Local farmers show off their award winning crops at the 2022 Chenango County Fair. Despite agriculture’s relative success compared to other industries during the pandemic, local farming advocates have long said there are more pressing issues jeopardizing farming in Chenango County, such as high taxes, low profits, and a lack of interest to take over family-run farms. (Photo by Tyler Murphy)

CHENANGO COUNTY – New data released by the New York State Comptroller shows the farming industry statewide has withstood the COVID-19 pandemic better than most.

According to the comptroller’s report, New York agriculture produced roughly $3.3 billion in gross domestic product and paid close to $1 billion in wages in 2021.

Compared to a statewide annual employment loss of 8.7 percent when the pandemic started, the agricultural sector lost just 1 percent of jobs in 2020 – the result of declining employment in both animal and crop production. However, employment crept back up in 2021, almost reaching pre-pandemic levels.

The report also finds that total wages paid by New York farms has increased. Pay had been steadily increasing up to and through the pandemic, and while farmers took a slight hit in 2020, wages rebounded in 2021.

New state wage standards for farm workers also took effect in 2020, requiring that farmhands be paid overtime for labor over 60 hours per week and lowering the threshold at which farmers are required to provide unemployment insurance coverage for their workers. Crop and animal production in 2021 combined to provide $970.2 million in wages statewide.

Although the report doesn’t give a complete overview of farms’ performance throughout the pandemic, the NYS Comptroller’s Office says it shows “the resilience of agriculture and the importance of farming as a support for the New York State economy, even during times of hardship.”

Despite agriculture’s relative success compared to other industries during the pandemic, local farming advocates have long said there are more pressing issues jeopardizing farming in Chenango County. According to the Chenango County Department of Planning and Development, there’s a three-pronged threat facing area farmers: high taxes, low profits, and a lack of interest to take over family-run farms.

In the Chenango County 2021 farmland and protection plan, the county’s planning department highlights a decline in local farming over the last decade. Farmland makes up for 148,982 acres in the county, producing about 1 percent of state agriculture sales. The county’s plan cites 2017 USDA Ag Census data which shows the number of farms in Chenango County has fallen to 770 – a decrease from 828 in 2012, 908 in 2007, and 960 in 2002.

The concern over farm loss worsens as older farmers get out of the business. Fewer than 90 of the county’s total 1,271 farmers are under the age of 35, according to the USDA 2017 ag census. More than 420 are over the age of 65.

Roughly 23 percent of New York State’s total land area is in agricultural use. The state comptroller’s office notes that farms contribute to food security in their communities, an important benefit in light of pandemic-era disruption in supply chains.