March 10, 2026 · Agriculture · 6,012 words · 7 speakers · 75 segments
Good morning, everybody. Welcome to our Standing Committee on Agriculture. As you can see, we have another wonderful guest with us. We are joined by looking around here, joined by our great Commissioner of Agan Markets, Commissioner Ball. But before we hear from him, we will start with our agenda to move the business forward. I want to thank our ranking member, Senator Borrello. We are joined by Senator Fahey and Senator Fernandez, and we have voting sheets for other folks. We're joined by Senator Ryan, right on time. And we have voting sheets for everybody who's not here. And I'm sure we'll see another few folks popping in. So for the sake of time, thanks everybody for being here and we'll jump right into our agenda. First bill.
First bill, Senate 197, by Senator Martinez. An act to amend the agriculture and markets law in relation sentencing for the crime of aggravated cruelty to animals. Motion is to report any questions or
comments on this bill.
Move the vote.
Moved by Senator Barillo. Seconded by Senator Fernandez. All those in favor?
Aye.
All those opposed? Any without rec. That bill moves. And I should say, this is our annual welfare package that we're doing today. So these bills may look familiar. We think they're good.
So next bill, Senate 703, by Senator Krueger. An act to amend the agriculture and markets law in relation to aggravated cruelty to animals.
Questions or comments on this bill. Moved by Senator Fahey. Seconded by Senator Ryan. All those in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed? Any without rec? That bill also moves to the floor.
Our third bill, Senate 1741, by Senator Martinez. An act to amend the agriculture and markets law in relation to the penalty for the abandonment of animals.
Motion is to report questions or comments on this bill.
Great bill.
Thank you. Move by Senator Borrello. Seconded by Senator Fahey and Fernandez. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any without rec? That bill moves. And our last bill, next to last,
Bill 1784 by Senator Hinchey. An act to amend the agriculture and markets law in relation to requiring property owners and lessors of certain properties that have been vacated to inspect such property for abandoned animals. Motion is to report.
Just quickly. I want to add that this is. It's a great bill, and this happens a lot. We have a lot of transient communities, people that rent like a summertime rental in the winter. And I can tell you from personal experience, they leave animals behind all the time. So it's just. It's horrible that people do that.
And this is, I think, much needed bill.
Thank you. I was waiting for you to say great bill, so I appreciate thank you, Senator Barillo. I appreciate that. I'll take that as a motion.
Yes.
Seconded by Senator Fernandez and Senator Fahey. All those in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed? Any without RAC. That bill moves.
And now our final bill, Senate 3026 by Senator Giannaris. An act to amend the Agriculture and Markets law in relation to restricting the performance of surgical devocalization procedures on dogs and cats.
Any questions or comments on this bill? Comments. Just very humane.
How dare we try to take the voices of our animals. So I'm voting aye.
I'll take that as a motion from Senator Fernandez. Seconded by Senator Fahey. All those in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed? Any without? Wreck. Wonderful. And our last bill on the agenda has been held by the sponsor for the conversation. So that completes the reading of our formal agenda. And I would now like to pass it to Commissioner Ball, who thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today. And more importantly, thank you for your leadership for agriculture and food all around our state. I'd love to turn the floor to you.
Well, thanks so much. My pleasure. And thanks. Great to be with you all. Thank you for being friends of Agriculture and for the invitation. I'm here with Lauren Williams, who really knows all the answers to all the hard questions, so please be advised of that. It's been a busy morning already, I'm sure, for you guys. But this morning I had the pleasure of welcoming the New England states, New York, and all 11 states in the Northeast, actually, to Albany for the Northeast Area Business Innovation center meeting. This was created by the Farm Bill. Remember when we had farm bills and it created.
How many years has it been?
