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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgriculture Survey 1970A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON A SURVET OF AGRICULTURE IN SOUTHOLD TOWN: 1970 SULLIVAN Augas t4 1970 A 'PR~T.IMINARY REPORT ON A SURVEY OF AGRICULTURE IN SOUTHOLD TOWN: 1970 J.P. Sullivan August, 1970 PART I - INTRODUCTION Southold is a rural town located on the North Fork of east- ern Long Island. Agriculture and fishing have been ~he economic mainstaYs~Of.the town for more than three centuries~oI~ the 20th century tourism has become a major economic activity, Toumism has brought many changes to the. landscape of South- old. Cbmmercial facilities have multiplied and expanded to serve the tourist trade° Many tourists, particularly retired persons, have eventually become permanent town residents. Increased resi- dential development has created a need for increased municipal services. The tourists and newer peri,anent residents are the first ripples of a tide of urban development which has swept the western and central thirds of Long Island during the present century° This tide is likely to cre~t in eastern Long Island ring the next decade or two. The conversion of farm land to urban land uses has been one of the more conspicuous consequences of urban development in western and central Long Island. This phenomenon is already visible in Southold Town on a smaller scale. A ride thmough the town will reveal housing developments sprouting in former pota- to .fields, idle fields of rye grass bending before the winds of change, and many fields, both active and inactive, which contain for sale signs bearing the' names of realtors from western Suffolk Oounty What is happening to agriculture in Southold Town and what is the futume .of. agric~.!ture, in the town, tikely to be? These questions have been asked often in recent years. A Oornell Uni- versity study, conducted in 1963, showed that Southold had 145 'farms and 12,~55. acres of land in farms.1 In the Spring of 1970 the town government decided to gain a cu~ren~.~erspective on Southold agriculture. Thus, this ~survey began. Survey Objectives The objectives of this study were to describe the present characteristics of farmers and farm operations in Southold Town and to obtain information about the views and plans of Southold farmers concerning the future of agriculture in the town. More specifically, this study sought to collect personal lo Allee, David Agriculture As A Land USe (Preliminary Report: Southold Town Planning Studies), Comnell University, 1966 data about each farmer's age, nativity~ ethnic origins, and tho nu~aber and ages of his sons° InfoEuation collected concerning farm operations inoluded~ their total number~ distributional pattern, size, proportion and sources of rented land, and number and sources of employed workers. In Addition, data was gathered on recent and anticipated future trends in farm size, types and methods of production, and marketing procedures. Finally, the views and plans of fa~;mers regarding'the future of agriculture in Eouthold Town were explored° Each farmer was asked to iden- tify the drawbacks associated with farming on Long Island today, to estimatethe number of years that ho planned to continue farming, to register his opinion as tb whether or not Southold's remaining farm lands should be preserved~ to. suggest how such action'might be accomplished, and to indicate whether or not he would stay farming if some satisfactory program of farmland preservation were developed.. Definition of Terminology What is a farm and who is a farmor~ These seemingly simple questions are actually q~ite complex. The following definitions were arbitrarily devised° Farm'Operation - a tract'of 'land, 5 acres'Or'more in Size, used to commercially produce plant or animal products for human consumption. I 1o This definition omits intensive, high-value forms of amenity agriculture su~ch as nurseries and flower growing.'Southold has about"a half dozen amenity agricultu~e operations. These forms of agricultU~e are likely to become more s~gnifican~ elements of Southold~s agricultural scene in the near future. Farm'Ope~ator'- any person who operates a farm as defined above, Methodology The study objectives were clearly formulated. A question- naire was designed according to an open-ended question format° This type questionnaire is more difficult to evaluate but it pro- vides a greater opportunity for original replies by respondents. In addition, such a format is better, suited to a casual personal interview situation where the interviewer and respondent are not bound by precise t~me limits. A list of farmers was