PENN YAN — Little, but mighty, where agriculture matters.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Yates County’s Vegetable Specialist Judson Reid told the Yates County Legislature’s Government Operations Committee in September that the county ranks first in the state for the number of vegetable greenhouses.
Additionally, Yates has the highest density of vegetable farms on a per-square mile basis compared to other counties.
The 100 vegetable farms in Yates cover 2,400 acres. And, there are 60 flower greenhouses with a value of over $2 million.
The figures come from the 2022 United States Department of Agriculture census.
Reid, who runs the Cornell Vegetable Program and is also a Harvest NY Team Leader, indicated that the high ranking for the county reflects in the programming that CCE offers to the local growers.
He noted that CCE uses the public funds provided from 14 counties, including Yates, by participating in the Regional Ag Team.
The team includes six specialists and manages 36 grant-funded research projects. It has conducted 91 educational events, made more than 3,000 farm visits and consultations with vegetable farmers. Reid did not indicate the time frame for the events, or how many were specific to Yates County growers.
Seventy-eight farms across the 14 counties were provided in-kind support.
Half of the budget for the vegetable program comes from grants and contracts; $85,000 comes from Cornell University; and then $300,000 comes from the 14 participating counties. Yates invests about $20,000.
Reid said the return on investment can’t really be measured in terms of money, but there is estimated to have been about a 6% growth in total revenue for the auction that’s held at the Finger Lakes Produce Auction, Inc. on Route 14A.
“They are breaking records for number of sales per day and they are breaking six figures per day on a regular basis,” Reid said.
Other information included in the 2022 USDA census showed that 98% of all farms in Yates County are family farms. Farmland has a value of $152.41 million in the county, which is a 33% increase from the 2017 census.
Farm-related income totals $12.57 million, which is up 71% from the previous census.
For more information, go to https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2022/Online_Resources/County_Profiles/New_York/cp36123.pdf.
