Lets Farm

Farm brewery bill seeks to revive New York's golden era of hop production

Independent Democrats in the Senate offer ways to grow rural economy, including making beer

By JIMMY VIELKIND Capitol bureau

Published 12:01 a.m., Thursday, May 19, 2011

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Farm-brewery-bill-seeks-to-revive-New-York-s-1385973.php#ixzz1NBbgj5VPALBANY -- If you brew it, they will guzzle.

That's an important piece of a pro-agriculture agenda announced Wednesday by the state Senate's Independent Democratic Conference. Calling agriculture "the backbone of the New York economy," they described bills to help preserve farms and let them grow.

"It is not only essential that we work to actively promote our family farms, but that we also seek ways to make sure they continue to prosper and grow, " said Sen. David Carlucci, D-Rockland County.

He's sponsoring a bill that would give restaurateurs a tax credit equal to 10 percent of the costs of any produce they buy made in New York, branded with the "Pride of New York" label already promulgated by the Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Other bills would make it easier to get financing for farm improvements, allow economic development money to be used for facilities upgrades at farmers markets and make it easier for farmers to sell electricity generated by methane or other means back to the grid.

And then there's the farm brewery bill. Hoping to revive what was once a thriving region for hops production around Cooperstown and throughout the Southern Tier, a bill sponsored by Sen. David Valesky, D-Syracuse, would create a special license for farm brewers.

Currently, large-scale breweries are licensed by a more stringent mechanism. Farm brewers could brew and sell beer -- up to 15,000 barrels a year -- provided they use a certain percentage of hops grown on their own property in the process.

"We grew an awful lot of hops in New York state at one time," said Julie Suarez, director of public policy for the Farm Bureau. "We think farm brewery licenses is one of the key pieces of legislation that will allow some of our farmers to have a little bit more diversification, because guys will spend a lot more money for beer than they will for sweet corn, or onions."

Assemblyman Bill Magee, a Democrat, co-sponsors the farm brewery measure. A vote has not been scheduled in either chamber.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Farm-brewery-bill-seeks-to-revive-New-York-s-1385973.php#ixzz1NBbMAdc7