New York Growers Expect Normal Season of Shipments

The 2010 season for New York-grown vegetables looks to be another normal year, grower-shippers say.

Most say they expect typical volumes and normal start times.

“So far, the growing season has been very good,” Dave Walczak, sales and operations manager of Eden Valley Growers, Eden, N.Y., said in early July. “Everything is off to a good start. Forbidding any weather problems, we should be in good shape this year.”

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New York Growers Expect Normal Season of Shipments

'Local' Program Connects Growers, Supermarkets

Budget cuts and limited state funding aren’t slowing the promotion arm of New York’s fruit and vegetable growers.

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Albany, is aggressively promoting the Empire State’s locally and regionally grown summer offerings. Like many other states, New York is low on funding for its agriculture marketing program. The agency is using two disbursements of $130,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture specialty crop grants, however, to keep its Pride of New York promotional program running, said Jessica Ziehm, the New York agency’s director of communications.

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'Local' Program Connects Growers, Supermarkets

Good News, Bad News for Farmland Preservation

David Wilbert knows the land will remain forever g

A new state law makes it easier for land trusts to tap into state farmland preservation funding, but at the same time lawmakers have slashed the amount of funding that's available.

Farmland preservation is not a simple task; it amounts to a complex real estate transaction. Communities across New York have found creative ways to protect the land while helping farmers stay in business, employing mechanisms like conservation easements or the purchase or transfer of development rights.

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Good News, Bad News for Farmland Preservation

Warm, Wet Weather Brings a Bumper Crop of Sweet Corn to Central New York Stores

Andy Reeves shows sweet corn from fields

Syracuse, NY -- The old saying for corn is “knee high by the Fourth of July.” But this year, Rodgers and Hammerstein lyrics from “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” are more apropos, with Central New York sporting corn as “high as an elephant’s eye, An’ it looks like it’s climbin’ clear up in the sky.”

The warmth of April, June and July and an adequate amount of rain has helped the first harvest of sweet corn crop occur up to two weeks early in many parts of New York state, said Jessica Ziehm of the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.

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Warm, Wet Weather Brings a Bumper Crop of Sweet Corn