Delaware County Farm Enhancement Grant Info
Cornell Cooperative Extension, in concert with the Delaware County Board of Supervisors utilized $1million of American Rescue Plan Funding to create and administer the Delaware County Farm Enhancement Grant Program. This one-of-a-kind program sought to support agriculture in the county through the struggles created by COVID with either an Infrastructure Grant of up to $25,000 or a Crop Inputs Grant to defray 2022 cropping expenses. This grant was designed to assist in maintaining the vibrancy of agriculture in Delaware County as producers navigated through the financial implications of COVID on both the supply chain side for their inputs as well as challenges in getting product to market and lost revenues many farms suffered, particularly in the dairy sector.
Forty-nine farms across the county were selected in a competitive process to receive funding. Crop Inputs Grants were awarded to 7 farms and Infrastructure Grants were awarded for projects on 42 additional farms. The distribution across the county is represented with a red dot on each farm.
Delaware County Farm Enhancement Grant Recipient: Gladstone Farms
Nestled in the beautiful Gladstone Hollow Valley of Andes, Gladstone Farms is currently being operated by the 5th and 6th generations of Gladstones, Wayland & Suzanne Gladstone, and Jason & Chelsea Guy, while the 7th generation, Carly, Gavin and Jaylee Guy, grows alongside the 180 head beef herd. This 400-acre former dairy farm now thrives as a farm-to-table destination, adding a retail pumpkin patch and sunflower field to the farm’s freezer trade business. Visitors to the farm can enjoy the breathtaking views, with the gorgeous Galloway and British White Park cattle dotting the landscape and subtly reminding guests of the family’s Scottish heritage.
Looking to enhance farm safety and ease handling of the cattle, the Gladstone family partnered a Delaware County Farm Enhancement grant with a NYCAMH John May Safety Fund grant to install headlocks and J-bunks in the covered feeding areas for the cattle. Installation allows for safe handling of cattle for routine herd health work, cattle sorting and by preventing calves from escaping through the feeding area and getting into the road. The J-bunks also eliminate feed waste by keeping the feed in-front of the animals and undercover.
Dairysmith Holsteins
Dairysmith Holsteins was the recipient of a Delaware County Farm Enhancement Grant award for a milk cooling system project. Dairysmith Holsteins is a 5th generation dairy, run continuously by the Smith family in Franklin, NY since 1890. Today the farm is home to a beautiful 260 registered Holstein herd, milking 130 cows 3x a day. The focus of the farm is on producing high quality milk from well-bred cows. With the intention of positioning the farm to share the legacy with future generations, operational improvements are driven by the need to be efficient and sustainable.
The milk cooling system on the dairy was installed in 1982 and served the farm well, however after 40 years lacked efficiency and capacity to meet current needs. After research and consultation, the Smith family decided an upgrade of their milk receiving and pump system, installation of a plate cooler, and new condensers for the bulk tank would meet their needs and position them well for the future.
Unfortunately, the ripple impacts of COVID and the challenges in the milk market pushed the project out on the timeline for completion. The Delaware County Farm Enhancement Grant program was well timed for the farm to greenlight the project enabling the Smith family to remain true to their ethos of being a progressive & modern farm. The completion of the milk cooling system upgrades by R&M Farm & Pro Hardware has yielded milk noticeably cooler entering the bulk tank, more efficient use of energy resources and a higher quality product.
Delaware County Farm Enhancement Grant Recipient: Roxbury Mountain Maple LLC
Roxbury Mountain Maple maintains their focus on making the best maple syrup on the face of the earth and bringing family together. Roxbury Mountain Maple utilized a Delaware County Farm Enhancement grant in continued pursuit of that goal. As one of the largest maple producers in the Catskills, the Holscher family craft their delicious maple products with a keen awareness to mitigating the operation’s environmental impacts. Upgrading the Sugar House’s reverse osmosis (RO) unit enabled Roxbury Mountain Maple to reap many benefits including minimizing energy utilization, increased operational efficiency and a higher quality finished product. The RO unit removes water from the sap, bringing sugar concentration from 2% in raw sap to 20% after the RO process has been completed. This reduces fossil fuel consumption as the sap is boiled into syrup. The upgraded RO unit also runs on electricity, which will allow the farm to harness solar power in a continued effort to minimize the environmental footprint. Additional value the new RO unit brings is the increased efficiency in sap processing; allowing for sap runs to be completed quickly. This enables equipment maintenance even at peak of season, extending the life of the RO unit and the evaporator. Finally syrup quality has been enhanced with shorter boiling times and faster sap processing, yielding more Golden and Amber grade syrup.
Delaware County Farm Enhancement Grant Recipient: D & D Farms
In April of 2022, D&D Farms suffered a devastating fire, taking their barn as a total loss along with all the livestock housed in the structure. The Delaware County Farm Enhancement Grant came at the right time to give the Perry family some hope for the future of their farm.
With the grant and help from some friends, Dawn and Dickie Perry sourced a barn, were able to take it down and move it to their site, pour a concrete floor and erect a new 40×70 freestall barn where their previous barn stood. This allowed them to continue to farm, restore the site of the burned structure and repurpose a barn that was no longer in use. As Dickie said, “out of bad, a whole lot of good came from it”.
The new barn allows the Perrys to more efficiently feed and group animals, minimizing waste and maximizing animal growth and wellbeing. Currently the farm markets their meat exclusively through their farm stand, serving the community with local, fresh meats and dairy, eggs, fruit, vegetables, maple and baked goods. This investment in the farm has kept both the animal enterprise as well as the farm market sustainable for the family.
Delaware County Farm Enhancement Grant Recipient: DeDominicis Farm
This Delaware County Farm Enhancement Grant Award provided significant benefits to a beginning dairy farmer who is currently operating the sole surviving diary of the historic Meridale Farms. Theodore DeDominicis has had a passion for the dairy industry from a young age and is striving to build a successful dairy while also preserving a local agricultural landmark. Achieving this goal comes with its own set of challenges, as several improvements are needed to maximize operational efficiency and animal comfort. Entering the dairy industry in December of 2020 with the purchase of cattle and equipment, Mr. DeDominicis is striving toward full farm ownership. As a beginning farmer hoping to keep a farm in production and vibrant, every penny counts in this phase.
An infrastructure project under this grant enabled the replacement of a grain bin. Upgrading the grain storage has prevented significant feed losses, added self-unloading capabilities saving time every feeding, and preserved feed quality with the elimination of nuisance animals in the feed. This translates into real financial impact to the farm, with a conservative estimate of $3,000 in annual feed waste savings alone. This project has provided a much-appreciated benefit to the DeDominicis farm.