Minutes 05-10-2022 Budget Public Hearing and Work Session

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26 would hopefully allow it to start in July. She said the reason is they would like to cover two growing seasons and run it for 18 months. She said they would cover half of one growing season in the first phase and then a full growing season in the next. Commissioner Richards asked if the assessment would be after the pilot project. Ashley Heger said they are two completely different projects. She said the assessment will be available to the Commissioners upon their return from break and at that same time, they hope to be at the beginning of the pilot program. Commissioner Richards said in the summary for work plan, it would be helpful to show the amount things increased. Ashley Heger said they can certainly put that in. Commissioner McKee asked what the cost is for the pilot program. Ashley Heger said $25,000 over 18 months. Commissioner McKee asked if that would support six growers. Ashley Heger said they hope to support eight growers and between 1 and 3 regional buyers. She said the remaining amount would go to data collection efforts. Commissioner McKee asked how many growers there are in Orange County. Ashley Heger said she does not have that number, but this pilot program would be for growers with consumer ready products. She said this will not involve those that are producing meat. Commissioner McKee asked if it would include growers of corn or butter beans because that is crucial for him to know. He asked how many growers this program has made contact with. Ashley Heger said she feels like she has received this question a few times and that she is only one person and must rely on a network of partnerships because one person can only do so much. She said she utilizes partnerships with community organizations, such as the Ag Preservation Board, Cooperative Extension, and Breeze Farm. She said that she wants Commissioner McKee to know that if he ever has any farmer, or group of farmers, that he would like her to make contact with, she will show up for that. She said there is no master contact list in the county for farmers. Commissioner McKee said there is a list for certain products. Ashely Heger said that is correct but Cooperative Extension maintains that and they will not share it unless she has a very specific reason for needing it because the farmers on the list have requested not to be contacted. Commissioner McKee said that is a problem she is going to have and that he is a retired farmer that wholesaled his product. He said it was not food, but it was a farm product. He said it is an extraordinarily difficult market to break into. He said that $25,000 will not scratch the surface of the need. He said that his comments are not a direct attack on Ashley Heger or of the Council but that he has not ever thought this program would put food on the table and he is still of that mind. He said that farmers markets exist at several locations now in the county. He said other farmers are involved in direct marketing or selling directly from their farms. He said he fails to understand what this program is trying to do and where it is going. He said he has real issues spending as much time and effort on this and he does not know where this is going. He said there is massive hunger in areas of the county, but this is not being addressed. He said he does not want to look at data points, but wants to see providing food. He said there are other organizations in the county that are providing food directly to people. Ashley Heger said that is correct and that it is her understanding that she was not hired, nor was the coordinator position designed, to be a direct service but rather to coordinate systems-based issues. She said for example if they saw the email that she forwarded them from Commissioner Bedford, it is her job to stay in the know of what is happening across the region as well as coordinate direct action to the most impacted communities.