Six years, seven years now in that Farm Bill created four dairy Business Innovation Centers across the country. One would be in California, one would be in Wisconsin, one in Tennessee, and one in the Northeast, which is housed in Vermont. So all 11 states in the Northeast participate in this. But the idea is to put some funding there and look at dairy innovation strategies that will help the entire region, not just one state. It's been a great thing. I was able to be there with Krista Hardin, who was former Deputy Secretary, USDA and currently CEO of usdec, which is Dairy Export Council for the United States. So very timely. And she knows a lot about dairy and deals with our issues in Mexico and Canada, etc. So it was great to be there. There are farmers there, the States Departments of Ag are there, and the research institutions are there as well. So that's happening. Which is good news. That's really good news. The other good news is I think that is secure federally. It's not something that depends on passing a farm bill to be funded. So that's also good news. We've spent some time recently in Washington as a department, and a question I get a lot from farmers in New York is, do I talk to the other commissioners, secretaries and directors of ag around the country? The answer is yes. We meet face to face several times a year, and we talk every week on a regular basis about keeping up to speed on what's going on. So I was in Washington, you and I spoke about this a little bit with the state Departments of Ag. We met with usda, we met with different branches there. I'll talk about a little of that and FDA as well. And got to go up on Capitol Hill a little bit. Got to talk with GT Thompson a little bit, the chair of the Ag Committee in Congress. He's very excited about moving the farm bill. It's been passed out of committee and discussions are underway. He's pretty confident that he's going to get some things done. He's looking at a number of things in that bill. One is specialty crops, which always makes me pause just a little bit. It's like specialty crops are some cute thing that, you know, some people do, but they're actually more than half of the farm gate income in the United States. It comes from specialty crops, which include dairy, fruit, vegetable, things like that. It's not just the program crops, the rice, the wheat, the corn, the soybeans. They don't own the land. But more than half the farm gate income actually comes from the kind of things that we do in New York State. So he's confident we'll see how that goes. And the plot is thickening on that subject. I did get to speak with him a little bit. He's putting more funding in there for specialty crops, which is good, which is good. And he's also pretty excited about labor. He would like to see something get across the finish line on labor. And I'm going to pause there. I'm a little dangerous on that subject, having started off as a farm worker when I was 18. But it's very important to the United States to come up with a guest worker program and a way to manage immigration into our country. It hasn't been dealt with since the Bracero program when Ronald Reagan was president. That was the last time. And unfortunately, prolonging the agony is just prolonging a black market in human trafficking. Dairy. There were some changes in dairy at the federal level. Most of it's technical stuff. We're finding some challenges. The dairy margin coverage program, very important for our dairy farmers. Most of them subscribe to it. That we're discovering a gap in the challenge because it really was meant to look at the price of grain, what it was costing a farmer to produce milk. Right now, the price of grain isn't the problem. It's tariffs. It is the other cost of inputs and the low price of milk that are causing the problem. So I think you'll see some adjustment there, perhaps what's proposed so far, and we're waiting for the Senate to actually decide. I expect it to be fairly similar on the Senate side to the House side. But we are seeing some cuts to eqip, which is a very important program in New York, in favor of Conservation Reserve programming. It could lower over five years, I think about 5 million. $5 billion less funding. That's a program that a lot of farmers in New York State take advantage of. One piece of optimism. I think this committee understands Nourish New York very well. We've been incredibly supportive of it. I kind of brag a little bit that post. Covid got a call from USDA asking how we did Nourish New York in New York. And USDA came out with the LFPA program, which we called New York Food for New York Families, which was basically modeled on what we did with Nurse New York. Great program that was paused and discontinued. But they're talking about it again. They're talking about reissuing a program very much like that. It'll have a different name, that's fine. But a way to connect state's farmers with the state's needy people who need feed. So that's really good. A couple of programs that were left out of the farm bill renewal. One was the organic certification monies, and that is being captured in this new farm bill so far. So we're still reading the details and I think there will be lots more discussion about it. Trade. Trade is still out there. Had an opportunity to meet with the U.S. trade Representative. She's quite talented, quite skilled. Been at USDA in that office for eight years. I'm very confident that our U.S. trade Representative understands the issues, understands Canada, understands Mexico, because we're heading into relook at usmca, which New York played a role in when that happened. It's up for review this year. It'll either be reviewed and renewed for 15 years or it will be tinkered with. And right now your