Friends of Rural New York

“If there’s one thing that’s been clear to me since I became senator, it’s that being effective means hitting the road and meeting with people around the state,” Schumer said.

The problem is that the Senator is not hearing much from the “people”. During his visit to Cayuga County on Tuesday, Dec. 27th, the room was packed with politicians and wannabees. There were only about 5 farmers in the audience. One farmer told us that the meeting had not been very well publicized. In fact they found out about it that very morning.

The Senator took questions from the audience but basically, he did most of the talking. He dominated the conversation. We estimate that he spoke for 45 minutes out of his one hour visit and, although the meeting was advertised to be about farms and energy costs, he took many non-farm-related questions and gave those questions lengthy answers.

The Senator expressed surprise that independent farmers are wary of immigrant labor. Where is he getting his advice from? Must be from CAFO supporters who love cheap labor. He claimed that Americans don’t want to do farm work. The farmer who sat behind us groaned over that one (having worked at his farm chores all day).

Schumer wants to reduce costs for new equipment. Who buys new equipment? CAFO owners do. The independents usually have to make do with the old stuff.

The farmers reaction to Senator Schumer’s visit?  The Senator is clueless regarding the reasons for economic devestation in rural New York State- and he talks too damn much.

WORST NEIGHBOR AWARD FROM PARADE MAGAZINE
December 18, 2005

An environmental issue is vexing Nebraska state officials: a 2000-ton pile of cow manure belonging to cattle producer David Dickinson.
Dickinson owns Midwest Feeding Co., located about 20 miles west of Lincoln, which takes in up to 12,000 cows at a time from ranchers and fattens them for market. The bovine by-products from this massive operation resulted in a compost pile of grass and manure 100 feet long, 30 feet high and 50 feet wide that spontaneously combusted and burned for a couple of months.
No one is sure how the fire started but the culprit is probably heat from decomposing manure inside the pile. At first Dickinson tried using heavy equipment to spread out the heap. “But the problem was,” he explains, “it started in another spot.”

WTO KILLS FARMERS : THE NEED FOR A CHANGE IN THE AGRICULTURE PARADIGM

WTO reduced agriculture to a commodity. The Agreement on Agriculture was drafted by Cargill, not by farmers. 40,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in the decade of WTO. Suicides are the result of debt, debt is the result of rising costs of inputs as agriculture is industrialized and corporatised, and falling prices resulting from trade liberalization and removal of import controls. Hong Kong brought no relief to the farmers of the world who were protesting on the streets. No commitments were made on bringing back quantitative restrictions and import controls - a call of farming communities everywhere. The removal of export subsidies by 2013 is meaningless in the context of the rapid destruction of small farms and decimation of small farmers. It is both meaningless because export subsidies are a merely $ 3 billion, while total subsidies for industrial agriculture in OECD countries is $ 400 billion.

If farmers must survive we need a change in paradigm from industrial agriculture to ecological agriculture, from free trade to fair trade, from decisions about agriculture in WTO to decisions moving to local and national levels. This is the call for food sovereignty.
by Vandana Shiva

Antibiotics in your vegetables?
Even people who avoid meat may still be at risk of developing an antibiotic-resistant illness that originated in animals. A recent study found that vegetables fertilized with manure from animals fed antibiotics can absorb the antibiotics. Consumers could experience allergic reactions to certain antibiotics, or develop antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections after the antibiotics kill off susceptible bacteria in their bodies. The findings may not apply to organic vegetables because organic regulations specify that manure must be either composted or applied to a field no later than 90 days before harvest, twice as long as the time period for manure that was used in the study, and long enough for many antibiotics to break down. Read the abstract in the Journal of Environmental Quality.

Bon Appetit will sell cage-free eggs
Bon Appetit Management Company is the first food service company to adopt a policy to buy only cage-free eggs. Most egg-laying hens spend their lives packed into wire “battery” cages. The company will transition to cage-free eggs over the next year. Bon Appetit, which serves specialty venues, universities, and corporations at 190 locations nationwide, joins Whole Foods Market, Wild Oats Natural Marketplace, Jimbo’s Naturally, and Earth Fare food retailers in eliminating battery-produced egg sales.
from Union of Concerned Scientists

Thursday December 22, 2005
OPINION
Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin

Chickens live in misery

Nichols residents have good reason to be concerned about a planned factory farm, but let’s not overlook a larger issue: Most of the chicken meat we find in grocery stores and restaurants comes from “broiler” chickens raised in precisely the kind of concentrated animal feeding operation proposed.

To maximize profits, factory farmers force chickens to live in severely overcrowded and filthy conditions, with each bird receiving about 130 inches of living space.

While it used to take 84 days to raise a five-pound chicken, corporate agriculture has used selective breeding and growth-promoting drugs to reduce this to only 45 days.

Such fast growth causes these birds to suffer from a number of chronic health problems, including leg disorders and heart disease.

Chickens also frequently succumb to heat prostration, infectious diseases and cancer, all while living amidst their own excrement.

Each year in the United States, more than 8 billion chickens are treated in this manner.