compiled by cross-checking the mem- bership list of the Suffolk County Extension Service, the per- sonal knowledge.of Town Bu~!ding~nspector H~w~d Terry, and the customer lists of Agway Representatives Bill Terry and John oleski. To protect the p~Ivacy of individual farmers, each fa~- met was assigned an identification number which was to be affix- ed to the questionnaire at the time'of the interview. With the aid of Inspector Terry the distribution of farm operators was plotted on a town map. Then, on the basis of this distributional pattern and local physical and human settlement patterns, Southoid was divided into seven fa~ming districts. I. A s~mple questionnaire is fotmd in the Appendix of this ~eport. (5) These districts are: Orient, East Marion-Greenport, So~thold, Peconic, Cutchogue, East Mattituck~ and West Mattituck. Supervisor Martocchia provided this writer with a letter of introduction which explained the nature of the sumvey and which requested that the farmers cooperate to the best of their abilities. This letter proved to be very helpfulo Field work was conducted~by moving from east to west with- in each farm district, starting with Orient. Three complete sweeps were made in each district in order to interview as many farmers as possible. The ideal almwas to complete a hundred percent sample. Nearly 95 percent of the farm operators were con- 1 tactedo About~-8~ percent responded to the questionnaire. PART II - FI~INGS General There are about 100 farm operations in $outhold .Town. The number of operators is in the vicinity of 130.2 An estimated 9,331 acres of land are currently being fa~d.3 About sixty percent (5,0~0 acres) of this amou=ut is rented land~4 1. This approach was more time consuming and expensive than a smaller sample. However~ it is more complete and informative. 2. This estimate includes various Combinations of male relatives. 3. About lO,O00 acres would be more accurate because'an undeter- mined number of Riverhead farmers farm Southold land. ~. Most of this rented land is owned by'Southold residents. (6) Regional Distribution of Farms £arming district East Marion-Greenpo~t ... Southold ... ............ . Cutehogue ........... ~... East Mattltuok ..... o.... West Mattituek o.~....... 3. 10 7 Age of Southold Farmers years' percent hO~9 ...... . ............ '28 Nativity place pePcen~ Southold Town ............ 88 Elsewhere Suffolk County . ~ Nassau County .. ..... ..... 3 Elsewhere USA ..... ....... 3 Europe ... ......... ....... ~ I. includes a farmer originally from B~ooklyn (7) Ethnic Origins region East Europe percent 62 including .....o.o...... Polish Lithuanian Ukrainian British Isles 2O including ... ......... .o. English I~tsh German 7 Mixed. Origins (largely from above groups) 10 Sons FarmeFs,~.n~g ........... pereent none .. ..... .. ..... ~o....o 34 2 .°.o........oo .... .oo., 25 $ ....................... 4 5 or more ............... * The majority of sons are in the under 20, and 20 - 29 age g~oups~ The former a~e more numerous, while most ~f the latter have not chosen farming aS a caree~o Size acres .300 + ................... 200-299 ................. 100-199 ................. ~0-99 .................. 25-49 .................. unde~ 2% ................ percent 2 30 mostly potatoes~ some vegetables .............. potatoes only .......... . vegetables and be~ries .. potatoes~ vegetables~and berries ... .............. diversified ............. sod and potatoes ........ eggs .................... othe~ ............... ,... percent 5O 30 ? 1 i 1. The final report will contain town and district data on the percent o~'~a'rm operations having rentod~Iand, and summaries of the numbers of farms having various proportions of, ~ented land. (97 Labor 20 farm operations employed no hired labor. In addition, 6 farm operators said that they exchanged labor with neighbors. The total number of farm workers employed for the 1970 season is estimated at 30.0..' About 57 percent are sea- sonal non-residents, mair~y fro~ Puerto Rico. About 25 percent are seasonally ez~ployed local residents, while the remaining 18 percent are local residents employed on a year round basls~ 72 percent of the farmers said that they would employ more local'help - if qualified, willing, ~ocal help were available. 