Assemblyman Chris Tague, R-Schoharie, ranking minority member of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture, held his eighth annual farm tour Thursday, Sept. 10, his last as an assemblymemeber, after two days of stops across Schoharie County with a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
Tague is leaving his 102nd District seat to run for an open seat in the state Senate’s 51st district.
According to a news release from Tague’s office, this year’s theme was “back to our roots.” The group returned to many of the same operations visited in the first year of the tour to see how those farms adapted after COVID, supply-chain disruptions, new regulations and severe weather and to “talk about keeping affordable, safe, nutritious, local food on New Yorkers’ tables.”
Stops included SUNY Cobleskill’s Center for Agriculture & Natural Resources, Windcrest Farm, Central Bridge Feeds with a Cornell CALS PRO-DAIRY presentation, Maple Downs Farm, Cyprus Farm Stand, the Cobleskill Fairgrounds with FFA, 4-H and a Cornell hops presentation, a Chobani breakfast at Howe Caverns Café, a private tour of Howe Caverns and lunch at Schoharie Valley Farms and The Carrot Barn, according to the release.
Tague hosted the tour with state Sen. George Borrello, R-Silver Creek and Assemblymember Donna Lupardo, D-Binghamton.
“This tour has always been about getting lawmakers out of Albany and onto the ground with the people who actually grow our food,” Tague said. “Coming back to the same farms we visited in year one made that even more real. These families have been through a pandemic, broken supply chains, new rules from Albany and weather that would flatten most businesses, and they’re still here, still milking, still planting, still feeding their neighbors. That is the story of agriculture in Schoharie County, and it is why this work is not finished. No farms, no food.”
Lupardo, chair of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture, said, “I always look forward to Assemblyman Tague’s Annual Farm tour. Hearing directly from farmers and producers helps legislators better understand the challenges and opportunities they are facing. Over the years, these tours have had a significant impact on policy and on record support for agriculture in the state budget.”
Borrello, ranking minority member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, saidd, “This year’s tour was another great example of how to bring people together to celebrate farming in New York. Over the last eight years, this tour has educated and enlightened so many of our colleagues on the importance of New York agriculture to our state’s economy and resiliency. It has created critical partnerships in Albany that have led to a growing, bipartisan group of advocates in the state Legislature. Assemblyman Tague’s hard work and direct experience make him uniquely qualified to stand up for New York’s farmers.”
Denise Lloyd of Maple Down Farms said, “We appreciate the opportunity to open our farm and share our successes and history. We more than appreciate and credit the bipartisan efforts of our representatives to support agricultural business in New York State.”