CNY ecoBlog

Sunday’s Post-Standard had this article on lagging production Maple Syrup locally.
The temperature must be in the low 20s at night and the low 40s during the day for the sap to flow. Warm weather in early winter caused the season to start late, in mid-March instead of mid-February. The fluctuations of very cold and very [...]

A U.K. Defra report, Environmental Impacts of Food Production and Consumption (pdf warning), compared organic versus non-organic food “life cycles” and concludes that in some circumstances organic agriculture can be more detrimental to the environment than conventional agriculture.
Buying organic and local foods is not necessarily better for the environment, according to a new life-cycle assessment [...]

The development of alternative energy and biofuels in Central New York has garnered alot of attention lately. Of course anything to spark our lagging regional economy is met with excitement, but these trends obviously extend globally.

Bush’s Latin American tour for instance turned a spotlight on biofuels as a new ethanol development pact was made [...]

For the farmers and agronomists out there, I was alerted to this interesting website that assists with the Nitrogen Management on Dairy Farms on the Cornell servers (via the USDA-ARS New & Events Site):
Efficient nitrogen (N) management on dairy farms is key to profitable and environmentally sound farm operation.

This web site is designed to deliver [...]

The biofuel discussion vaguely reminds me of the “biosolids” debate. In the attempt to make the spreading of municipal waste on agricultural land sound more palatable, the sludge was renamed “biosolids” (There is a great little book detailing this story and similar attempts at PR misinformation: Toxic Sludge is Good For You).

There is nothing [...]

The Albany Time-Union has this article on small farms, profiling a “part-time” farmer, Jim Sullivan; a banker who also runs a cattle farm started by his grandfather in Brunswick.

Some interesting facts:

According to the U.S. Census, which surveys the nation’s agricultural business every five years, there were 37,255 farms in New York in 2002. That’s down [...]

Last week it was widely reported that Wal-mart has been making substantial moves into the organic food market:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is throwing its weight behind organic products, a move that experts say could have the same lasting effect on environmental practices that Wal-Mart has had on prices by forcing suppliers and competitors to keep up.
Response [...]

Maple Ridge, the largest alternative-energy project east of the Mississippi, as well as other Wind Farm projects are being touted as an “economic bonanza” by some Upstate New York communities according to today’s New York Times (via NYCO). Not only are these wind projects increasing the tax base of some communities, but the projects [...]

To help curb future factory farm pollution, current polluters will be allowed to continue to pollute if they agree to give the government data on the current level of excrement they are releasing into the air. How nice!

The Bush administration will let thousands of factory-style farms escape severe penalties for fouling the air [...]

New York State ranks 3rd nationwide in dairy production. Dairy farming is a 2 billion dollar industry in New York State accounting for more than 50% of New York’s farm receipts in 2004 (USDA-ERS New York State fact sheets). Most of these farms are family or sole proprietorship operations that rely heavily [...]