Pleasant Valley
Wine Company's vineyard ovcrlooking Keuka Lake.
Courtesy of Steuben County Industrial Development Agency.
1.0 Why Farming Is So Important to Steuben County
Agriculture is an industry of extraordinary importance to Steuben County and has exceptional potential for the future. Consider the following:
1.1 Farming is big business in Steuben County.
Farming in Steuben County involves some 1,295 business locations, both large and small, generating sales of $78,665,000 million in 1997. The average value of land, buildings and equipment used in these businesses was $250,291 for a total investment of approximately $324,127,000 - the equivalent of several major manufacturing facilities.1
1.2 Income from agriculture goes further than other sectors in helping the economy.
Agriculture produces much higher economic multipliers than any other sector of the Steuben County economy. Cornell University, in fact, suggests the income multiplier for the dairy industry statewide is approximately 2.29, meaning that every dollar of dairy farm earnings generates $2.29 in earnings for the Steuben County economy as a whole. These are the two highest multipliers and they compare to 1.66 for construction, 1.48 for services, 1.41 for the next best manufacturing enterprise (that happens to include lumber, wood and wine production commonly viewed as agriculture) and 1.40 for retail trade.2
Applying the dairy multiplier (which represents the bulk of the County's agriculture), indicates farming alone represents a total contribution to the economy of well over $180,143,000, not including the forestry enterprises or the wineries, both of which also play an important role in Steuben County agriculture.
Moreover, there is a large cheese plant located within the County (Polly-O). The 1992 Economic Census indicates the manufacture of food and kindred products in Steuben County represented $310,700,000 of sales even then. A reasonable estimate is that, altogether, the agricultural sector generates well in excess of $500,000,000 of annual economic activity for Steuben County - major dollars for a rural area, even one that includes Corning Glass and the Ceramics Corridor.
1.3 Farms lower taxes.
Farms are tax winners despite preferential assessments afforded by the Ag District Law. A 1995 study of nearby Tompkins County found "agricultural .. uses should be recognized as beneficial because they do not demand a large amount of services and provide other benefits such as employment." The data, in fact, indicate agriculture typically requires only 15¢ to 40¢ of town and school expenditures for every $1.00 in tax revenue it generates, whereas residential development costs $1.09 to $1.56 per $1.00 of taxes gathered.3
This is consistent with results of a number of other similar studies done throughout the Northeast including 1992 and 1993 studies done for the Schuyler County Towns of Dix, Hector, Montour and Reading by the League of Women Voters.4 The latter studies, while somewhat older, indicated agricultural industries generated costs of only 28¢ to 32¢ for $1.00 in tax revenue generated as compared to $1.30 to $1.80 in costs for residential properties.
1.4 Farming helps in controlling costly urban sprawl.
Maintaining farm as an economically rewarding enterprise for landowners discourages expensive urban/suburban sprawl, steering development instead toward hamlets and villages with existing infrastructure. "Gasoline taxes and other user fees only cover about 70% of the direct cash costs of building and maintaining the nation's road system," according to a recent article on sprawl and hook-up fees for sewer systems within areas of sprawl often cover less than half the real costs of those extensions.5 These differences are attributable to the high costs of servicing development spread out along highways and the deficits must be made up by all taxpayers.
1.5 Farming attracts tourists.
Farms and vineyards are essential to the tourism industry in the County. Visitors are attracted to the County not only by its Corning museums but also by various wineries on the Keuka Lake Wine Trail, three major farmers markets and the diverse landscapes and scenic drives that Steuben County farms offer. The County's campground industry builds on these foundations and there are many more opportunities to do so.
The Corning and the Finger Lakes brochure, for example, talks about Hammondsport as the "Wine Capitol of New York State" and devotes two full pages to "Farms and Markets" with tie-ins to local Bed & Breakfasts and references to "rolling hills, vineyards, farm country and forests." Preserving that farm country is essential for the County if tourism is to grow.
