Federal agriculture official on East End tour gets close-up look at a North Fork family farm

What has the USDA done for local farmers lately? Suffolk is New York’s leading agricultural county, yet the high cost of farming on Long Island is of deep concern to growers in our area.

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan visited eastern Long Island and Harbes Farm and Orchard today on Sound Avenue to address some of these issues. Alongside Congressman Tim Bishop, Merrigan discussed her department’s role in assisting small family farms. “All the efforts that we’re putting in in local and regional agriculture do help this part of the world quite a bit,” she said, “if you nurture it, we will see continued job creation.”

The USDA introduced the “Know Your Farmer Know Your Food” initiative to strengthen regional and local food systems. The initiative focuses on removing the barriers to local food market entry and expansion. According to the USDA website, the goal is to help local farms with issues including limitations on production capacity, a lack of infrastructure for moving local food into mainstream markets, and regulatory uncertainties.

During today’s visit, Merrigan, Bishop and Ed Harbes of Harbes Farm and Orchard, discussed how these issues affect local farmers. According to Harbes, some of the major issues include liability insurance on the farm, seasonal labor force concerns, and distribution of farm products to local markets, especially schools.

“There is a logistics challenge to have the quantities schools want especially year round because when farmers have the most produce in July and August, schools are not in session.” Long Island Farm Bureau Executive Director Joe Gergela added that there is not enough money coming from the USDA to the school districts for the lunch program. “We’re hearing from parents that they want better, nutritious, local foods in the schools but we still have a disconnect.”

“Sometime this fall we’ll get out the first round of “Farm to School” grants across the country,” Merrigan responded. The Farm to School effort is a component of the “Know Your Farmer Know Your Food” initiative. The program’s goals include procurement of local produce for schools as well as food and nutrition education. Merrigan said the program is also offering webinars and technical assistance for schools and farm groups.

Gergela spoke about the opening of the Agriculture Consumer Science Center (see yesterday’s story) and its expected role in helping farmers get more products to the consumer. The center has the ability to freeze and preserve local produce for later distribution.

“It’s about small business generation and doing value added with our agricultural industry,” Gergela said, “We have a lot of exciting things going on here.”

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