Labor challenges and technology trends are among some of the issues facing farmers in Central New York and across the state in the coming year. Farmers of all stripes gathered Thursday at the Oncenter to learn more at the 193rd annual forum of the New York State Agricultural Society. That's right. The society dates back to the early 1830's, before Syracuse was even a city, and before there was a state fair celebrating agriculture.
Kim Skellie is a dairy farmer in the Finger Lakes, and also serves as Vice President of the New York Farm Bureau.
“We kind of call it a family reunion of agriculture in New York, whether it's vegetable farmers, dairy farmers, academia and agri-business, all come together, along with the commissioner [of agriculture]."
Skellie says the dairy industry has had a good year, and a new cheese processing plant near Rochester will create more demand. But he says burdensome state labor laws combined with President Elect-Trump’s threats to deport undocumented immigrants pose a serious challenge to the state’s agriculture industry.
“It'd be devastating effects if there was mass deportations," Skellie said. "I think out of the agricultural workforce, it could really shut things down in a hurry, and I don't think we're the only industry that's like that. Food production is something the United States does well and we don't want to have to rely on other countries to produce our food.”
Skellie says wholesale immigration reform can better clarify who can and can’t be in the country to meet workforce needs. Meanwhile, he says the forum also introduces farmers to the latest technology, from GPS to drones to robots.
"I think all those are really interesting," Skellie said. "This is kind of big picture and we're hearing about that now. We have to investigate further to find out what are the cost of those? What can they do for you? Once you put them on farm and how applicable are they?”
Skellie says his farm adopted health monitoring devices for their cows, which is more efficient than searching for an ill, underperforming animal.
