Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
The Rural Landscape <br />NEW YOR.Ks AGRICULTURAI, SECTOR <br />Farming is a big deal in Neur York: a $3.5 billion <br />industry that accounts for t1iousands of jobs on <br />farms, in proceSSing plants, in supplier operations, <br />and in retail stores and restdtlrants. We have <br />about 37,000 dairy fruit, vegetable, horticulture, <br />hog, poultry, and other livestock farms, which <br />cover 25% of the state's land mass. Our farms <br />supply us with more than mist food: in particu- <br />lar, lush landscapes of rolling green. fields, care- <br />fully tended orchards, and serenely grazing cows. <br />Diversity reigns. Dairy farms with 1,000 cows <br />and 20 employees and dairy farms with 40 cows <br />and one part -time employee. Fresh market crops <br />like apples and sweet corn, processed crops like <br />cabbage and beans, and value added products <br />like goat's milli cheese and. table wine. Full. -time <br />and part -time operators. Farms that have been <br />in the family for generations and farms operated. <br />by first generation farmers. Products sold. directly <br />to superi-riarkets, to commodity buyers, and to <br />consumers on the roadside or in farmers' mar- <br />kets. Products for export and products for do- <br />mestic consumption. <br />Although New York ranks in the middle range <br />nationally for cash farm receipts, we're near the <br />top in several key categories: <br />7 <br />Fanners must be doing really well. Right! ?! <br />TA /ell, riot quite. <br />Farming is a tough and risky business. There <br />are many factors farmers can't control: <br />Weather <br />Cost of supplies <br />Product prices etlt.an <br />Global aid domestic comp <br />'0leigl 1 policy <br />Trade al' yYeS <br />Other factors add stress to farmers' lives: <br />i Environmental concerns <br />1 Caomi-minity relations <br />1 Complex .fi.nancial. arrangements <br />1 Unstable and sometimes inadequate labor, <br />supply <br />1 Changing technology <br />0 Pests and disease <br />1 Uncertainty over federal. farm policy <br />0 Interpersonal dwiamics of a family business <br />