{"id":102927,"date":"2019-04-23T15:11:30","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T19:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=102927"},"modified":"2019-04-23T12:32:27","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T16:32:27","slug":"central-new-york-farmers-speak-about-importance-of-having-viable-farms-and-local-job-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=102927","title":{"rendered":"Central New York farmers speak about importance of having viable farms and local job opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Press conference held to highlight Senate events on Farm\nLabor Bill and the bill\u2019s impacts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Farm Bureau members spoke today about the positive\nwork happening on their farms to support their employees and the need to have a\nviable farm economy. They also voiced concerns about the expected financial\nimpacts of the Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act (S. 2837\/A. 2750) proposed\nin the state Legislature. They shared their thoughts during a press conference\ntoday at Pastureland Dairy, LLC, Manlius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This event is in advance of an important opportunity to\nspeak directly to lawmakers who will be voting on legislation that could\nprofoundly affect New York agriculture. Senator Rachel May (D-Syracuse), Senate\nAgriculture Committee Chair Jen Metzger (D-Rosendale) and the chair of the\nSenate Labor Committee and the bill\u2019s sponsor, Senator Jessica Ramos (D-Queens),\nwill hold a Senate Hearing on the bill this Thursday at SUNY Morrisville. Two\nadditional hearings will be held April 26 on Long Island and May 2 at SUNY\nSullivan. Many farmers and their employees have signed up to testify to share\ntheir stories at these events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The farmers are welcoming Senator Ramos to Central New York\nand appreciate her taking time to speak with their fellow farmers and valued\nemployees. Beginning late last year, New York Farm Bureau encouraged downstate\nlawmakers to hold upstate events on this issue. It is imperative urban\nlawmakers understand rural issues and the reality that exists on farms for\nfarmworkers before they vote on the legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill includes allowing for collective bargaining with\nthe ability for farmworkers to strike at any time, including at critical times\nthroughout the growing and harvest seasons or when animals need cared for. It\nalso would require overtime on farms, not only above a 40-hour work week, but\nalso any hours beyond an eight-hour day. Farm Credit East estimates this will\nincrease labor costs, on average, by 17-percent or nearly $300 million\nstatewide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur normal work week is six days, nine hours per day,\u201d said\nWalter Blackler of Apple Acres, LLC. \u201cAdding overtime premium for over 40 hours\nwork adds 13 percent to the weekly pay. My competitors in Michigan and\nWashington state, who don’t have the premium pay requirement, will then have\nthat 13-percent labor cost advantage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRequiring a mandatory day of rest would be fine if mother\nnature would not bring rain on any of the other six days of the week. The\nunpredictability of the weather makes firm schedules impossible to live with. We\ntry to take Sundays off, but rain and hot weather that prematurely ripens crops\ncan necessitate Sunday work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizers said New York\u2019s labor costs are already among the\nhighest in the country, and this increase will make it more difficult to\ncompete to sell food and farm products. Other states and Canada have lower wage\nrates and fewer labor regulations, thereby allowing them to offer their goods\nat cheaper prices. New York producers just can\u2019t increase their prices to\nrecoup the increased labor costs and expect to stay in the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur employees are like family to us,\u201d said Jeremy Mapstone\nof Pastureland Dairy, an organic dairy farm. \u201cWe could not operate on a day-to-day\nbasis without them and the great work they do. For that reason, we are glad to\noffer competitive wages and benefits such as paid vacation, free housing and\nalso transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey take great care of us and we do everything in our\npower to take great care of them. With that being said, if we are forced to pay\novertime it will have the potential to force us out of business. It would raise\nour cost of production by approximately $2.20, which would be devastating to an\nalready tight budget. Our labor costs make up roughly 20 percent of our yearly\nexpenses, and this would cause that number to increase even higher. We feel it\nis our responsibility to take care of our employees and are happy to do so, but\nthis bill would push the limits of what we could do and still remain a viable\nbusiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNew York farms fully support their farmworkers because of\ntheir hard work and dedication,\u201d said Brian Reeves, of Reeves Farms, a fruit\nand vegetable farm.  \u201cUnfortunately, the\nproposed farm labor bill has several shortcomings which ultimately harm both\nfarmworkers and farms in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Press conference held to highlight Senate events on Farm Labor Bill and the bill\u2019s impacts New York Farm Bureau members spoke today about the positive work happening on their farms to support their employees and the need to have a viable farm economy. They also voiced concerns about the expected financial impacts of the Farmworker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23679,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agfarming","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-qM7","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Farm-Bureau.gif?fit=311%2C192&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/102928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}