As low milk prices force North Country farmers struggle to make ends meet Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne, D-Theresa, suggested the state's agriculture industry should be given a higher priority in the state's economic development initiatives.

Jenne, who represents all St. Lawrence communities along the Seaway as well as Potsdam and Canton, said agriculture has not been a focus during the regional economic development program process.

"Looking at the economic development programs less than stellar record upstate, I'd like to see dairy farmers win the competition and get $100 million of support," Jenne said.

"My biggest concern is the price of milk is so low right now they can't even hire the minimum wage employees if they need. They are currently not getting paid what it costs them to produce their milk," she said.

"That can't be sustainable, we must do something to stabilize our farmers' bottom lines. We are at a crisis point. When our farms are doing well in the North Country, our communities are doing well," Jenne added, suggesting a state funded premium for quality might be a necessity for the dairy industry in the state.

She made her comments during New York State Agriculture and Market Commissioner Richard Ball's appearance before the joint budget hearing committee Monday in Albany.

Commissioner Ball said the challenges facing the dairy issue are not limited to the state.

"It's not just a New York State issue or a Northeast issue. It's a global issue," he testified.

The ag and markets commissioner said current milk prices are a reflection of less milk being purchased from the United States by China and growing dairy production in New Zealand and the European Union.

"Suddenly we had an oversupply of milk," Commissioner Ball said, pointing out market forecasts call for a slight increase in milk prices in the coming year to a level that will be slightly higher than the cost of production.

He said national and international polices continue to create challenging scenarios for the dairy industry. The ag and markets commissioner pointed out 25 percent of the dairy products produced in the United States are exported to Mexico. He also noted new Canadian regulations that would exclude some dairy products produced in New York being shipped into Canton will also have an impact.

"In the long term, I think we will be okay. We're still in the right place in New York State. We have good dairy farmers, good land and good access to water," Commissioner Ball said.

The assemblywoman suggested that high quality standards are one way to position New York for additional processing investments and stronger exports.

Jenne, sharing concerns that were also raised by State Senator Patty Ritchie, also voiced concerns the executive budget either removes all funding or calls for significant cuts to a number of local assistance programs that are critically important to the agriculture industry.

The executive budget, for example, chops funding for the North Country Farm to School program, $200,000 from the North Country Agriculture Studies Academy offered through St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES, $25,000 from the North Country Low Cost Rabies Vaccine Program and $600,000 for NNY Ag Development.

The executive budget also calls for cutting funding for the NY Farm Viability Institute from $1.9M to $400K and the Maple Producers Association from $215,000 to $0.

Ball said many of those programs had also been cut in the 2016-17 budget process, but funding levels had been restored during the budget negotiations with the state Senate and state Assembly. He said he looked forward with working through the budget process again this year with the state legislators.

He also acknowledged the state's agriculture industry could be impacted in the coming year by any changes in federal immigration policy. He said there are estimates that approximately 50 percent of the farm workers in the state are undocumented immigrants.