Footnotes:
1 Source: U.S. Census of Agriculture, 1997. It should be noted, however, the New York Agricultural Statistics Service, a Division of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, estimates the County actually had 1,400 farms in 1996. The difference is attributable to the Department of Commerce not making allowances for incompleteness of its 5-year Census counts. Market value of land and buildings averaged $200,320 in 1997 and machinery and equipment was valued at an average of $49,971.
2 Source: Policy Issues in Rural Land Use, Cornell Cooperative Extension, December 1996.
3 Source: Costs of Community Services Study, Tompkins County, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County and Tompkins County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan, August, 1995.
4 These include studies by American Farmland Trust, Cornell Cooperative Extension and Commonwealth Research Group, Inc. of communities in Dutchess and Oneida Counties in New York and various other Connecticut and New England areas.
5 "Who Pays for Sprawl?, " U.S. News and World Report, April 27, 1998.
6 Advertisements in The Courier, Bath New York, September 19, 1999.
7 Business Week, October, 1992, p. 82-83.
8 Source: Land Works Connection, October, 1998, American Farmland Trust.
9 Source: Watershed Agricultural Council.
10 Source: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
11 Source: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County.
12 Source: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County and U.S. Census of Agriculture, 1997.
13 Source: 1997 U.S. Census of Agriculture.
14 Source: Reports on Agricultural Districts prepared by Steuben County Planning & Community Development Office.
15 Source: U.S. Census of Agriculture
16 Population estimates for 1999 developed by U.S. Census Bureau.
17 Town data includes Village portions.
18 Source: USDA Forest Service Northeastern Forest Industry Analysis
19 Source: 1997 U.S. Census of Agriculture. It must be noted that State Agricultural Statistics Service surveys indicate higher numbers in certain instances (e.g. 1405 farms versus the 1,295 counted in the Census). This is attributable to the State's more frequent data analysis and follow-up. Nevertheless, Census numbers are more complete overall and, therefore, more suitable for planning purposes. Totals may not agree due to rounding, however, and because multiple products are often produced from the same farm, numbers of farms overlap and cannot be directly totaled.
20 Source: 1997 U.S. Census of Agriculture.
21 Dairy farms dropped from 479 in 1987 to 336 in 1997, while cows declined from 26,414 to 22,372 over the same period. Sales since 1997 have grown by 9% with $49,716,000 of products sold in 1999 according to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. This is based on 1997 Department-estimated sales of $45,586,000 in 1997. As noted earlier, the State figures tend to run ahead of the Census numbers because they employ more follow-up analysis. The trend, however, is what is important and it was clearly up for 1998 and 1999 due, in no small measure, to some high pricing during 1998 and early 1999. That is, of course, no longer the case and the 2000 numbers are likely to be lower, although production as a whole has been growing. According to the Department of Agriculture and Markets, it grew from 344,400,000 pounds in 1997 to 367,500,000 pounds in 1999 - a 7% gain.
22 Department of Agricultural, Resource and Managerial Economics, Policy Issues in Rural Land Use, December, 1996, "Economic Multipliers and the New York State Economy."
23 The 1997 Ag Census indicated there were 2,015 hired employees and 698 operators principally employed in farming. Multiplying these 2,713 jobs by the average employment multiplier of 1.515 for dairy/crop production yields 4,110 jobs. The New York State Wine and Grape Foundation's 1998 study of the industry indicates that, on average, one job is created for every 1,750 gallons of wine produced in the state and another 1.5 jobs are indirectly supported. Steuben County's estimated 66,000 gallons of production yields 94 jobs on this basis. Dairy processing accounted for 500 direct jobs in 1992 according to the Economic Census and this times a dairy processing multiplier of 3.53 yields 1,765 jobs. Lumber and wood products manufacturers accounted for 95 jobs in the County in 1997 according to the Census Bureau's "County Business Patterns" report and this times an employment multiplier of 1.39 (see above) yields 132 jobs. Altogether , therefore, agriculture accounts for a minimum of 6,101 jobs - 4,110 directly created and 1,991 indirectly created.
24 Source: 1997 U.S. Census of Agriculture.
25 The survey included 13 dairies from Steuben County.
26 The IDA has not yet agreed to this program.
27 The source of all forestry data, unless otherwise indicated, is the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Station, "Northeastern Forest Inventory and Analysis Project," 1993 and 1996. Unfortunately, although this is the only official source of the data available, it is based on sampling of a mere 90 plots and is often prone to error as a result. So as to correct for this wherever possible, interviews were conducted with local representatives of the forest industry including forest owners and the Department of Environmental Conservation.
28 Growing stock generally refers to all usable portions of trees, those portions which exceed 4" in diameter.
29 Sawtimber refers to the net volume of saw logs in trees.
30 Average annual removals refers to the net growing stock harvested, killed in logging operations, cleared or reclassified from forest to non-forest land. Totals may not agree, due to rounding.
31 Source: "Cutting Activity in New York's Forests," USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Radnor, PA.
32 A recent analysis of real estate taxes on private forest land in the Catskill counties of New York State indicated annual tax rates of $7-$33/acre compared to forest revenues averaging less than $5/acre. Local timber managers indicate the cost is approximately $9/acre and needs to be less than half that.
33 One the best resources in this regard
is the Steuben County Fair, the oldest continuous such event in
the nation. Additional exhibits and demonstrations along the
line of Farm Bureau's very positive youth exhibit at Empire Farm
Days are very appropriate in conjunction with the Fair.