NY Farm Viability Institute Honors Agricultural Leaders with Annual Awards
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
The New York Farm Viability Institute presented annual awards this winter in honor of a farmer, project leader, and program supporter.
The honorees were cited for work in 2009 in support of the farmer-run nonprofit group that promotes research and outreach education projects that work with farmers to improve profitability and develop models for all farms.
Award winners were Peter Dueppengiesser, of Dueppengiesser Farm, in Perry, Farmer of the Year; Timothy Martinson, extension grape specialist with Cornell University, Project Leader of the Year; and US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Friend of the Year.
The awardees were selected by the NY Farm Viability Institute’s all-farmer board of directors.
Since 2005, NY Farm Viability Institute provided grant funds to more than 190 projects that worked in all sectors of the state’s agriculture – bioenergy, dairy, field crops, fruit, equine, green industry, livestock, maple, and vegetables – as well as farms of all sizes and production practices.
Eighty-two completed projects worked directly with 1,660 farms and helped increase annual farms sales by $26 million, and reduce annual operating costs by $10 million. Farmers made capital investments of $14 million, and created 181 jobs. The $50 million on-farm impact represents a 7:1 return on investment from grant funds.
Since 2005, NY Farm Viability Institute received annual appropriations from the state legislature, and Department of Agriculture and Markets.
Farmer of the year: Peter Dueppengiesser, a Wyoming County dairy farmer, was cited as Farmer of the Year. The award was presented at the annual meeting of the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, held earlier this month in Syracuse.
Since 2006, Dueppengiesser has been a volunteer member of the NY Farm Viability’s Dairy Committee, a group of farmers that review and rank proposals submitted for grant funding each year.
Dueppengiesser participated in several funded projects and shared what he learned with other farmers. Projects included developing benchmarks for calf-rearing practices, Spanish-language farmworker skills training, on-farm pasteurization of milk for calf feed, and business record keeping via the Cornell Dairy Farm Business Summary.
In presenting the award, Ron Robbins, a NY Farm Viability board member and dairy farmer from Sackets Harbor, said “Pete exemplifies someone who gives back to his community and industry, and someone who strives to improve his business.”
Friend of the year: US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was tapped for the Friend of the Year award, presented earlier this month at her Washington DC office.
As a member of the Senate agriculture committee, Gillibrand has been an advocate for programs that help farmers improve economically.
Gillibrand introduced legislation to reauthorize the federal Agriculture Innovation Center program, whose funds were used to found the NY Farm Viability Institute. She continues to work towards funding appropriation of the AIC program.
In November, Gillibrand urged the US Department of Agriculture to include the NY Farm Viability Institute in the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative.
“During this economic turndown, funding for the Institute is at risk at a time when farmers need its services the most,” Gillibrand said. “Inclusion of the Institute in the ‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ Initiative would provide crucial support to programs that benefit … farmers (and) increase research and education capabilities that maximize farm profits and provide economic models for other farms.”
Project leader of the year: Timothy Martinson, a statewide viticulture extension specialist with Cornell University, was named the Project Leader of the Year. The award was presented at Viticulture 2010 in February in Rochester.
Martinson received grant funding for two projects that spanned from 2006 to 2009 and worked with juice and wine grape growers to improve environmental protocols on the farm, including reducing pesticide and fertilizer use while maintaining fruit yields.
Martinson’s Vine Balance worked with 85 grape growers that reduced annual operating costs by $82,000 and increased annual revenue by $2 million, through marketing the environmental practices behind their wine and juice.
“There are marketing imperatives here that have been big drivers of people seeking sustainable practices,” Martinson said.
Recently, the New York Wine Grape Growers Association received grant funds from NY Farm Viability for a project to develop a third-party marketing certification for growers that adopt the Vine Balance agricultural environmental practices.
