Debra J. Groom / The Post-Standard
Published: Monday, February 08, 2010
To reach FarmNet: go to this Web site link http://www.nyfarmnet.org/ or call 24 hours a day, seven days a week at (800) 547-FARM (3276).
Mexico, NY -- It was 1999 when Nancy and Sam Weber, of Mexico, knew they needed a plan on how to turn their dairy farm over to their kids.
“We had our son who had worked on the farm for years and our whipper-snapper daughter who had just graduated from Cornell,” Nancy said.
She and her husband had two questions: “How do you meld that whole thing? How is this going to work?”
They called NY FarmNet, an organization founded in 1986 to help farmers with all sorts of problems, questions and crises.
“They sent out several counselors,” Nancy Weber said. “One counselor dealt with the psychological and emotional part of turning over the farm. There was a financial counselor who could look at the books and say ‘you can do this’ or ‘you can’t do that’ or ‘I don’t know how this farm is still running.’¤”
Saving farms is important to all rural areas, including Oswego County. Cornell University agriculture economist Andrew Novakovic said farms employ people and spend nearly all their income in the local community.
“Agriculture is something local communities know is important and value,” Novakovic said. “And beyond economics, farms also provide a nice landscape for people who travel through and local foods for those who like to eat local.”
FarmNet Executive Director Ed Staehr said FarmNet was formed out of the farm crisis in the Midwest in 1986.
“Farmers were taking their own lives. One went into an FSA (Farm Service Agency) office and shot his loan officer,” Staehr said. “New York wanted to be proactive and got FarmNet up and running in six weeks.”
State and grant money were used to get FarmNet off the ground with a director, a couple of retired Cornell Cooperative Extension agents and some personal consultants to deal with emotional and family issues.
To date, FarmNet consultants have answered more than 31,000 requests for help. With a $750,000 yearly budget, it has 32 consultants dealing with finances, succession planning, business plans, emotional and personal problems and expansion issues.
“On and off over the last 10 years, we’ve used them to help us get through different crises, such as when my son broke his back or last year when things were not good (as a result of low milk prices),” Nancy Weber said. “We were wondering how are we going to survive, or are we going to have to pack it in.”
The latest milk price crisis hit nearly all New York dairy farmers solidly in the pocketbook from late 2008 through now. Many lost thousands of dollars a month as the price they received for their milk sank as low as 99 cents for every gallon they produced. Most farmers say they should make about $1.50 a gallon just to break even.
Staehr said requests for help from New York farmers totaled about 4,000 in 2008. That jumped to about 6,000 in 2009.
And about 40 percent of those 2009 requests came from Central New York’s five-county area.
“Over 90 percent of the farms we have helped have stayed in business,” Staehr said. “A good part of what we do impacts the economy of the rural areas.”
The consultants helped the Webers get some equity out of their house, do some refinancing and restructure some debt in order to pay bills and keep the farm running.
They also recommended Sam add on about 15 more cows to the herd to increase cash flow. And they helped Sam and Nancy Weber with the emotional turmoil of seeing unpaid bills pile up and not knowing where the money would come from to pay them.
“The emotional devastation last year was pretty damn intense,” Nancy Weber said. “And the thing that’s great about FarmNet is they have nothing to gain except for your success. Everything is done with dignity. They listened and saw things we didn’t see.”
The couple is still farming, but FarmNet has helped them prepare to someday turn the farm over to their children.
Right now, FarmNet is challenged by another funding cut in the state budget. Last year, FarmNet was cut $180,000 and lost one consultant. This year, Gov. David Paterson proposes another $100,000 cut which could lead to another consultant position being cut.
“This can’t be done. You cannot allow this to not exist,” Nancy Weber said. “The farmers need this.”
Contact Debra J. Groom at dgroom@syracuse.com , 470-3254 or 251-5586.
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