20 percent said they would not hire any more local help. Farmers need workers who are able to operate tractors and other machinery. In addition, farmers desire willing, able work~ ers who can work with a minimum of supervision and instruction~ However~ given the relatively low returns received for farm products, farmers can not afford to pay wages and offer benefitm comparable to what employees in nonwfarm occupations receive. In addition, most farm Jobs are of variable, temporary duration. As a result, many farmers .believe that they are only able to attract marginal workers. Suggestion - establish an evening agricultural training program to instruct local residents in the skills required of (lO) modern farm employees. Active and inactive farmers might serve on the staff. Such a program could provide a pool of local, qualified farm workers who could seek part-t4me farm work to supplement their non-farmoccupatlonSo The town government or a group of farmers could organize and operate a local employ- ment service to find workers for fa~z~rs and work for workers as needed~ Trends in Southold Agriculture - The Past 10 Years, farm size no change ..... larger (by renting) smaller ....... . type production no change ...... 36 more vegetables,~ 1 out of vegetables 11 more potatoes, lesa vegetables ...... 18 other . .......... 7 production methods combine for potatoes no change .......... 33 more potato storage ~0o of,responses largely du~ to labor problems (!I) Trends - The Past i0 Yearns (con, t) ~rketing · ~uo change .. ~....... Trend~ - The Neap Future no changes anticipated undecided ............. . build ~ore potato ~to~ag~ de~rease size o£ farm ... haut own produce to ~t. ~ will adapt am necassa~y .o 2 2 2 D~awbacks Associated With Farming on L.I. Today drawback ~o. ~espo~$e~ low returns . ........... ~7 labo~ situation o ........ 46/ ~ising production cost~ . 29 high taxem ..... ...... ... ~9 * The section on trends is, perhaps, the least satis- factory portion of this study° Par~ of the pmoblemmay ile 'in the fact that the respondonts did not have quata time to me,leer on ~he qu~stiorm re%atlng to pass changes. Drawbacks (con' t) A smaller numb®r of farmers mentioned various factors which may be as, or more, significant as the factors identi- fied by the majority of farmers. For~example: insects appear to be getting to be more of a problem and greater varieties and quantities of pesticides and other chemicals, are needed for insect control. farmers have no voice in selling on a supply-demand basis is a hazard. ~.. there is not enough competition between produce welfare programs d~ain away potential labor. the pubilo is not sufficiently ~wame of the problems that fa~s'faee. local farmers are not organized° They seem incapable of oooperationo rising land values force many farmers to qutto interference of various sorts of '~dO-gooders", such as the health department and conservationists creates tensions. over-generous yield forecasts published by government agencies contribute to the low returns which farmers receive for rheim crops~ (13) Should Southold's Remaining FarmLands Be Preserved? response percent yes ..................... 66 undecided ............ .... 8 no response ............. 12 How Might The Remaining Fa~m Lands Be Kept In Production? response numbe~ higher returns .......... 24 tax relief ............... 2~ no response ..... ....... .. 23 don't:know ............... more and better labor .... 5 farmers organiz$ and control production ...... . stable prices ............ 3 buy land, rent it back to those wanting to farm ..... elect agricultural-minded government representatives 1 average tax retumns of farm- ers over 5 year periods ..o negative easements .... .... 1 (14) How many More Years Do You Plan To Farm? response percent less than 5 years ....... 28 uncertain .............. . 39 as long as able ......... 33 (all 10 years or more) * To protect.the privacy of individual farmers, the map showing the present and projected future distribution farm operations will be kept cor~idential. If some Satisfactory Program of Farm Land Preservation Were Developed Would You Stay Farming? response percent yes .................... 82 uncertain .............. 15 SUMMARY AED CONCLUSIONS The number of farms and the amount of land in fazes in Southold Town are declining. Further decline can be expected in the near future. About a third of the farmers can be ex- pected to leave farming within the next 5 years. However, nearly a third of the farmers plan to remain in farming as long as they are able. ~oout two-thirds believe that Southold's remaining farm lands should be preserved. More than 80 percent indicate that they would probably Stay~ farming if some satisfactoz-y program of farm land preservation were de- vised. Despite the fact that many sons of farmers are either too young to fai~a in the near futume~ or appear to be entering non-farm careers, there is an ample ~upply of willing and able farmers in Southold Town. On the negative sids~ the supply of farmland is limited. Of the nearly 10,000 acres of farm land currently being worked