Betting on the future of farming

Groups unite around agricultural project

By FRITZ MAYER

KENOZA LAKE, NY — The 84-acre farm was most recently owned by a woman named Judy Faye with a Las Vegas address. She bought the property in 2005, but lost it because of unpaid taxes.

The previous owner, artist Max Hutchinson, purchased it in 1984, and he created a sculpture park in the fields.

Now, the county and several nonprofit groups want to turn it into a demonstration farm, which would double as a teaching facility. The farm, which includes a house, several fields, two ponds, a large forested area and numerous outbuildings, was taken off the list of properties in the county tax auction in June so the county could explore this alternative use.

At a meeting at the government center in Monticello on July 9, the project was explained by Sullivan County planning commissioner Bill Pammer. He said the varied lands and buildings “offer a diverse farming operation that could be a great example of sustainable farming.” He said there would be a twofold purpose to the facility. The first would be a functioning farm that might include livestock, vegetables, a greenhouse and agro-forestry, and products produced at the facility would be sold to the public. The second function would be as an educational facility with an onsite educator.

Pammer said the county legal department was looking into a lease arrangement with a private organization, such as the Northeast Organic Farming Organization (NOFA), which would manage the day-to-day operation of the farm. It was envisioned that the facility would work out some agreement to cover the loss of tax revenue from the farm to the county, Town of Delaware and Sullivan West Central School District.

Greg Swartz, the immediate past executive director of NOFA, who is also an organic farmer in the area, said the project could show the way to the future of farming. He said, “The old way of farming is no longer profitable and in many cases is no longer sustainable ecologically.” So the intention is to create an economically viable and ecologically sustainable farming operation and use it as a model to help existing farmers to increase profits and sustainability, and get the next generation of farmers trained and ready to take on new farming projects in the county.

He also said that with as many as eight organizations joining together to bring the project to fruition, it would mean “massive fund-raising leverage and a huge amount of skill sets coming to the table, networking experience, etcetera. So this is not just one group doing this but a really strong coalition of groups.”

The lawmakers on hand lauded the project; legislator Jodi Goodman called it “cutting edge.”

County manager David Fanslau said that the county was beginning to devote resources to the project. Staff of the Department of Public Works, for instance, had been involved in getting the electricity to the house turned on again to help deal with moisture issues in the building. Fanslau said that because of the resources being used, he was seeking a consensus from the lawmakers that they backed the project.

None of them objected to the project. Lawmaker David Sager said that in the early stages the county was not going to spend much money on the farm. Generally, those speaking indicated that most of the start-up money would come through grants.