasses the State requirements and that it gets the proper
reviews and approvals.
They will start with an Inventory Analysis in which they review what has already been done, what data
exists, where is the protected farmland, what else do the farmers want to know and then creating a
summary. From that they can develop some trends and projection. The State is interested in two areas,
farmland protection and the development of agriculture.
Ms. Roth also mentioned the greener/cleaner plan with strategies pertaining to rural areas and
agriculture. It is a potential funding source.
The Timeline (see attached):
January 14, 2015
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The group decided that they will work as a committee on the farmland protection plan instead of
forming a subcommittee.
Ms. Teeter said that the survey the Ag Committee has generated is fairly good. She is going to touch it
up and rephrase some of the questions. The group is sending separate surveys to the farmers and the
landowners.
Ms. Roth said that most of the information gathering should be done in the next couple of months so
that during the summer, while the farmers are not available, they can start summarizing and writing the
first summary of the ag situation in the Town. They will be looking at maps and getting all the
background documents together that go into a plan. Once they get through the inventory analysis, then
we start talking about strategies to protect Ag in the plan. Farmer input will be important. The group
should be looking ahead to what recommendations folks might have in regard to what they want to see
in a plan.
Supr. Sumner asked whether the two questions on the back side of the Ag Committee’s survey that are
related to Open Space are still relevant to the current discussion since Open Space has sort of dropped
off in Town priorities. The Ag Committee feels that those questions should stay; the questions are still
relevant. Some of the questions need to be adjusted to make more sense.
Ms. Teeter doesn’t feel the current survey will pinpoint some of the issues the farmers are facing. She
will adjust some of the questions to get information she feels is relevant for the plan.
C. Anderson asked how many farms they believe are in Dryden. K. LaMotte asked how Debbie and
Monika are defining “farms”?
Ms. Teeter said she starts with those that get Ag Assessment and then she looks through lists of people
that are market growers or equine operations. Her list isn’t as comprehensive as the Census of
Agriculture.
J. Kiefer asked what level of participation they expect to get. Ms. Roth feels it will be a high percentage,
70 – 80%. And those that don’t respond, Debbie and Monika will track them down.
K. LaMotte asked about the small homestead with a cow, a couple chickens, etc. Will they be counted?
It was decided that they need to have a commercial interest. If it is just a homestead farm, they won’t
make the list. Tree farmers will fall into the farm category but forestry by itself probably won’t make it
into the plan, except in the manner it affects the farms.
The group discussed the fact that they have not officially been given the grant money but Ms. Roth said
that since the State has already acknowledged the grant, and indicated that the Town will get the
money, they can start working on some of the steps. She asked the Committee to review the
information they have already gathered, for example – why they wanted to pursue the Ag Protection
Plan in the first place.
January 14, 2015
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Ms. Roth suggested that a farmer meeting be held in March at which time additional questions can be
asked and those that have not completed the surveys, can be encouraged to fill them out.
J. Kiefer pointed out that part of the zoning and the comprehensive plan are not consistent with the
rules set forth by Ag and Markets. Collectively the group wants to make sure that those inconsistencies
are dealt with. K. LaMotte shared a letter from Ag and Markets in which they outlined the
inconsistencies in the zoning plan.
The Committee discussed when to meet with the farmers in March. Should it be in the morning –a
breakfast situation – or the afternoon or evening. If it was during the day, the number of farmers able
to attend might be lower. The decision was for Wednesday, the 11th of March in the evening at the
Dryden Fire Station.
The meeting in February will be used to review the survey and make sure the group is comfortable with
the questions. The survey, along with an invitation to the farmer meeting, will be mailed shortly
thereafter.
Ms. Roth said that some farmers are unlikely to respond to questions dealing with finances. Many
farmers will respond that it is no one else’s business. However, it is interesting to know things like the
cost of hired help, the taxes that are being paid, etc. Supr. Sumner asked if there was a way to
determine how much the farmers are spending locally? Ms. Teeter responded that there are questions
regarding capital investments which will help.
E. Carpenter pointed out that we want information that is Town of Dryden specific. He used the
Sherman farm as an example – they have land holdings out of the Town of Dryden.
Ms. Teeter has a list that shows how much land is owned in Dryden and how much is owned in
surrounding towns. She said that the group doesn’t need to ask how much land a farmer owns or rents
because they have a list of that information.
K. LaMotte and E. Carpenter disagreed with Ms. Teeter’s assessment because they both know folks that
are renting their land to farmers that don’t have ag assessment.
C. Schutt asked how the equine list is? Ms. Teeter said that she has a list of businesses; she tried to avoid
adding people that have horses for pets.
Ms. Roth said another question she would put out is ‘what is needed to grow agriculture’. She also
believes we need to explain what the group is asking when they ask if the Town is farmer friendly. Ms.
Teeter suggested that maybe the question could be ‘what issues have you had with the Town’? or ‘is
there a specific area you would like changed’?, etc.
Another question that Ms. Roth feels should be included relates to the development pressure farmers
might face.
January 14, 2015
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Ms. Roth said that at the February meeting, we need to determine how we are going to structure the
farmer meeting in March. It can be a large group discussion or small groups with a leader at each table
to keep the farmers on topic. Otherwise, the farmers tend to discuss everything rather than remaining
focused to get the information that we want.
Ms. Teeter said that they are not hosting an ag summit this year because they want to hold a couple of
meetings about the County Ag Plan. There will be one at the Fire Station in Dryden.
Ms. Roth wants to meet with the farmers again to get a more information regarding their thoughts
about the goals for the plan. In Lansing, they wrote a vision statement. She asked the group to consider
what their goals are so that Ms. Teeter and Ms. Roth have a better idea of which direction to push the
plan.
Ms. Teeter shared the fact that she is impressed with the Right to Farm law that the Town of Dryden
has. Every time a person buys a house or gets a building permit in the Town, they are provided with the
right to farm law and required to sign it.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:05 PM.
Respectfully Submitted
Erin A. Bieber
Deputy Town Clerk
January 14, 2015
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Timeline for Dryden Ag Plan Development
January 2015
Draft consultant agreement – send to Town for
final review/approval and signatures
Dryden Ag committee input on timeline, plan
goals, etc. Jan. 14 meeting
Subcommittee appointed – decide on meeting
schedule
Review past ag committee notes pertaining to
ag planning interests
Review town documents (comp plan, zoning,
town ag plan, etc.)
February
Subcommittee meeting
Farmer lists – review
draft survey/interview questions
mail survey & meeting notice
draft agenda/format for farmer meeting
March
Host farmer meeting
Compile farmer surveys and conduct key farm
interviews
Subcommittee meeting
April
Summarize input
May
Write Town ag profile draft
June
Review development activities and impacts
Prepare relevant Maps
Subcommittee meeting
July
Review Town Ag Plans from other towns –
summarize potential recommendations/actions
for subcommittee review
August
Complete inventory analysis
Write summary
September
Subcommittee meeting – reviews documents
to date
Update based on input
October
Plan farmer meeting
November
Farmer meeting – get input on profile (verify)
Focus on economic development, farmland
protection strategy development
December
Subcommittee reviews strategies, final list
January 14, 2015
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