Proposed overtime rules will hurt New York’s farm economy

There’s a bill up for discussion in Albany that would bring dramatic changes to New York agriculture. S2837/A2750 is a multi-faceted proposal that would change how farm labor is managed, from allowing collective bargaining to mandating a day of rest.

The most troubling aspect of the bill is the introduction of overtime pay to the state’s ag economy.

When the New Deal’s Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938 it mandated overtime for work over 40 hours. Farm workers were excluded from this benefit because lawmakers wanted to ensure higher labor costs did not drive up the cost of produce, meats, and dairy so consumers could afford those life-sustaining necessities.

No states have made exceptions to that rule except for California where Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill in 2016 that entitles farm workers to the same overtime standards afforded other workers. The impact of that legislation has not yet been felt as it is being phased-in over a 4-year period beginning this year. It will be in full effect for the majority of California farms by 2022, and 2025 for enterprises with 25 or fewer employees.  

If New York State were to join California as the only states to set such rules it would be a long time before they would be joined by others, if ever: Other agriculturally-focused states aren’t entertaining the idea at all. The only thing that could bring about wholesale change would be an amendment to the aforementioned FLSA in the federal government and that’s not happening anytime soon.  

So, until something does change the realm in which those increased labor costs exist – costs mandated by the state and not market factors – New York farms will be at a disadvantage against farms from other states and other countries with lower input costs. That imbalance would especially manifest itself in labor-intensive goods that can’t be prepared and harvested by a machine such as apples, peaches, cherries, and milk.  

In order to properly compete across state borders New York farms would find it difficult if not impossible to pass the newfound costs onto food processors and consumers. New York growers and ranchers would have to eat those costs.

In consort with New York’s dramatically-rising minimum wage rates – which, as a domino effect, still impact farmers even though they pay well above the minimum – the loss of profits will have a detrimental effect on their bottom line. Estimates revealed by Farm Credit East and the New York Farm Bureau show that in frightening ways: Looking at a five-year average of financial results it has been determined that the bill would increase ag labor costs across the state by $300 million, a 17 percent leap.

What does that mean to individual farming sectors, specifically those mentioned earlier? Greenhouse and nursery operations will see their profits drop by 58 percent. Fruit growers will see theirs decline by 74 percent. Dairy farms will see all of their profits wiped out.

This could not come at a worse time. This columnist has written before of the dire straits faced by New York dairy farmers as a result of changing global demands and evolving import/export laws – over the past 5 years the Empire State has lost a fifth of its dairy farms and debt-buried farm owners have been taking their lives, or have contemplated doing so, at a rate that’s achieved crisis level. And, then, there are the vegetable and grain growers who have taken an absolute beating and are worried about the future due to international trade impasses created by the Trump Administration.

As a non-farmer you’ll feel the pain, too.

For the most part, the upstate agriculture economy doesn’t exist in a bubble as farmers are competing with others from around the world but smaller bubbles do exist at the local level where you, as the consumer, are into buying local from markets, co-ops, community supported agriculture (CSAs), and roadside stands. There, unlike with interstate and international trade, the costs have to get passed on to you. Will you enjoy shelling out a half to two-thirds more for the summer and autumnal bounties you so much enjoy?

And what of your neighbors? We often hear that the poor and those on fixed incomes cannot afford farm fresh foods -- this will only serve to drive them further from the marketplace.

Of course, this is a bill introduced by legislators from metropolitan New York City (Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan) who are totally disconnected from where their food comes from and how it is grown and raised. If they chose to actually understand and experience the farm economy they would know farm workers get paid a decent dollar, are granted extra cash for the quantity picked, and are provided housing and transportation. Those are great, and costly, investments in the workforce – let’s not drive them up higher.

This bill will be disastrous if it passes. It will only make worse an already-ravaged upstate economy by harming farmers, your community, and your pocketbook. 

From the 11 March 2019 Greater Niagara Newspapers and Batavia Daily News

EXPLORING THE NIAGARA FRONTIER: The red-bellied woodpecker

If you have a suet feeder in your backyard it’s no doubt visited by our most common woodpecker, the cute little downy woodpecker. You might occasionally see a much larger, much gaudier woodpecker with a red crown, a plain grayish belly, and a zebra-like black and white back.

That bird is the red-bellied woodpecker.

But, wait, you say there was no red belly?

There isn’t…at least to almost all observers.

You wouldn’t see the reddish feathers unless you were holding the bird in hand and you brushed back some of its feathers in the lower abdomen, ‘round about where it does its business.