One of the best ways to help eliminate the pollution and misery is by leaving chickens and eggs off our plates and adopting a healthy, delicious plant-based diet.

Mark Hawthorne

Rohnert Park, CALIF.

Albany agency threats loom over Nichols? Will they have chickens whether the people want them or not?

Chicken farm plan challenged
Studies show negative impact on health

By Debbie Swartz
Press & Sun-Bulletin
TOWN OF NICHOLS — Nearly a dozen Nichols residents Tuesday presented the town board with more than 50 questions they want answered about a farm that is expected to bring 180,000 chickens to the area.

Deborah Stephens, 40, who lives across the street from where the farm is expected to be built, cited several studies done over the last few years showing that Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations have harmed neighborhoods. She said while property values and quality of life go down, instances of asthma and other illnesses increase.

“I have been unable to find even one study that suggests a large size CAFO is a benefit to a community,” Stephens said.

Stephens, who spoke on behalf of other residents in attendance, said their concerns range from wondering if they will be able to hang their laundry outside to whether the farm will bring increases in flies, rats and other undesirables.

“I purchased my home because of the quality of life I thought I would experience there,” she said.

Deputy Town Supervisor Kenneth Snowden said without changing the zoning, there was little the town could do since the transaction for the property was between private individuals.

The chicken farm is being proposed by Pete Drost of Beamsville, Ontario. Drost is looking to build six single-story barns on a 35-acre plot on East River Road in Nichols. Each barn would house chickens from infancy until about seven weeks of age, when they would be shipped alive to New York City markets. Drost and his family own several large chicken farms in Ontario.

Town Supervisor James Branston said the board will answer the questions brought by the residents, but there was little they could do about the project.

“It’s extremely frustrating on our part,” Branston said.

He recommended residents speak to state Sen. Thomas W. Libous, R-Binghamton, about the issue since state laws govern what regulations a farm must follow.

As for the project, Snowden said the local law the board passed in September to prohibit the construction of any commercial farms in the town for nine month does not mean the farm won’t come.

“You can’t stop that project,” he said.

© 2005 Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
For more information see:
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12/04/2005
Questioning the need for a factory farm

I found out late summer that the field, which for 40 plus years had been mostly cropland, was to be purchased by persons from Ontario, Canada for their U.S. chicken operation. At the time I and some of my neighbors knew very little about this type of farming. So we began to ask questions.

The main question for local officials is if the location of this factory farm is a good idea. Close proximity to a very large number of families with children, elderly, family members with allergies or illnesses, pets and migratory waterfowl is of great concern. We do not live “in the country”, we live in a very residential area. After visiting the chicken farm in Canada, some questions remain.

First, water. How much will be used by the chickens? Will this affect our wells and will the flood zone be altered? Will water birds be drawn there in winter because of spilled feed?

Second, disease. What is the link between chickens and migratory waterfowl and the spread of avain flu?

Third, air quality. The air over the factory farm will not stay there. Will the air carry chemicals or antibiotics from feed and manure and in what quantities? Can avian flu be transported through infected fecal dust or fecal matter on feathers?

Four, quality of life. Will there be smell, much dust or feathers and will pests like flies and rodents increase? What about nighttime noise from machinery and trucking?

Five, property values. Will our property values plummet and can we get a tax decrease if they do? Will I be able to sell if I don’t want to live next to a factory farm? How will this benefit the local economy?

Six, labor. Who will work at this farm? I hear “catching” chickens is a particularly nasty occupation.

Seven, expansion. Will there ever be more than six barns?

Eight, manure. Is there a law stating that it cannot be spread on the rest of the property?

Nine, sale. Will the buyer always own that property? They are Canadian citizens, after all, with no ties to our community. What if they sell to a larger producer like Tyson, Perdue or ConAgra?

What will this all mean to Nichols?

It is irresponsible and just plain false to suggest our goal is to try to stop agricultural progress in Tioga County. We are merely asking that the future of farming here be explored. I know how hard it is to make a living on a small farm and I know how connected small farmers are to their land and animals. But, this is a factory farm. The owners will not live in this town, county, or even in this country. Only chickens will occupy this land.

Could this benefit our local family farms? Maybe. They could contract out to grow chickens. They already own the land and equipment necessary. Chicken barns don’t require much acreage or supervision and chicken manure is great fertilizer. Could be a nice supplement to the dairy income and it might be just the thing that saves the small struggling farmer.

On the other hand, do we want to encourage a build up of factory farming? If I had the capital, could I purchase 10 acres and raise 125,000 chickens? Apparently yes, if the land was zoned for agriculture and I had a nutrient waste management plan. The number of surrounding residences does not matter. Chicken farming now, could pig farming be next? Is questioning the future a “scare tactic”? I believe research and education are not bad ideas. I bet the people living now in Endicott wish someone had the foresight to look into IBM business practices more thoroughly years ago.

In closing, the neighbors of this property are looking for answers, facts, assurances, and options (if there are any left) and we have a right to do that.

Deb Stephens, Nichols