Agriculture

"He was the face of Long Island farming." Colleagues and friends remember Joe Gergela as a tireless advocate for farmers and farming on Long Island who fought for survival of the industry with passion and dedication.

Learn more about "The Immigrant Experience on Long Island's East End" during a tour and workshop on Saturday, April 30 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at Hallockville Museum Farm.

Lowering the threshold for time-and-a-half overtime pay below 60 hours a week could devastate local farms already reeling from the effects of the COVID pandemic, local farmers told state lawmakers yesterday.

The New York State Legislature yesterday approved sweeping farm labor legislation that would give farmworkers the same employment rights as workers in other industries.

In a 4-1 decision, an Appellate Division panel ruled “unconstitutional as a matter of law” the exclusion of farmworkers in the state labor law provisions granting employees the right to organize and bargain collectively.

“Always one to get ahead of the curve, he was constantly searching for ways to push the envelope with new crops to the area, farming techniques or innovative distribution networks,” the Lyle C. Wells Passion for Agriculture said. A $5,000 grant will be awarded to an existing or new Long Island farmer committed to these causes.

The potential for the federal government shutdown to disrupt the H2A temporary visa program concerns local farmers. The shutdown is also impacting the ability of farmers to apply for loans, insurance and grants.

Riverhead Town’s first farm brewery to grow its own hops and barley is in the works for a farm on Sound Avenue in Jamesport. Jamesport...

Why all East End residents need to embrace local agriculture, support it and promote it.

Two old friends who share a love of craft beer are establishing a 20-acre hop farm on the North Fork that represents nearly 10 percent of all the acreage currently devoted to commercial hop production in New York State.