Congressman Antonio Delgado held the first meeting of his newly-established 19th Congressional District Agriculture Advisory Committee last Tuesday.
The committee is made up of a diverse group of family farmers, agriculture professors and experts, representatives of local agriculture nonprofits, sustainable farming advocates, and representatives from county Farm Bureaus.
The committee includes members from all 11 counties that make up the 19th Congressional District.
Local representatives include: Jim Barber, Barber’s Farm; David Cox, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schoharie and Otsego Counties; Jason Evans, SUNY Cobleskill; Paul Greer, Otsego County Farm Bureau; Duane Martin, Delaware County Farm Bureau; Phoebe Schreiner, Center for Agricultural Development & Entrepreneurship (CADE); Nan and Mark Stolzenburg, Schoharie County farmers; and John VanDerwerken, Schoharie County Farm Bureau.
“I see my role in Washington as a champion for our small, family-owned farms,” Congressman Delgado said.
“At a time when concentrated wealth and a more globalized market can squeeze the life out of our local farmers, I want to hear directly from members of the farming community about ways to empower their livelihood.”
The first meeting of the committee focused on localized infrastructure and what can be done to better tap into unmet demand.
“Not only am I a member of the Agriculture Committee, but also the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. And as we’re looking at an infrastructure bill coming up, I want to ensure I can advocate for what would be most helpful for our farms,” Congressman Delgado said.
One of the key topics of the meeting was the success of local farm hubs throughout the district, which help to “connect the dots” between producers and consumers.
Congressman Delgado heard from participants about ways to highlight their success in order to gain more support and resources for hubs to expand and for farms to be more self-sustaining.
Participants also raised the need to remove barriers that make it difficult for local farmers to sell to local institutions like public schools and hospitals, and discussed how federal grants and incentives could be better devised to support rural farmers’ needs.
The 19th Congressional District is the eighth most rural district in the country and the third most rural district represented by a Democrat with more than 5,000 farms and over 8,000 farm operations.
During Congressman Delgado’s first in-district work period, he toured farms and sat down with local farmers to hear about localized infrastructure, technology needs, and sustainable farming practices.