Bradley Rickard: New, Fairer Bill Could Help State and Inustry

Among the new revenue streams in Gov. David A. Paterson’s ultra-tight budget is a proposal to allow the sale of wine in grocery stores in New York State. Just how lucrative will this be for the state? In addition to the $93 million that would be generated from a one-time franchise fee charged to grocery stores, my calculations show that annual government revenues would likely increase by $22 million from taxes on additional wine sales.

Agreed, that’s a mere droplet for a state facing a $7.4 billion deficit this year, but allowing supermarkets to sell wine would have substantial long-term effects, with in-state wine sales increasing by approximately 13 percent and out-of-state wine sales expanding by 30 percent.

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New, Fairer Bill

Dairy Farmers Hope Price Rebound Continues

Wholesale milk prices have returned to the point where farmers say they can break even on sales, but many dairy producers remain mired in debt ... Farmers were hobbled over the last two years by low wholesale dairy prices that, when taking into consideration the cost of production, caused many producers to lose money ...

At the same time, many farms were unable to handle the poor market and simply went out of business, said Peter Gregg, a spokesman for the New York Farm Bureau.
"It's what happens when we have big fluctuations in milk prices like last year," Gregg said.

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Dairy Farmer-Price Rebound

Update: Public Speaks Out in Favor of Beekeeping at New York City Public Meeting

On Wednesday, February 3, the New York City Department of Health and Hygiene heard public comments about the proposed change to Title 24 of the New York City health code (PDF, section 161) which will allow New Yorkers to keep non-aggressive honey bees in the city. 

According to Mary Plummer at onearth and Ilene Rosen at DNAinfo, no one spoke against changing the regulations.  Additionally, the Department of Health has not received written comments according to its web site (as of February 5).  The Department will make a final decision on the changes in March.

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NYC Bees

Learning What Food Looks Like Before it Goes into the Package

Students from Automotive High School in Greenpoint

About 20 high school students stood behind the butcher counter, staring at a 160-pound piece of meat from a recently slaughtered cow.

“All of our meat comes from local farms, and we get it all whole,” said Tom Mylan, 33, one of three butchers at the Meat Hook, a new butcher shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that buys its meat locally and prizes nose-to-tail eating. “We don’t just buy steaks or pork chops or whatever.”

“How much does the whole cow cost?” one boy in a white hoodie had asked moments before. Answer: about $3.25 a pound. “Do you slaughter here?” asked another. Short answer: no—most slaughterhouses are upstate.

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Before the Package