guess is as good as mine. But the Trade representative there was able to visit with her, and I'm convinced that she understands the issues. I'm also convinced that New York will be a participant in those conversations. The Trinational Accord, which moves from the United States to Canada to Mexico every year. This year we'll be in Canada this fall, and we'll be there, and we'll be active participants. And we'll have an opportunity for New York State to have input into what usmca, what happens with the future of that. So that's good. Tariffs are still out there and they're still wreaking havoc. I called for prices on our spring inputs with nutrients. I haven't gotten an answer back because they haven't had the courage to call me yet, I think. But obviously we're all watching the news. What's happening in the straits near Iran is affecting fertilizer in a big way. So a high percentage of the urea that's used on all our farms travels through that strait. Potash comes from Canada. Potash comes from that part of the world as well. So. So we'll just wait and see how bad it is. It's not just pricing, but supply. And so this is a critical time right now. Farmers are tuning up tractors, they're changing oil, and they're getting planters ready to go to work. A few farmers will plant something out in front of the barn today in the Schoharie Valley just to get the neighbors nervous. But we're within weeks of starting to turn the ground and put seeds in the ground, with or without. And what is the cost going to be to do that? So that's a concern. The governor right now is in the north country. She's on a farm that is personal friends with us, a very substantial dairy farm, and they're talking about tariffs. And she's listening to farmers and business people in that community. As you know, she's recommended sending direct payments to farmers to help offset the costs of the tariffs, what that has done to their cost. So we'll see how that plays out. But she held a roundtable yesterday. She did one before the weekend. She's doing one today, and she's got plans to do more of that. So I think good news. Our budget, you guys have looked at the governor's budget and you guys are putting yours together. Your thoughts on that. The Dairy Modernization act has been very well received. That went out the first year. The second year funding is. The RFP is out for that right now. And the Governor's put another $15 million proposed for this budget that was, I think, the first round, 21.6 million. It went to over 100 farmers across the state of various sizes. Very well received. To help them, you know, we've invested heavily in dairy processing. Your neighborhood with Great Lakes Cheese Fair Life in Webster, N.Y. cayuga Milk Ingredients. Oh, yeah, Chobani Agromark, everybody is interested in growing. And I'm happy to tell you that there are about five more proposals on my desk back at the department with not Chobani sized deals, but deals for dairy processors, dairy cooperatives that are looking to grow and expand their footprint in New York State. So that's really good and that's great to have that processing capacity, but to also reinforce that with improvements on the farm. A farm to put in a bigger bulk tank so they don't need to be picked up every day, maybe to improve their refrigeration of their milk so they can bring the temperature down sooner. Just to do modernization on the farm to help them prepare for the demands that we see and their ability to react to that is really so very popular program. Farm to school. I mean, what's not to like? Isn't that intuitive? Farm to school. I could go on. I won't. But let me just say that, you know, some 25 years ago, 30 years ago, when farm to school was a subject which seems so intuitive. Makes. Yeah, Farm to school. We got farms, we got kids that need food, and yet it was so hard. Those early meetings that I participated in as a farmer were 10, 12, 15 people who were very passionate. Last week I was in Saratoga Springs for the farm school meeting and there was 500 people in the room. And they were all passionate, they were all excited and they want to see the 30% initiative grow. They want to see more kids, more food. We've got about 83 schools now that are participating in the 30% program. I know you're looking at that closely, but we have some schools that have achieved 70% New York products in the school lunch. Those are rock stars just doing great things and showing us what's possible. A little bit of breaking news, I guess, for me anyway, was I was on Long island recently and Long island was here at the reception, the taste reception. The Farm Bureau put on. Some of you got to have some oysters. It's always a treat. But they have been pretty recently wrecked in their seafood industry by the extreme cold. And they didn't realize it when we had the reception. It really manifested itself only in the recent weeks that all that ice and ice breaking apart and shifting has dragged some of their hatcheries and some of their equipment across the bay and really disrupted more than 20, 30% damage to seafood crop there. So we're looking into that. We're requesting disaster declarations from usda. It's a little bit, oddly enough, usda, a little bit dec, a little bit US and a little bit NOAA Weather Service. How do we kind of come together and actually address their concerns? So that's something you're going to be hearing more about, I think, as we go forward. I think I'll stop there. And I'm sure somebody's got a question, too. Let's see.
Thank you, Commissioner. I really appreciate it. I think that's a great overview and I know, I'm sure we all have questions. I want to say we've been joined by Senator Webb. Thank you. And I have a couple questions, but I'll open it up first.
