HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/10/1970Southold Town Planmng Board
SOUTHC)I.D~ L. I., N. ¥. 11971
PLANNING BOARD
M EM BERS
John Wickharn, Chairman
Henry Molsa
Alfred Grebe
Henry Raynor
Frank Coyle
SOUTHOT,D TOWN PLANNING BOARD
Special Meeting
REPORT OF AGRICULTURAL STUDY
by Dr' Joseph Sullivan
August 10, 1970
A special meeting ofthe Planning Boardwas called to order
by-the Cha~irman, at 8:30 P.'~', Monday~ August 10a 1970~ foz the
purpose of receiving an oral report fzomDr. Joseph Sullivan on
the AgricUltural Study conducted by him.
All Board members were present~ plus'the following persons:
James Hicky, Wm. Pollert, & Harold Smith of the $outhold-Peconic
C~vic Association, representatives from the League of Wom~n Voters,
and Supervisor Martocchia.
Dr. Sullivan began his report with an outline of the purpose
of the study.
In general terms the purpose of this study is to find out
what is going on with agriculture in 'theTown of Southoldo This
study was meant'to be a follow up of the Cbrnell Study which was
conducted in 1965.
This particular studywhich Dr. Sullivan is conducting is
concerned with the folloWing questions:
1. How many farmers are there in 'the Townof Southold?
Dr. SuIlivan's first attempt to answer this question was
through the Extension Service in Riverhead~ w~ich notwork
too well because all ofthe farmers do not belong sion
Service. Dr. Sullivan reported 'that he received most:of his data
on the number of farmers through AgWay. Although all the farmers
do not belong 'to the Extension Service,. the majority of them have
accounts with Agway.
Drl Sullivan reported that there are 103 farm operations in
the Town of Southold~
Southold Town Plan~.~ Board -2- ~August 10~ 1970
2. How many farmers are renting land and how many' farmers
own their land?
There are 9,.400 acres of land being cultivated in the Town of
Southold, 5,.000 acres are rented. Approximately 55-60% of the farm
land in the Town of Southold is rented land.
Dr. Sullivan reported that he came down to the Building Dept.
and spoke with Howard Terry, who was very helpfulto him. Mr. Terry
supplied him with a large map of the Town on which he ploted out 'the
location of the residences on each 'farm.
3. The questionnaire was finally resolved. Ail questions
were set up in a very open ended manner. The checking of boxes
and the yes-no, type of question were avoided. In general,, it is
found that a much more accurate answer is ~iven if the question
is aksed and left for the participant~to answer in his own words.
questionnaire consisted of the following questions:
1. Age of farmer?
2. Nativity of farmer?
3. Ethnic background?
4. Number of sons?
5. What the farmers feel is the biggest drawback infarming
today?
HOw can farm land preservation be carried out effectively?
7. Why do farmers leave farming?
8. What happens to the land after they leave?
9. Would they remain if some sort of program for preservation
was developed?
10. Who is leaving? Why?
11. Who is staying?
12. What they think abou~keeping farming going?
13. Would they stay if a program was developed?
Age of ~armer?
6% - 70 or over
24% - 60's
32% - 50's
28% - 40'~s
4% - 30~s
6% - 20's
Over half of the farmers in Southold ToWn are from 40-59, about
are in their 60'~s,
2. Nativity of farmer?
88% of the farmers in Southold Town are natives of Southold
Town, 4% are from outside of Scuthold Town~ but natives of Suffolk
County, 3% are natives of Nassau County~ 2% are European born,
$outhold Town Planr~jg Board -3- ~ugust 10, 1970
Ethnic background?
62% East Auropean background - 56% polish, 4% Lithuanian,
2% Ukranian
20% British I~les - English
7% German
10% mixed origin
1% unknown
Number of sons -
34% of the farmers have no sons
28% - 1
25% - 2
7% - 3
4% - 4
2% - 5
Reqional Breakdown
6 - farm operations in Orient
2 - " " " East Marion
1 - " " " Greenport
20 - " " " Southold
14 - " " " Peconic
40 - " " " Cutchogue
10 - " " " East Mattituck
7 - " " " West Mattituck
Size of Farms
2% - 300+ acres
12% - 200+ acres
42% - 100-199 acres
30% - 50-99 acres
6% - 25-49 acres
4% - under 25 acres
Types of farms in. re'fe~e~ce to crop~
50% -- potatoes, few vegetables
30% - potatoes only
6% - vegetables & berries
7% - vegetables,~ berries, & potatoes
Labor -
20 farm operations said that they hired no helps all labor
done entirely on a family basis.
6 farm operations said that they exchanged labor with other
farmers.
SoutholdTown Plann,_~gBoard -4- ~lJAugust 10~. 1970
72% said that they would hire more local people if they could
get ~them,~ but they would have to know how to do things,
20% said that they would not
2% were undecided
There is an estimated total of 283 workers -
54 - year round locals
73 - seasonal locals
156+ or about 55% are seasonal workers mainly from Puerto Rico.
The farmers were asked if they anticipated any change in the
size of theI~ farm for the coming year: 43% - no change
24% - Plan to increase the size of their farm. ~
14%- " " decrease " " " " -
Pro.~$c~Q~or chang~ in type of production for the coming year:
33 1/3%
18%
9%
ll%
- no change
- more potatoes~, less vegetables
- more vegetables
- no vegetables
Proj~ection forchange in marketing procedures .for the comi~q year:
65 - no change
7 - plan different procedures
Farming trends~ in general~ for the near future:
54 - no change
22 - undecided
2 - plan to build more storage
Biggest Drawbacks. in Farming~Tgday
47% - low returns - due to selling on a supply-demand basis
46~
can't
- Welfare taking away prospective workers;
& local industry for workers.
29% - rising production costs - more pesticides needed because
of increase in insects
19% - rising taxes
3% - interference of do-gooders, such as Health Dept.,, Conservation
Dept.~. and other govt. agencies.
$outhold'Town Plann_~g Board
-5-
~,~ugust 10, 1970
Reasons for leavin9 farminq:
financial,, labor problems, age,f health,~ disgusted-selling Out,.
developing the farms.
Preservinq~ Farmland:
about 2/3 of the farmers said yes, farm land should be preserved
14%- no
8% - no opinion
12% - would not answer
~ethods of preservinq farm~andt in the ~armer's ~pinion:
24%~answered better returns
24~ " tax relief
23~would not respond
6~said that it should bepreserved~, but did not know how.
5~more and better labor
3~organization amongst the farmers
37~negative easements
82% said that they would be willing be stay in farming if
a farm land preservation program were developed~
3% said that they would not
15% were uncertain
6% of 'the ~armers said that they were definitely going out
of farming this year
22%plan to leave farming by 1975a if conditions do not improve
4~ are uncertain
33% stated that they are in for life
The, foregoing minutes were~ompiled from an oral report given
by Dr. Jose~/a Sullivan~ The pf~i~inary report to be submitted by
Dr. Sullivan will duffer from this report in reference to organization,.
andthere m~y be a slight difference in percentages and number of
responses.
Dr. SUllivan advised the Board that he plans to'submit a
preliminary written report by the end of August.
Respectfully submitted,i
Wick'ham, Chairman
Betty Nevillea Secretary
Southold Town Planning Board