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.