A meeting of the Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency's board got heated last week when a local dairy farmer chastised the IDA for not doing more to help struggling farmers. The Sullivan County Democrat reports:
[Sullivan County Farm Network] co-founder Cindy Gieger, a Jeffersonville dairy farmer, asked the IDA Board to consider more ways it can help struggling farmers – the kind that otherwise face imminent closure of their businesses.
Those farms, she said, are the bedrock foundation for a host of support businesses.
“We need to remain viable at the bottom,” Gieger remarked. “... We have all these businesses that – without us – they’re done!”
The board seemed supportive, but the atmosphere turned slightly sour when Gieger related the results of her search of the IDA’s website.
“I have a list of 68 IDA projects,” she explained, “and not one has reached directly to a farm.”
She also criticized the revolving loan fund, saying it has “historically failed farmers because they cannot take on any more loans.”
IDA Executive Director Jennifer Brylinski exhibited a rare moment of anger, frustratedly replying that the IDA has increasingly dedicated most of its resources to enhancing agriculture in the county.
“In the last three years, we’ve turned our total focus on agriculture,” Brylinski noted. “We’ve put every penny we’ve had into agriculture!”
The story also notes that the long-hoped-for Liberty slaughterhouse project is moving slowly through the design process, a local farmer wants to build a "Ben and Jerry's-type creamery" in the county, and the Catskill Distilling Company at the Dancing Cat Saloon in Bethel is slated to open its doors soon.
