2017 : Agriculture
Regional Services Improve Economics of Local Food
Regional meat processing plants have opened in Champlain and St. Lawrence regions. Other operations for processing, marketing and distribution of food products are operating within the region and include distribution to targeted urban centers like Albany, Saratoga, etc. Overall, these improve the scale and economics of local food production and solve a number of difficult problems that individual farmers cannot address alone.
Influenced Scenarios
Evidence
3 Large Scale Composting Machines Operating
North Country School, The Wild Center, and LP Central are all now operating large scale composting machines to convert bio-waste to usable soil material and keep it out of landfills.
Read the news article here.
Ticonderoga Meat Plant Closed, for Sale
The plant in Ticonderoga is new and was supported by NYS grants. But now it is closed and for sale.
Read the news story here.
Champlain Valley Milling Expands in Willsboro
The grain milling company has tripled its milling capacity. It mills wheat, rye, spelt and emmer.
Read the news story here.
Shiitake Mushroom Growing Gets a Boost
Cornell Cooperative Extension is launching a new program to expand shiitake mushroom growing in the region.
Read the news story here.
Champlain Valley Farmers Seek internet Customers
$75k Grant to Renew Local Food and Wood Products Website
The new directory will help customers find farms and also local wood products producers.
Read the Governor's announcement here.
Cheese Plant to Get $30m Upgrade
Expansion of the cheese plant brings stability to an important milk market for the regions's dairy farms.
Read the news story here.
Adirondack Harvest Website Connects Consumers to Farms, Local Food
Adirondack Harvest is a new website that connects local consumers directly to farmers and provides information to all Adirondack Harvest members.
Read the news story here.
Essex County Food Hub to Open in 2016
Thanks to a USDA grant, a new food hub for Essex County called Hub on the Hill will be open for the 2016 growing season. The 3,000-square-foot warehouse will be used for wholesale processing, juicing, bottling, food-drying, storage and distribution of local food.
Read the news story here.
St Lawrence Food Hub Scaling Back
The business lost some big customers and is scaling back, a blow to the food hub effort.
Read the new story here.
Read the new story here.
New Food Hub Coming to Champlain Valley
TriTown Packing Wins $160k REDC Grant
The grant will upgrade and reopen a local meat processing company.
See page 66 of the 2014 REDC Awards Booklet
See page 66 of the 2014 REDC Awards Booklet
Mobile USDA Certified Chicken Processing Unit Shuts
The mobile chicken processing unit that began operation in July 2013, has now closed.
Read a news story about the opening here. Read a news story about the closing here.
Read a news story about the opening here. Read a news story about the closing here.
SUNY Adirondack Starts Small Ag Program
Robots Coming to Farm Work
A north country startup is building robots to take the pressure off finding farm labor, a big challenge to farmers here.
Read the news story here.
Read the news story here.
Ticondergoa USDA Meat Processor to Double in Size
The Adirondack Meat Company received $300k to add another 7500 sq ft to it's plant in Ticonderoga. It is the first such facility in the Park. The onsite retail store opens May 1.
Read the news story here.
Read the news story here.
Small Scale USDA meat processor opens in Ticonderoga
The Adirondack Meat Company had support from NCREDC grants and loans. It will handle 50 animals a day and employ about 12 people occupying 7500 sq ft. A smoke house and store are part of the plan. Previously, small animal farmers had to take their animals out of state for processing.
New Study on Distribution for Small Crops
Small farms face difficulty in distribution and are alone unable to serve large single customers. This new project will seek various ways to solve these problems.
Read news story about it here.
Read news story about it here.
Ti Slaughterhouse to Open by End of 2013
Adirondack Meat has begun construction and the plan is now for 17 jobs in the 7500 sqft building. It will be the first USDA certified facility in the Park. Currently local producers have to ship animals far away and they sit on waiting lists for 90-365 days.
Read a news story about it here.
Read a news story about it here.
North Country food hub to open in Canton
Read the news story here for a description of what a food hub does and how it works.
For Regional Services Improve Economics of Local Food
For Regional Services Improve Economics of Local Food