October 25, 2008
Contacts: see last
paragraph below plus Frans Vokey, 315-376-5270
Developing Custom Farm Services Industry in NNY Topic of
December Meetings
Opportunities to make custom farming services such as hired plowing,
planting, fertilizing, harvesting and heifer raising, profitable for
both farmers and service providers will be the topic of three meetings
organized by the Cornell Cooperative Extension associations of the North
Country for December 2 at Miner Institute, Chazy, December 3 at the
Madrid Community Center, and December 4 at the Carthage Elks Club.
Co-organizer Frans J. Vokey of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis
County says, “Our goal is to facilitate relationships between farmers
and custom service providers. These meetings will present the use of
custom services as a business strategy for consideration by farmers. For
example, using custom services can maintain or improve the forage
quality on dairy farms and free farmers to spend more time on such tasks
as herd health, breeding and productivity.”
Speakers include Jon Orr, owner-manager of Orsson Custom Farming, a
father-son limited liability corporation in Apple Creek, Ohio, and
Cornell University’s PRO-DAIRY Program Dairy Farm Management Specialist
Jason Karszes. Local custom operators and the farmers using their
services will also share their experiences.
Field Crops Educator Michael E. Hunter of Cornell Cooperative Extension
of Jefferson County says, “Hiring a custom operator can be a way for a
dairy to increase its profitability in spite of the added cost of paying
for someone else to raise your heifers, harvest your crops, put up
fencing or spread manure. These meetings will help farmers considering
hiring custom help for the first time or those looking to add
efficiencies to their existing custom work relationships.”
For more information on the workshop at Chazy, contact Anita Deming,
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Essex County, 518-962-4810, or Carl
Tillinghast, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Franklin County,
518-483-7403; at Madrid: Brent Buchanan, Cornell Cooperative Extension
of St. Lawrence County, 315-379-9192; and at Carthage: Mike Hunter,
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County, 315-788-8450. Learn
more about agriculture in Northern New York on the Northern New York
Agricultural Development Program website at
www.nnyagdev.org. # # #