in $outhoid Town, about 60 percent is rented land. Further. more, the current agricultural scene is characterized by an ex- tremely fragmented pattern of rented and owned farm land which is an obstacle to efficient farming operations° As urban devel- opment continues, rental land will probably become more scarce and expensive and the distributional pattern of rental lands can be expected'to become more fragmented. Farmers who depend heavily on rented land will be faced with severe operational difficulties which may eventually force them to leave farming. Fai~ming has all but ceased in the East Marion-Greenport district. The Southold and Mattituck districts appear likely to develop within the next I0 years because of a lack of opera- tors who plan to stay in farming for a decade or longer. The Cutchogue~ Peconic, and Orient districts show promise of re- maining in agriculture for a longer period of time, because these area~ have a large number of operators who are intent on rem-ining in fai~ing for as long as possible. Also, these latter I districts contain fairly large blocks of contiguous farm land. However, the future of agriculture in Southold Town is not bright if good intentions are the only plans with which the local farmers attempt to meet the future° Cooperation and innovation will be necessa~y for those who desire to remain in farming. In addition, non-farmers can not expect that farmers will be able to remain in fa~mlng, against overwhelming odds, unless some form of public encouragement develops. A formal program of farm land preservation will be needed if Southold Town im to retain agriculture as a major landscape feature. The exact nature of such a program needs to be care- fully explored. Many farmers dread the thought of any formal program of farm land preservation because they fear that their one ace in the hole - the sale value of their land - will be taken away. The c~ux of the matter is that some way must be found to adequately and fairly compensate the i~edlate, short- range needs of the farmers~ while providing for the long-range aims and needs of this and future generations of Southolders. There is an air of urgency about this and so many other environmental issues. Time is not on our side. Yet, we can'not plan for the future without attempting to anticipate the impli- cations of our.ac%ions. However, the longer we delay in resol- ving environmental issues, the more ex~ensive, difficult, and, I, These thoughts are nothing more than subjective projection of current trends and should be regarded as such° perhaps, impossible will be .the solutions. If agricultume is to remain a dominant feature of.the cultural landscape of Southold Town some p~og~am of farm land preservation will be needed to p~event fu~the~ erosion and f~agmentation of existing blocks of farm land and to assist in the consolidation of diverse farm holdings. A majority of the lacquers say that Southold's remaining farm lands should be saved° What about the othe~ residents of the town? The government and people of Southeld Town are strongly u~ged to explore and decide the issue~of farm land preservation. If you do not,'the issue will likely be decided by default. J.Po Sullivan August 24, 1970 APPENDiX: SAEPLE QUESTIONNAIRE Number AGRICULTURAL SURVEY: SOUTHOLD TOWN Personal Data lo age years 2. Southold native? if no, native of: 3. ethnic origins? 4. n~mber of sons? Summer 1970 county , state country their ages? Farm Data 6. total size of farm operation? (including rented land) 7e tenure: acres owned acros rented a) fmc a local resident b) i~o an absentee owner c) to another farmer aores. 8. total number of workers e~uployed? local, seasonal out-o f-town~ seasonal local, yro ro~ud 9. Would you hire more local labor, if it were available? i0. What do you produce on~ou~ farm? Estimate acres devoted to each type of production~ product est. acres I1. k~ere and how do you ~arke% yo~ produce? 12. During the past'10 years did you make a~y cha~s in the following: (if yes, please elaborate) fa~u size type of production production methods marketing 13o Do you anticipate any Changes in these areas during the next few years? (elaborate) Views and Plans 14. Why did you become a farmer? 15. What do you like most about farming? 16. In your opinion, what are the drawbacks associated with farming on LeZ, today? 17, How many more years do you plan to farm? years (estimate) (3) 18~ If you are leaving farming, why? will become of youm land when you leave~farming? 20. Should Southoid' s remaining farm lands be preserved? 21o How? 22° If a sat'isfactor~y program of farm land preservation were developed,, would you stay farming? Additional Comments .............