Assemblyman Al Stirpe working to expand the Chenango-Madison Bounty program into Onondaga County

Assemblyman Al Stirpe (D-North Syracuse) wants to make fresh, locally grown food more readily available in Onondaga County. Stirpe is working to expand the Chenango-Madison Bounty program into Onondaga County.

The Bounty program, which was started in Chenango County in 2007 and expanded to Madison County last year, allows Central New Yorkers to buy locally produced foods directly from local farmers and processors.

“Expanding the Chenango-Madison Bounty program into Onondaga County would increase farmers’ profits, strengthen our local economy and provide easy access to affordable, fresh and healthy food to all residents,” Stirpe said. “Farming is the backbone of Central New York. It’s vital that we support local farmers, because if Central New York farms succeed, Central New York succeeds.”

The Bounty program made its first expansion into Onondaga County this past summer with the opening of a delivery site at the East Area YMCA in Fayetteville. Stirpe wants to expand the program into all of Onondaga County to:

· Allow more local farmers to sell directly to consumers;

· Further expand the market for farmers to sell their goods;

· Make fresh, local produce easily available to more consumers; and

· Put the money that Onondaga County residents spend on food back into the local economy.

Stirpe will host two meetings to discuss the effort to expand the Bounty program into Onondaga County. One meeting is directed toward farmers and the other toward residents. However, both meetings are open to anyone who is interested. Also attending the meetings will be representatives from the Bounty program.

Farmers’ meeting:

Tuesday, Oct. 27

Pompey Hill Fire Department

7407 Academy St.

Pompey, NY

6:30 p.m.

Residents’ meeting:

Thursday, Oct. 29

Manlius Village Centre Auditorium

1 Arkie Albanese Ave.

Manlius, NY

6:30 p.m.

Phil Metzger, Resource Conservation and Development Project Coordinator with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, helped design the original Bounty program in Chenango County along with the Chenango County Cooperative Extension, the Chenango Agricultural Development Council and local farmers.

“Bounty was started and expanded because we felt that the people of Central New York deserved to enjoy fresh, local foods grown right here in our own rural communities. We saw this as a great way to provide a local marketing opportunity to our farmers and processors,” said Metzger, who now serves on the Chenango-Madison Bounty Advisory Committee. “We look forward to working with Assemblyman Stirpe on exploring an expansion of the Bounty program into Onondaga County.”

The Bounty program was expanded into Madison County in June 2008 under the leadership of Becca Jablonski, Agricultural Economic Development Specialist for Madison County.

“We are very excited that Assemblyman Stirpe is interested in the Bounty project. Chenango-Madison Bounty works with almost ninety farms and processors in Central New York and offers over seven hundred locally grown, high quality, affordable products to individuals throughout the region,” Jablonski said. “It is a fantastic opportunity to maintain the vibrancy of our agricultural economy, at the same time offering healthy, high quality, locally grown food to all citizens throughout Central New York.”

Jean Tyler, Grazing Specialist with Onondaga County Soil and Water, is also working on the Bounty expansion. “When consumers buy locally grown foods, they benefit from high quality, fresh food and the farmer benefits from selling more products,” Tyler said.

“The Bounty program provides a direct link between farmers and consumers,” said Steve Holzbaur, a consultant who helped design the initial Bounty program in Chenango County. “Typical food chains have multiple layers of middlemen increasing the final price of the product. The Bounty program has just one, benefiting the producer and the consumer.”

“Eating locally grown and locally produced food is not only healthy, but it’s also good for the environment and good for the economy. I look forward to hearing input from residents and farmers on this and I’m hoping we’ll be able to successfully expand the Bounty program into Onondaga County,” Stirpe concluded.

To learn more about the Bounty program, visit www.cnybounty.com.

Assemblyman Al Stirpe working to expand the Chenango-Madison Bounty program into Onondaga County

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