New York's Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced initiatives to support farmers across the state to reduce energy costs, improve business operations and enhance environmental planning.
Governor Cuomo has inked a legislation that supports farmers to install anaerobic digesters, which will convert farm waste to sustainable energy, This will help farmers to meet waste disposal needs and nutrient recycling challenges, while helping them lower their energy bills.
The legislation has also increased anaerobic digesters' limit to 1,000KW that are eligible for 15 year real property tax exemptions.
In addition, the Department of Agriculture and Markets along with the Department of Environmental Conservation is set to launch the Dairy Acceleration Program (DAP) and is expected to provide $1m in funding to help dairy farmers develop individualized business and environmental plans.
The New York government noted that the farmers will be able to adopt the expertise of the Cornell Cooperative Extension network, Cornell PRO-DAIRY and other agricultural programs to facilitate and grow their business and in turn increase production on their farms, under DAP.
New York state Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said, "Over the past two and a half years we have worked hard to support the growth of our already vibrant agriculture industry, including cutting burdensome regulations and helping small dairy farms expand their herds.
"Today's actions will enable dairy farmers to better plan for future expansions as well as reduce the costs for installing environmentally-friendly waste to energy digesters."