Despite its very misleading name, the poorly-labeled bird is something to appreciate.

Fifty or 60 years ago you might not have had that chance on the Niagara Frontier.

Red-bellied woodpeckers were a bird of the southeast. We’re at the northern edge of its range, and sightings of the bird in Western New York were rare right through the early 1960s. But, they spread northward -- at a very dramatic rate -- around then, choosing not just to breed here during our too brief summers, but also to stay all year as well, even through the toughest of winters.

That’s an outcome of two things.

First, you can thank those who, like you, feed birds. The explosive growth in birding led to a significant increase in the number of suet feeders, the fatty goodness of which sustains this inset eaters through the sometimes lean winter months. You’ve given them nourishment and a reason to stay.

Secondly, the closure of small family farms and the return of the land to woodlots and forests gave the woodpeckers the vast habitats they had been lacking.

And, they are having a heyday now in those same forests. They feast on wood-boring beetles, meaning all those dying ash trees you see throughout the area are serving up a smorgasbord for these birds.

Red-bellies will also eat ants and grasshoppers, but they don’t stop at meat. They are omnivores and will consume acorns, beechnuts, and berries in volume. It’s the only woodpecker in the area that will actually store food to eat at a later date, placing the nuts in a cache.

Red-bellied woodpeckers have a loud call, the sound of which has led to a name for them down south: “Chad”. There, they are also named “zebra woodpeckers”. The latter moniker is probably a little more fitting than “red-bellied woodpecker”.

Call them what you will, they are undeniably “handsome” -- they add a lot of color and zest to the otherwise plain winter landscape.

Red-bellies deserve your care and attention with a suet feeder. If you get them to stay in your yard or woodlot they can return the favor in the summer months by eating the pests that might be eating your trees.

That’s a pretty darn good mutually-beneficial relationship to have with a feathered friend.


From the 08 March 2019 All WNY News

Taxation without representation in your power bill

Quite often you see the name of a state agency -- NYSERDA -- appearing in news articles and press releases about energy-efficiency projects, whether they are commercial (windmills, warehouse lights) or residential (appliance swap outs, solar panels).

 
Chances are you probably didn’t concern yourself with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. But, you should.

First, grab your most recent electrical bill. Scroll down through the delivery services portion of it. You’ll notice something called "SBC". Depending on how big your household may be, as well as your seasonal needs, the SBC line item ranges from $5 to $10 a month.

That’s not chump change. You’re shelling out $60 to $120 annually, money that both you and I know would be best spent by you and not the government.

You see, the SBC is a tax; it’s not some fancy service fee thrown around by the power company.

The acronym means "Systems Benefit Charge". According to National Grid these funds "reflect costs associated with mandated public policy programs - low income assistance, energy efficiency programs, and certain research and development programs including the advancement of renewable energy resources." The recipient of these fees is the aforementioned NYSERDA.

If you are an astute student of all things government the first thing that comes to mind is "why are we paying taxes to a public authority?"

Authorities are corporate instruments of the State created by the legislature to further public interests. They are basically private enterprises with a public flair that are legally and administratively autonomous from the State, meaning they are accountable to no one but themselves. They are typically funded by user fees and should never be funded by taxes.

Yet, here’s NYSERDA being funded by a tax in your power bill. That makes the systems benefit charge an absolutely classic example of taxation without representation. That’s the same kind of thing that got the colonists all fired up during the American Revolution.

And, it’s the same kind of thing that gets me fired up at the factory.

Long-time readers of this column know how I despise the competitive structure of electricity in New York. My company pays twice what our competitors in Ohio, Indiana and Utah pay for power. That’s pretty significant considering we use as much electricity as two-and-a-half villages the size of Middleport. In my ongoing analysis of what makes my power bill so high I’ve long had the SBC in my sights. Last year, we paid a whopping $83,000 for this tax.

Twelve years ago -- when my company paid “only” $8,250 a year for the SBC and your average homeowner paid half what she does now for it -- I put the matter to the attention of Governor Eliot Spitzer. I was hopeful that the Wall Street Watchdog would have been just as disgusted as I about the unrepresented tax. Spitzer’s director of operations was intrigued and shared my concerns with the Public Service Commission.

In her response to us, the PSC Chairwoman barely addressed my concerns and instead waxed poetic about what NYSERDA supposedly does, like lowering overall electrical demand and costs for New Yorkers. She also noted that, yes, NYSERDA does collect its fees from electrical users but the State has oversight over what it does with its monies. Considering how ineffective that oversight is with the Thruway Authority and nearly 700 other authorities across the state, I could only laugh.

