MAURICE HINCHEY

a Valley Table interview

Issue 43 (Oct/Nov 08)

[Copyright © 2008, The Valley Table]

He was a New York State Assemblyman for 18 years (1975-93), now an eight-term Representative from New York's 22nd District, which stretches from the Hudson Valley to the Finger Lakes. He cut his teeth on environmental issues while in Albany (he was chair of the Committee on Environmental Conservation for 14 years). He counts the creation of the Hudson River Valley Greenway as one of his crowning achievements and a major step in his efforts to get the valley to "think regionally." He's continued his zeal in the House, where he's well known as a friend of the environment. In his first term he initiated and successfully led the effort to preserve Sterling Forest, and he introduced the legislation that created the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. He also gets a nod from farmers for his support of small family farms, open space preservation and economic incentives in support of both. If you're counting the feathers in his hat, add the most recent award from the American Farm Bureau, in September. Whew. Now seeking a ninth term in the House, Maurice Hinchey's perspective on the Hudson Valley probably is broader than anyone's, which is why we asked him to join us in a conversation.

Maurice Hinchey: My motivation is driven by a very clear understanding of this valley--how really beautiful it is, how wonderful it is and how great it has been.

My mother's parents had a farm up in Saugerties and my father's parents had a summer home in Saugerties. From the time I was an infant, we traveled up the valley by train or by boat--I remember being on one of those boats, traveling up the river.

For 14 years I chaired the Environmental Conservation Committee of the State Assembly. I was able to drive a lot of environmental efforts to clean up the river. When I first went into office, people were very happy to have their backs facing the Hudson River--now everybody wants to look at it, embrace it, travel on it. It's such a dramatic change.

The Hudson River used to be thought of mainly as a dividing line; that view is transforming to one that sees the river as a unifying factor for the entire region. Our challenge now is to intelligently manage future growth.

We've used federal resources in the New York City Watershed to fund programs that protect land, encourage best management practices for logging and farming in order to protect water quality, and fund value-added product initiatives so our communities can balance environmental protection with sustainable economic development. I have also requested federal funding this year to support cooperative conservation planning along the Shawangunk Ridge Scenic Byway.

The growth in the Hudson Valley has challenged us and raised important concerns, including loss of farmland and open space; limited infrastructure (transportation, water, waste, schools, energy); issues of affordability in some communities; increased traffic congestion and impacts on groundwater resources and other critical environmental resources.

VT: Growth, "smart" or otherwise, will inevitably have an impact on agriculture in the region. Like many areas in the east, the Hudson Valley has, for many years, seen a decline in the number of farms and working farmland. Can Hudson Valley farms survive?

MH: We're in one of the great agricultural areas of our country--New York is still one of the largest agricultural producers in America. When you talk to people in other parts of the country and you say you're from New York, they think that you're from some place that is just concrete and blacktop--they don't think of it as agricultural. New York continues to rank high in production of apples, grapes and wines, and the Hudson Valley is one of the centers of production for these products.

We see a host of positive trends: increases in small farm operations that sell direct to consumers; increased value-added products (such as the proposed red meat-processing facility in Liberty), increased consumer interest in buying locally produced products, and growing niche markets for grass-fed livestock, organic and certified naturally grown products.

On the state level, we've seen a commitment to provide some funding for farmland protection and "buy local" campaigns. Local governments have responded with varying levels of commitment to protect open space and agricultural lands. Unfortunately, we have watched many communities lose valuable and productive farmland for new housing tracts ("McMansions"), shopping centers and other development.

Too often, the existing local planning and zoning codes trap us into patterns of development that leave us with sprawling, car-dependent communities and diminished open space rather than vibrant, walkable communities like those built before World War II.

In my district, I've seen some communities, such as the Towns of Montgomery, Crawford, Gardiner and New Paltz, as well as Orange County government, respond proactively by allocating funding to programs that keep working farms viable while protecting these lands for future generations. Local communities and county governments contribute to the protection of open space by setting aside funding for the purchase of development rights, for example, or working with other municipalities to improve land-use planning along shared environment resources, like the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster or Wappingers Creek in Dutchess.

Unfortunately, the federal commitment to farmland protection and open space conservation has dramatically diminished during the last seven and a half years. While the president cut programs, I've fought to protect and increase vital funding streams that go to the state and local communities, such as the Land and Water Conservation program, Farmland Protection Program and Agricultural Conservation Programs through the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

VT: In the past year, Congress finally passed the farm bill-legislation that affects everything from school lunches to farm subsidies and disaster relief to tax incentives for private property owners. Everyone, it seems, had a stake in the bill, but few outside of the loop even heard of it, and fewer still have any idea of how far reaching it is. Historically, it has been very friendly to the huge, corporate agribusineses. You supported the bill--are there significant changes?

