Small Farm Grants Program
Announcing 2012 Small Farm Grant Awards
Each year, the Cornell Small Farms Program awards grants of 3-5K to organizations in New York that present compelling projects that will serve and support small farms. This year, four proposals were selected. An additional project to support a small dairy field day series this summer will also be funded.
Bringing the sheep goat marketing website back home
This project will focus on modernizing and updating the popular marketing directory located at the former address www.sheepgoatmarketing.info. Project leaders Michael Thonney and tatiana Stanton, from the Cornell Animal Science Department, will reinstate an interactive producer listing that is useful to direct marketers, market pools, buyers and distributers. The site will have additional educational resources on marketing and processing. Renovating the website will help identify new markets and facilitate communication between producers and buyers.
Assessing Local Foods Distribution Systems: Farmer Experiences and Models for Building Successful Farmer-Distributor Relationships
This project will be led by Monica Roth of CCE Tompkins County and Becca Jablonski a PhD. Candidate in City & Regional Planning. This proposal is a continuation of a study funded by the Cornell Small Farms program where NY Distribution Companies were interviewed to assess their experiences with purchasing from NY Farmers. A total of 19 companies were interviewed and profiles developed. A second part of that proposal which remains to be completed is to interview farmers that sell to these distribution companies to assess their experiences selling to NY distribution companies. The goal of the project is to identify what farmers need to do to comply with distributor purchasing requirements, how it impacts marketing practices, cost of marketing, risk management, product pricing, and overall farm viability. The aim is to be able to better inform small farmers about how to successfully conduct wholesale sales and gather some benchmark data about impacts of wholesale sales on small farms.
Promoting Workplace CSA in the Southern Adirondacks
This project is led by Laura McDermott, CCE CDVSFP Regional Agriculture Educator and Teresa Whalen, Adirondack Harvest Southern Chapter Coordinator. This project seeks to help businesses and community centers within the greater Glens Falls region investigate the feasibility of sponsoring a CSA. The southern Adirondack region (the counties of Warren, Washington and Saratoga) has many fruit and vegetable farms and successful Farmers’ markets. Expanding non‐traditional markets, such as the business CSA, is one method to assist local growers in finding new marketing outlets. A series of promotional events, surveys, farmer/business/and consumer meeting will trial the best approach to developing this model. A report of educational materials and lessons learned will be developed to share with the rest of the state.
Chenango Regional Video and Social Media Grazing Outreach Program
This project is led by Ken Smith, CCE of Chenango County. The purpose of this project is to provide grazing farmers with information on grazing best practices, and to create forums where grazing farmers can share questions or successes with other farmers or agricultural educators. 12 short videos of grazing best practices from around the region will be developed and shared through websites and social media platforms. In these videos, grazing farmers and educators will share best practice examples of grazing topics such as watering systems, laneways, permanent fencing systems, portable fencing systems, pasture growth measurement systems, shade and nutrient management, and other grazing topics.
Dairy Innovation Field Days
Six individual field days will be hosted between June 1st and September 20th in regions across the state on dairy farms milking under 100 head. Field days will highlight innovative production or marketing strategies that represent new opportunities to enhance small dairy viability in NY. To view the schedule, visit http://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2012/04/24/announcing-2012-small-dairy-field-days/
The Cornell Small Farms Program will be publishing resources, articles and reports from these projects as they become available!