Cover crops aren’t a strong investment through sales alone, but they improve the health of farm soil by, among other things, protecting against erosion and pests, ultimately making farms more resilient to climate change. A study has found that New York’s public funding has been successful in encouraging farmers to grow cover crops on their farms.

A number of village residents had spoken in favor of keeping chickens in the village at the board’s July 18 meeting, leading the village board to draft a local law to that effect. A public hearing on the law has been scheduled for Oct. 3. 

On Wednesday, the state’s labor department announced that regulations for farm laborers overtime pay have been adopted.

Over the course of a decade, farm workers statewide will see the threshold for overtime pay lowered until it reaches 40 hours a week, down from the current 60.

Free webinars, put on by Cornell University and Penn State with assistance from the New York and Pennsylvania farm bureaus, are designed for municipal officials so that theories about best planning practices around the clean-energy transition can be put into practice. 

Interest in farming saw a resurgence during the pandemic, and, according to Knox farmer and chairman of the town’s agricultural committee Gary Kleppel, a new generation is finding that the oldest profession lines up perfectly with their modern values. They just need a little help getting started.

The decision on overtime pay for farm workers is now in the hands of the state’s labor commissioner, Roberta Reardon.

Assemblyman Chris Tague, of District 102, wants New York schools to offer whole and 2-percent milk to students to, essentially, ensure that they drink milk at all. Higher-fat milks are currently restricted by federal law because milk fats have been linked to higher levels of so-called “bad” cholesterol, which in turn is linked to heart disease. 

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets on Friday announced that it has issued an order to ban all live fowl shows and exhibitions to help prevent the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza to the state’s poultry.

Avian flu is a highly contagious disease that afflicts all manner of birds. An outbreak seven years ago was responsible for the death of 50 million birds across the country. 

The Berne Town Board held a public hearing on a new animal-control law this week and received mostly minor suggestions for alteration from a public that seemed largely pleased with the proposed regulations.