MH: This new farm bill begins to move our country in a better direction. Washington has been focusing on the "big [five]"--wheat, rice, corn, cotton and soybeans. That's what the big, wealthy farmers--the corporate agricultural interests--have been driving for many decades.

We're changing that a little bit. I'm a member of the Appropriations Committee and the [Agriculture] Subcommittee--we negotiate the agricultural appropriations--and I was able to get an amendment passed which focused attention, for the first time, nationally, on fruits and vegetables. For decades, growers of specialty crops were not treated fairly and did not formally receive any assistance when disasters struck and critically damaged yields. These commodities were finally added to the programs a few years ago, and extended through the most recent farm bill. Now, specialty crops like apples and other fruit grown in the Hudson Valley are formally covered by disaster assistance programs.

The focus of the bill is much more on the type of farms that are found in New York, including dairy, fruit and smaller crops like maple syrup and berries, rather than simply on industrial agribusiness, as in past farm bills. The farm bill extends and expands on the much-needed pricing program for New York's dairy farmers--the program is essential in protecting dairy farm families when the price of milk falls below the cost of production. (We succeeded in allocating funds to The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which provides funding that will allow 25 schools in 42 states to continue to provide a fresh fruit or vegetable snack at no cost to students throughout the 2008-09 school year to improve health.)

In the same way, we need to protect and preserve open space here in the Hudson Valley--it's absolutely, critically important to our future. Most of that open space is for agricultural purposes. With the cost of food going up so much, within the next few years it is going to be critically important to have agricultural products (fruit and vegetables particularly) grown in areas that are close to where we live so we have comfortable access to them. We are very fortunate that we have all this agricultural land here--we've got to support these farmers, we've got to support the maintenance and continuation of agriculture because it is essential for the maintenance of our health and life. We'll see what happens; I hope that, with a new administration, we can refocus attention and make protecting family farms a priority in future budgets.

VT: But what about "agricultural development"--isn't that part of "economic development?" They're certainly not mutually exclusive.

MH: Government certainly plays a role in the future of agriculture in the Hudson Valley, but this future also will be determined by the residents. In choosing to eat local food, we are supporting a local agricultural economy; we are putting our money into the scenic views that define this historic region; we are reconnecting with local farmers and regaining control over what has become a faceless and globalized system dominated by a few large corporations. Eating local food, supporting local land trusts, pushing local governments to assist farms and invest in open space will be critical if we are to avoid the type of destructive sprawl that has overwhelmed parts of our state and other states.

We know that state and local governments have an important role to play, but federal policies and federal programs do, in fact, make a critical difference. One small example is the Conservation Easement Tax Incentive that Congress provided for local landowners who were interested in protecting their land. (This incentive expired at the end of 2007 but was renewed in the farm bill until the end of 2009.) I am an original cosponsor of legislation to make this federal tax credit permanent--it's been enormously successful in helping private landowners keep agricultural lands in productive use, protecting important fish and wildlife habitats and conserving our scenic and historic heritage.

VT: Right now, at least the short-term economy looks like gloom and doom. Overall, then, how does the future of the Hudson Valley look, economically?

MH: The economic circumstances that have been set up by this president are absolutely outrageous. We send huge amounts of money to Saudi Arabia; we borrow huge amounts of money from China. Our national debt is now at record levels--this year we're experiencing the largest budget deficit in the history of the country. We're importing 70 percent of the oil that we use from outside the country. The cost of that importation this year is anticipated to be $500 billion-American dollars going outside the country.

There's a strong possibility we're going to be able to advance a new economic development program for the Hudson Valley. It's based upon an industrial revolution [that will] move us away from our dependence on fossil fuels and toward renewable and sustainable energy.

We have set up a not-for-profit corporation called the Solar Energy Consortium. Our expectation is that, over the next two to three years, we'll have 1,000 jobs here in the Hudson Valley focusing on alternative energy, primarily solar. It's going to make a big difference--a part of the new industrial revolution that has to take place in order to reduce and eventually eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. If we're successful with this alternative energy issue--direct solar, indirect solar, wind and geothermal--it will create new jobs, new industry, new economic growth, new economic development, stop us from throwing so much money outside the country and stop us from having to borrow money from other places.

I am an optimist. If I weren't an optimist I wouldn't be in politics--I wouldn't be trying to do things if I didn't think they could be done. It hasn't been easy these last eight years--it's been a big fight down there, and up here, too.