Officials Push for Funds to Help East End Farmers

A federal program created under the 2014 Farm Bill authorizes $1.3 billion in spending over five years to help farmers adopt conservation practices in regions of the country facing significant environmental challenges.

With that in mind, local officials held a press conference at Wickham's Fruit Farm in Cutchogue on Monday calling on United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to designate the Long Island Sound and Peconic Estuary as a "critical conservation area under the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). 

Officials said that designation–set to be made in eight areas in the country–would help fund agricultural conservation efforts, habitat restoration efforts and the sustainable use of soil, water and other natural resources.

“We are perfectly situated to be designated as one of these conservation areas because we are a region that is vitally important to the future economic success of New York State,” Bellone said. “The steadfast leadership on agricultural issues from Congressman [Tim] Bishop has helped to form this incredible coalition of partners who are working together and who are already committed to conservation.”

Suffolk County farmers, with the assistance of organizations such as the National Resource Conservation Service, the Suffolk County Soil & Water Conservation District, and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, have already adapted a variety of environmentally sustainable agricultural practices, officials said. These include the use of controlled released fertilizers, the use of pheromones to disrupt pest mating habits, the use of bio-controls in greenhouses, no-till and low-till soil management, and other erosion control practices. 

“It is so important to find federal funds to help manage the next transition for sustainable farming out here,” said Tom Wickham, owner of Wickham’s Fruit Farm.  “Support through the NRCS, the Cornell Cooperative Extension, through the various places by which we have been able to make use of funding has been instrumental in allowing us to move beyond the traditional farming that I inherited some years ago and to move up to where we want to be.”

Photo: 

BACK ROW, FROM LEFT: Frank Beyrodt Jr., DeLea Sod Farms; Matt Pendleton, North Fork Nursery; John v.H. Halsey, Founder and President of the Peconic Land Trust; Tom Wickham, owner of Wickham Fruit Farms; Vito Minei, Cornell Cooperative Extension Executive Director; Steven Bate, Long Island Wine Council Executive Director; Dale Moyer, Cornell Cooperative Extension Agricultural Program Director; George Proios, Chairman of the New York State Soil &Water Conservation Committee; Legislator Al Krupski; David Calone, Chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission; Paul TeNyenhuis, Suffolk County Soil and Water Conservation District Manager.

FRONT ROW: Karen Rivara, President of the Long Island Farm Bureau and member of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association; Becky Wiseman, Agricultural Stewardship Program Coordinator at Cornell Cooperative Extension; Alison Branco, Peconic Estuary Program Director; Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone; Joe Gergela, Executive Director of the Long Island Farm Bureau; Congressman Tim Bishop