Category: Farm

State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) continued voicing opposition to any move by the state’s newly created “Farm Laborers Wage Board” to roll back the current 60-hour threshold requiring farmers to pay their employees overtime. O’Mara joined members of the Senate Republican ... MORE

Health, labor and agriculture officials on Thursday urged farmers to register for coronavirus testing. The state is offering free testing in a number of counties, including Wayne County, which has sees the highest number of out-of-state workers during the fall harvest season ... MORE

The dairy business has been a true struggle for farmers in New York State. Especially over the last several months. Mike McMahon, owner of E-Z Acres Dairy Farm, it’s been a challenge over the last few years, even before the pandemic hit ... MORE

Sheriff Ron Spike reports that a business in Yates County was cited after violations of New York’s face-covering mandate. In a press release, Spike said that an appearance ticket was issued to the business owner – identified as Leon Hoover – for ... MORE

For grape growers in the Finger Lakes there are a lot of challenges. The weather is one of them. However, John Martini, owner of Anthony Road Wine Company, tells 13WHAM that there’s a cool new tool being used to keep grape vines ... MORE

In a second update on Thursday, officials in Seneca County responded to the ongoing debate in Seneca over the future of the Empire Farm Days expo. “We are not happy that circumstances force the Board to take this action. However, we can ... MORE

What’s happening at farms across New York State? Early in the pandemic shutdown we saw a variety of headlines connected to the idea that farms were already struggling — and that new realities made doing business nearly impossible. As businesses open up ... MORE

As commencements across the state are cancelled, students aren’t the only ones graduating – cows are too. This weekend 600-700 dairy cows ‘graduated’ to different pens at El-Vi Farms in Newark. This happens every four weeks – one class comes, and another ... MORE

– By Gabriel Pietrorazio Communication is key, especially when combatting a pandemic. How are immigrant farmworkers remaining educated on the facts about COVID-19 here in New York state? Libby Eiholzer, a bilingual dairy specialist at the Cornell Cooperative Extension explains how her ... MORE

Cows still need to be milked, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dairy farms across New York state are financially suffering with the unprecedented dropping of milk prices, which has prompted co-ops dump milk – and even considered an early indicator of a ... MORE

This year the Rural & Migrant Ministry is celebrating essential workers on the frontlines, who haven’t received the benefits that many of us have enjoyed to date. Today, a conversation about May Day efforts to highlight an important group of the workforce ... MORE

The National Weather Service has upgraded the Freeze Watch to a Freeze Warning in anticipation of chillier-than-normal temperatures tonight that could impact sensitive vegetation. Most of the region is included in the Warning, which runs from 1-9 a.m. Cayuga, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, ... MORE

Assemblyman Brian M. Kolb (R,C-Victor) and his Assembly Republican colleagues are fighting for new funding to mitigate the devastating impact of the ongoing public health crisis on New York state’s agricultural sector. “Our local farms need help right now, period. We need ... MORE

Assembly Republicans have authored a letter to President Trump and members of the state’s Congressional Delegation urging them to take swift action to assist farmers suffering devastating impacts from the economic downturn associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. A letter signed collectively by ... MORE

Local farmers are worried about the next several months, as they stare down a pandemic that’s going to add stress, to an already-stressful environment. John Bolton, owner of Bolton Farms in Hilton, has been growing fresh greens in a greenhouse behind his ... MORE