Sullivan County Democrat
Callicoon, New York
March 1, 2013 Issue
National Award-winning, Family-run Newspaper
Established 1891
www.sc-democrat.com
info@sc-democrat.com
news | sports | obituaries | archives | classifieds | subscribe | NEW! buy photos | links | contact | tv listings | lottery
Weather

WXPort

Community

Sullivan County Democrat

Promote Your Page Too

"The Wild Gardener"
Peter Loewer's Weekly
Column in the Democrat

"The Mouth That Roars"
Bill Liblick's Weekly
Column in the Democrat

"Inside Out"
Jeanne Sager's Weekly
Column in the Democrat

"Give Us Paws"
Ruth Huggler's Weekly
Column in the Democrat

"Retrospect"
John Conway's Look Back at the History of Sullivan County

Sullivan Renaissance

Sullivan County Chamber
Of Commerce & Industry

Sullivan County
Visitor's Association

Sullivan County
Government Center

Sullivan County
Partnership for
Economic Development

Please visit our
Community Links
section for other
Sullivan County
Organizations

 

Dan Hust | Democrat

With Legislator Kitty Vetter (right) listening, Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development’s (SASD’s) Dick Riseling discusses ag and sustainability initiatives in the region on Tuesday.

Gieger seeks to
form agriculture subcommittee

By Dan Hust
MONTICELLO — Agriculture may become its own subcommittee of the Legislature.
Last Tuesday, Sustainability Policy Committee Chair Cindy Gieger convened several of the county’s top government, economic development and agriculture officials to discuss a unified vision for local ag.
Their purpose, she said, should be “basically to work out how we can effectively grow agriculture in Sullivan County ... really becoming a think tank for agriculture.”
A co-founder of the Sullivan County Farm Network, Gieger explained that interest in ag initiatives is growing locally, from alpaca farms to fiber mills to hydroponics operations.
As a result, there is the potential for significant economic growth.
She included green energy efforts like solar farms, noting that a company is interested in siting one on her Jeffersonville dairy farm.
“If I leased to them, just 30 acres alone would bring me $900 a month,” she pointed out.
On Tuesday, participants tossed around ideas on how to organize the group, from just being an advisory committee to becoming a full voting committee of the Legislature.
Ultimately, talk seemed to center on a cross between the two – a subcommittee which would be comprised of around nine people representing the farming community, county government, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Industrial Development Agency, Sullivan Renaissance, Farmhearts, the Farm Network and the Watershed Agricultural Council.
County Manager David Fanslau suggested consolidating into this subcommittee the various reports given by local ag interests to the Legislature in four other existing committees.
The desire to add another full-timer to the county’s ag/sustainability personnel was also mentioned, though funding would first have to be found.
And Gieger hoped the renewed focus on ag would also lead to renewed funding for the Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development (SASD), which saw the budget for its contract with the county for green energy research/education services cut by more than half this year.
Nothing was decided upon at this meeting, and attendees agreed to gather again to discuss more ideas and perhaps solidify the group’s structure.
That meeting will be open to the public and is set for Tuesday, April 10 at 12:30 p.m. at the Government Center in Monticello.

 
Copyright © 1999-2013 Catskill-Delaware Publications.
The information you receive online from the Sullivan County Democrat Online Edition is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. Content contained within this website is for the sole and exclusive use of Catskill-Delaware Publications. Please read our user agreement and our use information
privacy statement.
Internet Services provided by Time Warner, Site Design by Green Enterprises

top of page       top of page