Farmers Can't Take Another Blow
By Senator Cathy Young
Albany is creating an unprecedented crisis for our farmers that will be the final straw for the Upstate economy.
Two bills have been voted out of the Labor Committee and are headed to the Senate floor that will drive up labor costs so high that farmers will be forced to go out of business.
The impact will be devastating. Thousands of farms statewide will go under, and countless jobs at farms, processing plants, and farm supply businesses will be lost. Crops will rot in the fields because farmers will have no money to harvest them, and dairy cows will be taken to the slaughterhouse because farmers won’t be able to afford to milk them. Weeds will overrun our vineyards; orchards; and corn, alfalfa and vegetable fields.
Families will suffer, livelihoods will be taken away, and life savings will be depleted.
I had the wonderful experience of growing up on a dairy farm, and I worked side by side with our farm workers, milking cows, baling hay and shoveling grain. I know first hand how farms operate across the state.
Like most New York farms, my family’s workers received benefits that typically are not given in other jobs. They had their housing and utilities paid for by my father, and there were many a day where I sat at my grandparents’ kitchen table and we all shared a hot lunch cooked by my grandma. My dad always made sure our workers got what they needed. That is how the farm community works -- neighbor helps neighbor, and farmers personally look out for their workers. I see it every day in my Senate district.
New York already has some of the strictest laws and standards in the country. According to the Farm Bureau, which represents 30,000 farm families, farms, unlike any other small business, are subjected to constant regulation and are regularly inspected by a variety of federal and state agencies. Adding mandatory overtime pay after eight hours, unemployment insurance and Worker’s Compensation costs, and collective bargaining rights will make our farms unable to compete with other states and countries.
I cannot stress enough how crucial farming is to our Upstate economy. It generates billions of dollars in wages, and local and state revenues. Our small towns and Upstate cities depend on a thriving farming industry.
This year already has been an unmitigated disaster for farmers. They are getting dangerously low prices for the food they produce. The state budget piled on huge hikes in taxes, utility charges, and health insurance premium costs. Farming suffered severe cuts to state-funded agriculture programs to the tune of more than $11 million. Farmers had their emergency dairy relief program voted down.
Now that the state has hammered agriculture, Albany may put countless farms out of business for good.
There is only one way to stop this catastrophe, and that is making sure these bills never come to the Senate floor for a vote.
Senate Democrats took over the Majority in last fall’s elections. They as Majority members are responsible for controlling the agenda, and I am urging them to block these bills. It is time that the handful of Upstate Democrat Senators stand up for their districts, instead of continuously toeing the line for New York City as they did in the budget by voting for out-of-control taxes and spending.
These Senators will be held accountable by every farmer and agriculture-related industry in this state if this legislation passes. I will make sure of it.
Albany is creating an unprecedented crisis for our farmers that will be the final straw for the Upstate economy. Two bills have been voted out of the Labor Committee and are headed to the Senate floor that will drive up labor costs so high that farmers will be forced to go out of business.
The impact will be devastating. Thousands of farms statewide will go under, and countless jobs at farms, processing plants, and farm supply businesses will be lost. Crops will rot in the fields because farmers will have no money to harvest them, and dairy cows will be taken to the slaughterhouse because farmers won’t be able to afford to milk them. Weeds will overrun our vineyards; orchards; and corn, alfalfa and vegetable fields.
Families will suffer, livelihoods will be taken away, and life savings will be depleted.
I had the wonderful experience of growing up on a dairy farm, and I worked side by side with our farm workers, milking cows, baling hay and shoveling grain. I know first hand how farms operate across the state.
Like most New York farms, my family’s workers received benefits that typically are not given in other jobs. They had their housing and utilities paid for by my father, and there were many a day where I sat at my grandparents’ kitchen table and we all shared a hot lunch cooked by my grandma. My dad always made sure our workers got what they needed. That is how the farm community works -- neighbor helps neighbor, and farmers personally look out for their workers. I see it every day in my Senate district.
New York already has some of the strictest laws and standards in the country. According to the Farm Bureau, which represents 30,000 farm families, farms, unlike any other small business, are subjected to constant regulation and are regularly inspected by a variety of federal and state agencies. Adding mandatory overtime pay after eight hours, unemployment insurance and Worker’s Compensation costs, and collective bargaining rights will make our farms unable to compete with other states and countries.
I cannot stress enough how crucial farming is to our Upstate economy. It generates billions of dollars in wages, and local and state revenues. Our small towns and Upstate cities depend on a thriving farming industry.
This year already has been an unmitigated disaster for farmers. They are getting dangerously low prices for the food they produce. The state budget piled on huge hikes in taxes, utility charges, and health insurance premium costs. Farming suffered severe cuts to state-funded agriculture programs to the tune of more than $11 million. Farmers had their emergency dairy relief program voted down.
Now that the state has hammered agriculture, Albany may put countless farms out of business for good.
There is only one way to stop this catastrophe, and that is making sure these bills never come to the Senate floor for a vote.
Senate Democrats took over the Majority in last fall’s elections. They as Majority members are responsible for controlling the agenda, and I am urging them to block these bills. It is time that the handful of Upstate Democrat Senators stand up for their districts, instead of continuously toeing the line for New York City as they did in the budget by voting for out-of-control taxes and spending.
These Senators will be held accountable by every farmer and agriculture-related industry in this state if this legislation passes. I will make sure of it.
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