Since then, similar correspondence sharing my concerns with Governor Cuomo have gone unanswered.

That’s what we’re up against, folks: An entity that shouldn’t be taxing us but is, and is allowed to do so at the behest of the State. The State likely allows it to happen because it’s good press for Albany: “Look at everything we are doing to make homes and businesses energy efficient, greener, and cleaner”.

What they fail to tell you is that it’s homes and businesses footing the bill for all the fancy equipment and new appliances. They’ll even give you the misleading end-around that it’s power companies paying the tax (yeah, after they collect it from us).

Whether you’re a family or a company trying to make ends meet in a tough state you should be frustrated with this tax that is, like quite a few others, hidden in your utility bills where you might just never see it and, in turn, never care. 

From the 04 March 2019 Greater Niagara Newspapers and Batavia Daily News

EXPLORING THE NIAGARA FRONTIER: Deer sheds: A winter treasure hunt for the whole family

Getting the family outdoors in late-winter can sometimes be a daunting task. If they aren’t into downhill skiing or ice skating it’s a hard to get kids gung ho about heading out into the cold. Or, if we’re amidst a thaw it’s tough to get them interested in traipsing through muddy fields and forests.

Sometimes they need a little extra encouragement.

Why not take them on a treasure hunt?

Get them looking for deer sheds every weekend during which there’s no – or a limited amount of – snow on the ground.

Whitetail deer aren’t like beasts that have horns that can last a lifetime. Deer antlers are shed after the end of each breeding season and slowly grow back through the spring and summer so they are ready for the next wave of mating rituals in the fall.

Over the past month or so, bucks across the Niagara Frontier have been dropping their antlers. This generally happens after their testosterone levels plummet following the secondary and tertiary ruts (breeding peaks) or when colder weather causes their diets to change and their bodies to adjust. While some older or less-healthy bucks may have shed around New Year’s, younger and stronger ones are just now shedding at the end of February.

Finding sheds is no easy task. Although your local farm or forest might have a decent number of deer, think of how many are actually male or how much area you have to cover to find the cast-off antler. It can sometimes be like finding a needle in a haystack. But, that’s what makes shed hunting so rewarding – every rack is treasure, whether it came off of a small 4-point or a monstrous 12-point.

You can maximize your chances by searching areas where deer travel through or congregate.

Even in the dead of winter you can still see well-worn deer runs or paths in the woods. Follow those and look in and beside them for sheds. Many times a deer will need a little help from a branch or a tree trunk to tear off the shed, so wooded and brushy areas are the best place to look.

But, don’t overlook open spaces. There are times when racks will just fall off without any help. So, if you routinely see a herd of deer eating out in a field before nightfall, give that area a search. Those deer spend a lot of time there – sometimes hours at a time -- so that increases the chance that a rack could fall there. My family and I have found more racks in open fields than in woodlots the past couple of years.

Keep your eyes peeled while on the treasure hunt. One would think a stark white rack would stick out like a sore thumb in the leaf litter and mud. That’s not necessarily the case. Many antlers are more of a lighter brown hue that’s well-camouflaged on the forest floor or in corn stubble and others are brushed with mud depending on the buck’s feeding habits or how he tried to pop-off that rack.

Realize, too, that time is of the essence. You wouldn’t want to do a shed hunt when the forest floor is green and growing in May, and you definitely want to beat other animals to it. Racks don’t last long in the wild. Mice and squirrels will eat them to get calcium and other nutrients to sustain them through the lean winter months.

What do you do with racks once you find them?

Kids are collectors. They’ll hold onto the rack and set it aside in their bedroom or play area, or maybe they’ll take it to show-and-tell at school, which will lead into larger discussions about nature.

Adults are collectors, too. An accumulation of racks large and small makes for a great conversation starter at home, as visitors reflect on their encounters with big bucks, whether as a naturalist, hunter, or even a motorist. These racks can also dress up the home, too, filling out mantles or becoming intricate crafts – I’m sure you’ve seen photos of chandeliers and lamps made of antlers.

But, these racks are more than just the trophy. As with other forms of hunting, it’s about the experience, too. Enjoy the time spent outdoors -- deep in the woods or slipping and sliding across a muddy field – with your children. You’ll always remember that respite from cabin fever, especially if your smiling child is lucky enough to find what you were looking for.


From the 01 March 2019 All WNY News