At a glance
Alfred State College is honored to be included as one of the
colleges participating in US Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's "New York Farm Day"
to be held in Washington, DC, in late September.
Alfred State College is honored to be included as one of the
colleges participating in US Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's "New York Farm Day"
to be held in Washington, DC, in late September.
Scheduled to take place in the elegant Senate Russell Caucus Room at the crest
of Capitol Hill, New York Farm Day will host dozens of senators, the New York
Congressional delegation from the House of Representatives, members of the
Committees on Agriculture, legislative chiefs of staff, agricultural specialists
in Congress and the Administration, members of the Washington media, top area
restaurants, and fine wine shops.
In the past six years, New York
Farm Day has become one of the most popular events on Capitol Hill, with
attendance this year expected to top 700 people.
New York's award-winning wines,
farm-fresh products, sensational seafood, and fine restaurants will tastefully
show Congress, the Administration, and others that New York is a major
agricultural state, and that agriculture is a major part of the state's
economy.
"Farm Day is a unique and important
opportunity for us to showcase the best of what New York's farmers and
producers have to offer. Every year we bring New York to Washington, DC,
and I am thrilled that this has become such an anticipated event on the
Congressional calendar. New York's farmers and producers are some of the best
in the world and this is a great opportunity to spread the word even further
about the quality of our produce. New York's educational and research
institutions are also world-class, and I am delighted that they will be
displaying leading-edge processes for producing great food and energy" Senator
Clinton said.
Cornell University, a
participant in past years, will offer a newly formulated fruit beverage
fortified with protein from skim milk, and will invite participants to suggest
names for the new drink.
A new participant is the State
University of New York, with 64 campuses statewide, which will present five
this year: Alfred State College, SUNY Cobleskill, Environmental Science and
Forestry (ESF), Monroe County Community College (MCC), and Morrisville State
College.
Alfred State will
feature a table-top hydroponic production unit growing lettuce, and
hand out organic watermelon, sunflower, and cucumber seeds for planting.
Cobleskill will offer a SUNY
Cobleskill-raised brown trout on SUNY Cobleskill-raised hydroponic greens with
Meadowbrook Farms-produced buttermilk vinaigrette served on Schoharie Valley
Farms-raised pink radish and cucumber slices. The fish, marinated in Bear
Pond Winery Chardonnay, and the vinaigrette will be prepared and served by
students in SUNY Cobleskill's Culinary Arts Program.
ESF will display shrub
willow as an excellent alternative farm crop for the production of bioenergy
and biofuels in the Northeast and Midwest, reducing the dependence on fossil
fuels, and will give willow cuttings (complete with instructions) to
participants.
MCC will show a continuous
power point presentation, "Learn a Growing Profession," designed to raise
awareness about and support of local agriculture, promoting a more sustainable
community by keeping food dollars at home and finding the very best in food
quality.
Morrisville will offer an
array of locally produced products from Nelson Farms, an entrepreneurial
agri-business created to assist local specialty food processors, farmers,
growers, and producers in getting their products to the market
place.
The event is organized according to
the State's major wine-producing regions-Long Island, the Hudson Valley, the
Finger Lakes, the Niagara Escarpment, and Lake Erie (Chautauqua)-as well as
North Country. Each region will have a "Farm Table," showcasing local agricultural
products; a "Restaurant Table," featuring a special recipe created from those
products; and a "Wine Table," offering award-winning wines to match the
foods.
Though few farmers can attend since
they'll be in the middle of the fall harvest, they generously contribute their
products for this
event.
Farming is vital to New York's
economy. About 25% of the state's land area, or 7,500,000 acres, is
covered by 35,000 farms. New York is among America's major
agricultural states, ranking #2 in apples and maple syrup, #3 in dairy, grapes,
wine, and corn silage, #4 in pears, and #5 in floriculture. The wine, grape,
and grape juice industry alone contributes over $3.4 billion annually to the
state's economy, and is the fastest growing industry in the agriculture and
tourism sectors.
New
York Farm Day is sponsored by Constellation Brands, Farm Credit of Western New
York, First Pioneer Farm Credit, Long Island Farm Bureau, MasterCraft
Glassware, New York Apple Association, New York Farm Bureau, New York State
Restaurant Association, the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, Pride of New
York (NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets), and Yankee Farm Credit. The
event is organized by the New York Wine & Grape Foundation in conjunction
with numerous other organizations and individuals who have contributed their
time, products, and services for the good of New
York.