So I guess a couple things. First of all, I get this question from time to time. I know there's no easy answer here, but I hear from farmers about raw milk sales and that people are buying raw milk through CSAs and other programs. There's no real state regulated way of selling raw milk. And I realize that there are safety perceptions and challenges there, but yet you have people that want to buy it, to consume it. And I hear there's a potential in New York state of a, you know, a fairly significant market if it was able to be done, you know, more, I guess, widespread, commercially. So I'm just curious your thoughts on it and, you know, if there's any thinking in that area.
There's a lot of thinking and certainly a lot of discussion that's a hot topic nationally. I think some national figures have made a case out of that. We do have a program for raw milk in the state and it requires that dairy who wants to sell raw milk to be licensed by us. We inspect them and they are allowed to sell milk on the farm only. And they have to give disclaimers to customers who might come there and explain some of the challenges with raw milk. Ironically, a year ago, we celebrated the pmo, the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, nationally. New York was a leader there, but it helped stamp out listeria, camphylbacter and salmonella in milk because back in those days, 100 years ago, people got sick and people died from things that were in raw milk. So we believe in the PMO and pasteurizing milk, but we do allow for our farm to get licensed with us inspected by us on a regular basis. So There is a way. They're not allowed to sell off the farm. They're not allowed to sell in the store or something like that. Not market.
They can't do anything.
Not at the farmer's market. It has to be direct to a consumer who understands, build a relationship with the farmer, get comfortable with their safety on the farm, their cleanliness, and then make your decision about that. So that's where it is right now. Okay. All right.
Thank you. And then you brought up the. I guess the H2A program. And again, that's another thing I hear from the farmers in my district. It's just too challenging to meet those requirements. Are there any proposals to how to improve that program at the federal level so that, you know, I mean, it's. I know it's a federal issue. I realize that. But like you said, you're kind of encouraging a black market, if you will, without having better streamlined ways of getting these folks here.
Yeah, I think there's a number of proposals in front of Congress. There's about five bills on the subject in general in front of both houses right now. And we're hoping that some cooler heads prevail and we get it done. So easy to demagogue the issue, unfortunately, and kick it down the road. The H2A program has been kind of the path of last choice for so many farmers who just can't find workers. It's a strong program. It's very expensive program. It costs, I would say say probably around $1,000 per worker to bring that worker in. It's a contract between their country, federal government, Department of Labor, two agencies, and a state government and their Department of Labor and Department of Health, and a farmer. So it's a pretty comprehensive agreement. They're guaranteed certain number of hours, they're guaranteed a rate. They're guaranteed housing and guaranteed transportation both ways. But so many farmers have gone to it because they know the workers are there. They're adults, generally excellent workers. We will see reforms to that at the federal level. It's already being talked about. The U.S. department of labor has reissued guidance about the prevailing adverse wage rate. What worker can be paid, needs to be paid. It varies from state to state. Based on the survey they did, it's generally a couple of dollars above a minimum wage in a state like New York, so 1883 last year. And they're guaranteed those hours, typically at least 40 or 50 hours of that week, whether they work or not. So it's pretty good program, pretty well protected. Category of employers, employees. I think you'll See some tinkering to that because a lot of states are finding that just getting it is their only alternative. But it's getting very, very expensive and hard to comply with. So I think we'll see some reform. We're hoping obviously that there's reforms in that right now can only be seasonal workers, which means it does not work for our dairy and our livestock producers who are year round. So let's talk about changing that as well. We'll see what way. So thank, we're hopeful.
Thank you, Senator.
I know we're running out of time, but just very briefly, Commissioner, first of all, thank you for being here. Thank you. Chair, you mentioned you have a hand handful of proposals on your desk which are encouraging. And you also mentioned, you know, although the headwinds we're running into with tariffs and more a lot on solar, a lot of tension it seems, between farmers and our growth in solar, which, you know, which is needed. How are you seeing the, you know, the trends on losing farms? Are we holding steady? Are you optimistic that we will lose more? I mean, every time I look at how we've lost our small farms, I know New York is different and in a better position than most of the country, but just want your kind of crystal ball on these next few years given. And then recently with gas going up at least 50 cents a gallon, the ripple effect of that. So how do you see us over these next few years with the challenges for our small farmers, especially dairy?
