Issue Position: Agriculture

Issue Position

When people across our country (and sadly many in Albany) think of New York, they think of Wall Street, Times Square, and Broadway. I am always happy to inform them that New York's economy extends across our entire state. Agriculture accounts for billions of dollars in revenue annually and is responsible for approximately 200,000 jobs per year. We lead the nation yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream production, with apples, dairy, and grape production, also ranking as top crops.

Home to over 33,000 farms, New York is an agricultural powerhouse. Unfortunately, over the last few years, the number of family-owned farms has shrunk at an alarming rate. Between 2012 and 2019, the number of farms in New York decreased by 9 percent, nearly triple the national average.

While some of this has to do with the fixed cost of dairy prices in the U.S. and a shift away from dairy in the American diet, much of it is a result of rising costs in New York State. Policies like the Farmworker Unionization Act, which allows seasonal migrant laborers the right to collective bargain, will vastly increase the cost of business for these already struggling small family-owned farms. Wage mandates and regulatory burdens have a severe effect on farms', workers', and consumers' bottom lines.

We must stand with our farmers and those in our agriculture industry to protect the economic viability of many small communities across our state. Without them, many Upstate and Western New York communities will decline, and the availability of fresh, affordable food will vanish for all New Yorkers.

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