1.6 Farms create rural character - a precious asset.
Farms preserve rural character and open space that are also essential to the quality of life for permanent residents. Any number of surveys of rural residents and second-home dwellers indicate the primary reasons people live in such areas have to do with their appreciation of the natural resources and open spaces offered, but the anecdotal evidence is perhaps even stronger and local real estate brochures provide examples. They include references not only to the County's "scenic views" but also the "pastures"" created by its working farm landscapes.6
There is a direct relationship between farming and the attractiveness of Steuben County as a place to live. A Business Week article touting the success of the Ceramics Corridor and other high-tech growth regions noted that entrepreneurs value the open spaces and quality of life they find in the Finger Lakes and various "leafy small towns."7 Those open spaces are largely farms and the small towns everyone enjoys are supported by the agricultural economy.
1.7 Farms and forests preserve natural environments.
Farms and forests provide working self-sustaining landscapes which preserve and enhance environmental quality. This is particularly important to Finger Lakes Region and those portions of the County within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. A recent study of land use and water quality along 100 Wisconsin streams found that "watersheds with more than 20% of land in urban use had very poor biological diversity."8 Likewise, use of New York City watershed lands in the West-of-Hudson region of New York State for largely farm and forestry uses have allowed Federal water drinking quality criteria for filtration avoidance to be met.
The suburbanized Croton and other East-of-Hudson area watersheds, by contrast, cannot meet these same standards and demand extraordinarily expensive filtering processes to produce potable drinking water. Forest land, which is a part of nearly every farm, "may reduce sediment, nutrient and other pollutant loadings by as much as 85% by minimizing soil erosion and filtering watershed runoff."9
1.8 Farms and forests support wildlife and sport hunting.
Farms support wildlife such as deer, turkeys and small-game and thereby sustain hunting as a source of tourism to the area. The 1997 white-tail deer harvest was, in fact, some 16,556 deer, largest of any county in New York State by a wide margin.10 Assuming an average expenditure of $500 per deer harvested (a commonly used figure) this equates to a $8,000,000 sport hunting economy. Additionally, Keuka Lake complements this by offering a fishing resource.
1.9 Agricultural opportunities can actually increase with development.
The leading agricultural county in New York is Suffolk County on Long Island - home to 1.3 million people and one of the most highly developed suburban environments in the nation, proving not only that farming and urbanization can co-exist, but also that the demand for agricultural products increases with the latter and raises the value of farming as an economic enterprise.11 Steuben is starting to face some development pressures and farming will, for the same reasons, be ever more important to the County as it develops and grows in population. This is particularly true for the fruit and vineyard industry which depends so much on direct marketing.
1.10 Farmland is an invaluable economic resource for future generations.
Farmland is an invaluable future resource for the County in providing for a healthy and plentiful local supply of food products and generating new sources of farm income. Many new residents of the County and of areas to the North (e.g. Rochester), as well as visitors to the Finger Lakes Region, are seeking locally grown fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers, both organic and non-organic.
The region is already capitalizing on these opportunities (e.g. organic wine vineyards) but continuing to do so requires the protection of high-quality farmland, so that such enterprises might develop and flourish. They offer tremendous economic potential for the future and, once again, Suffolk County provides an illustration. Its agricultural economy has been reinvented several times with urbanization but, today, yields well over $167,000,000 in annual sales and its lead as New York's most valuable agricultural producer is lengthening because of the shift to these higher valued products.12
1.11 Farming provides a year-round business base for many Steuben County enterprises.
Agriculture is much more than farming. A substantial number of non-agricultural businesses supply the needs of farmers. These include processors, vehicle and equipment dealers and other enterprises. Steuben County farmers, for example, own and must maintain and replace 2,134 trucks, 3,425 tractors and numerous other pieces of farm equipment and machinery. They also purchase over $3,207,000 of petroleum products, $15,730,,000 of feed, $6,982,000 of hired farm labor and approximately $35,397,000 of other products and services from Steuben County and other nearby enterprises, many of which would not be considered farm supply businesses. For these businesses to survive and prosper, a core critical mass of farmers must be preserved and vice-versa. Otherwise, competitiveness cannot be maintained.13