You know, I think back, I did not inherit a farm. My grandparents sold a farm when I was a kid. And so I had to figure out how to confuse a banker after farming working on a farm for 20 years. I'm more excited about the opportunities for our young farmers today than I've ever been. The cost of farming is going up. Just to be at the table is very expensive. But I think our beginner farmer program, our socially disadvantaged farmer program, so things like that are beginning to, you know, take take root. The solar issue is a big concern. We want to make sure that we're not opposed to solar. We like the idea of making our own energy. We just don't want to put it on our best prime farmland. Let's agree to avoid our top four tiers of soil. Let's be smart about where we put solar. But our farms can make energy. And this is another opportunity that small farms have today they didn't have before, and that is to make energy. We can capture our green waste, we can capture our manure, we can find a digester. We can make electricity. We can make renewable natural gas right here in our farms. And I think that's going to be an important component for all farms of all sizes as we go forward. The solar issue we have to just pay attention to. It's a good remedy for some farms who can do both. But let's not take up our prime farmland and our best farmland associated with panelists.
Thank you, Senator Webb.
I just wanted to again, thank you, Commissioner. You've always been still very responsive and most certainly very proactive. I guess, just in terms of next steps, as you know, houses are out and you know, just in light of a lot of the federal cuts, can you share like any other additional supports that you think will be helpful that you haven't shared already with respect to your department?
Well, back to the farm bill a little bit. Still, the SNAP question is hanging out there. And the one point of disagreement that GT Thompson in New York has is the number and amount of cuts to snap. And I don't think the states fully realize what's happening because a lot of red states, a lot of blue states are faced with cuts in benefits to people who need access to food. And so I think that's a concern. When we saw that last fall, right around Thanksgiving, the SNAP cuts and the potentials there, the governor put some more money into Nourish New York, which is great. We took some money from our Fresh Connect program and advanced those coupons. And that's something I will ask you to look at as a legislative body because that money went out in November and December. So we don't have it, you know, to continue those programs, the farmers market nutrition programs, the funding, so many of our veterans, so many of our seniors, they got those coupons, they matched those ones and they bought good food for their families and themselves. Such a great program. So I know you're going to talk about that and think about that. And we as a Department of Ag, connecting farmers to those people, we need those programs to be robust and working and answering the need. We loaded a trailer load of food for the Regional Capital Region Food bank here recently. 20 some pallets in a matter of a half an hour going to pantries. You know, after all the effort between the legislature and the governor, that has been, you know, done by New York State. Thank you. We're still seeing the demand is just astronomical. But you know, the good, the silver lining there is that farmers for the first time, some for the first time realized that people who used Fresh Connect programs and people who relied on their pantries and Their neighborhoods were customers of our farmers and our farmers realized. So I saw real coming together post Covid realization of what that food chain really looks like in New York. I think our farmers understand that's a customer of theirs. And I think our people who are in those communities realize they need farmers and they need good farm programs to maintain that food supply. So thank you for your efforts in that regard. But that's something that's going to continue to need attention as we go forward for sure.
Thank you. Thank you.
Commissioner. What question where would I found you talk about tariffs and the impacts of how that's affecting our agriculture state. Is there a study how do we understand that? I'd like to try to. I talked about this last year get our arms around those impacts. How it's like the actual real cost, real dollars, the I guess economic impacts of negative impacts on the federal policies.
Right. Yeah. That's affecting our. I'll forward you some research I got just yesterday and the estimate in New York is around $13 billion. Of course that's across businesses, it's across homeowners and across.
And second, if I I've got to be what is the workforce work shortage issues, is that that affecting us too also not just the tariff, economic policies, the immigration policies. I know we hear,
you know, we gotta face this. Workforce development is a passion at the department for us right now. It's one that there's some pretty good news about. You were out at the state fair and you got to see some of the blue jackets walking around. But you know, the governor held the first ever youth agriculture conference last December and a year ago December and FFA 4H AG in the classroom, Manor students two day conference. And what has come out of that is she appointed a blue ribbon task force to look at how do we take advantage of these four cultures, youth and agriculture, and look at that next generation of workforce development. I gotta say that there is so much energy and optimism there. I was recently at a couple of different state university campuses with State Education Department BOCEs, CB Tech people, farmers and looking at credentialing young people for careers in the food system and opportunities. We have the fastest growing FFA in the United States. Met with the 4H kids at the department yesterday. They give me excitement and hope because they're smart, they know how to talk. They know how to come in and talk to a senator in Albany. They know how to articulate an idea and they're ready to go to work.
Yeah, we had kids come in with a Farm Bureau. There were two Kids, they were like, I'm gonna have farm great kids.
Yeah.
And definitely looking forward to. It feels like it's a year away, but the fair, our two weeks together,
Commissioner, will be great this summer.
It's right around the corner.
It's right around the corner. It doesn't really roll around. It kind of jumps out at you. Charlie Brown observed, this is the year
that Senator Borrello is going to come up and we're going to take a look at the party and he's going to have some chocolate milk.
I'm going to do that this year.
I had a strawberry this year for
all of them, for sure.
I'm going to jump in here because I have a couple quick questions for you. First, for the research that you just talked about, if you could share that with us too, and we can circulate it to everybody on the committee, that would be. That would be great. Or the statistics on impacts of.
Impacts of. Tariffs. Yes, tariffs.
And any of the other impacts that you're seeing across the sector, that'd be wonderful. And we'll share it with everybody in the committee. When we're talking about, just briefly, piggybacking offender Fahey's question on solar, when we're talking about protecting our prime soils, we've been successful in the last couple of years in putting in statute protections for our top one to four tiers of soil. Can you talk a little bit about how it would be beneficial to expand that? There's seven classes. Would it be better to have that more expansive?
I think I would add actively farmed land to this because there's a lot of land that is actively farmed and productive farmland. That is not one of the top four, but maybe five or six, based on the type of agriculture there and the professionalism and the knowledge of the farmer. So I would like to add actively farmed land. I would also like to see this thinking expanded to ores. Same kind of criteria that applies to, you know, solar development, but also expanding energy access, which is o rez is looking at. I think we need to be on the same page and have the same thinking methodology across both those agencies.
Thank you.
I think that's really helpful. And on farm to school, we have, as you've said, we have some really incredible schools that are doing great work and then schools that are scaling up and really working hard, and then other schools who want to but haven't been able to use the program. Obviously expanding the program to be all meals served in the school day is helpful. Do you think there has to be more kind of language around that like a hold harmless provision or any of these things to make sure that we can encourage the schools that have been doing the work to stay in the program and upscale their purchasing of farm products.
Yeah, I think we need to be thoughtful about that because clearly, and it makes total sense that it's all food, that kids have an opportunity at snacks in the afternoon, at lunch and at breakfast. We're seeing more and more breakfast. So yeah, why just lunch? Let's do it. We're going to connect farmers with kids. Good nutrition, good habits, good thinking. That should be across the board. No question about it. That does change the dynamics and some of the finances for a school. So, yeah, I think we need to be thoughtful about what does that actually look like? How do we nuance that for sure. We need those conversations. I want to throw out one positive thing that I just got a couple of calls recently in Oneida county where they've quick adopter to whole milk in schools, in the high school have brought in bulk milk dispensers, you know, like you might see on a college campus or something where you can get a glass of milk, help yourself. And they're running out of milk every day. Whole milk, whole white milk. They're running out of that milk every day. They can't keep up. And that was a great effort, legislative help to purchase the equipment to do that and getting bulk milk and you're less packaging, less everything. But the problem they're having is that kids are drinking too much whole milk. So I think that that's really good news. And there's funding obviously in the 30% program to help a school pay that 3 cents more that that will cost them to do that. But that's farmers connecting with kids. That's kids getting a healthier start. So good news.
We should go celebrate that.
You should have a glass of milk. Yes, milk for everyone in the room here.
What are we waiting for?
I know they don't let us put beverages in here, but I think that's a great note to end on. You know, having the whole milk legalized back for schools is really incredible and work that we've all been pushing for here at the state. And to have that back and to hear success stories like that is wonderful.
Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate that.
Thank you so much. And that will include conclude our meeting of the ACT meeting unless there's any further questions. Well, thank you, commissioner.
My pleasure. Thank you.
Our meeting is adjourned.