Fruit Vegetable Grants Awarded, Transparency Appeals Discussed, Quarterly Reviews At WAC Meeting

WALTON - Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) Council of Directors approved several grant awards, discussed transparency appeals received, and heard quarterly review updates for the final quarter of 2023 at the regular meeting on Jan. 23. 

The grant program offers funds for expansion projects up to $5,000 per applicant for fruit and vegetable farmers. Eligible program areas include greenhouse or raised bed expansion, water access, and farm structural additions. In the future, the WAC Economic Viability Committee hopes to fit equipment purchases into the program. The grant opportunity became available for the first time in October 2023, with applications due that November. 

WAC Director Jennifer Grossman announced that 13 applications were received totaling roughly $60,000. Grossman said the number of applications proves what a great need there is for this grant program in watershed communities. The program was originally set to maintain $20,000 in awards but funds were increased to award over $51,000 to 11 farms.

The following farms were awarded funding, $5,000 to East Brook Community Farm, $3,790 to RSK Farm, $5,000 to Snow Hill Farm, $5,000 to Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard, $4,237 to Hymers Farmstand, $4,673 to Indigo Hill Farm, $4,796 to Liberation Farm LLC, $4,773 to Pro Brothers Farm, $4,526 to Russell Maxwell Farm, $4,850 to SPACE on Ryder Farm, and $4,979 to Stony Creek Farmstead LLC.

In another discussion, WAC directors discussed two transparency policy appeals submitted by Colm Ryan. The first appeal dated Oct. 25, 2022, asked for WAC to reconsider the original denial of providing access to the most recent Whole Farm Plan Summary and WFP-2s for every producer participant in WAC best management practices (BMPs) or Whole Farm Plan programs regardless of whether the land is subject to conservation easement or not. This request was granted, with redactions based on exceptions to portions that violate WAC policy which include; any invasion of personal privacy, information therein is derived from information obtained from a commercial enterprise, or are trade secrets, or are exempt from disclosure under federal law. Directors granted the appeal to the extent that the county location of the farm and WAC signature blocks be disclosed while they were previously redacted. The appeal also asked for WAC to produce documents related to prioritization of BMPs for years 2019 through 2023. The request was granted with the same redactions as the previous request.

The second appeal dated Aug. 21, 2023 asked the board to reconsider denial of the request for identifying name, address, and farm ID of every farm or participant in the Whole Farm Plan. The initial request was denied as it was found to be an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy violation on federal law. WAC Executive Director Ryan Naatz said WAC continues to take the position that it is not subject to FOIA laws and disclosure of participant identity is a violation of personal privacy. The board made no motion on this request. The appeal also requested all documents for the years 2022 and 2023 identifying the amount paid or owed by WAC to any attorney who provided advice to WAC regarding any requests for information under its transparency policy. This appeal was granted in its entirety.

WAC directors also heard several departments' quarterly reviews for the final quarter of 2023. Most departments reported meeting or exceeding goals for 2023 including departments of communications, economic viability, agricultural program, easement program, and the East of Hudson program.

John Jackson with the Information and Technology department reported the last quarter was spent working through any issues that arose from the recent hardware and operating systems upgrades. Most of the issues were with the geographic information system, he reported, which was due to it being several updates behind. One major issue, that is now repaired, was with how BMPs are reported in the system. Jackson said some BMPs were being duplicated which could have caused major issues for the program. "We are down to a couple of known issues and bugs that have been identified and we are working on fixes," said Jackson.

WAC has moved to utilizing Microsoft Teams software which Jackson reported staff training will be scheduled shortly.

Director of Operations Amy Faulkner reported WAC is working to fill the Director of the East of Hudson Program after Gibson Durnford resigned in October 2023. It may take a few months to fill the position, she said.

Two positions were filled including agricultural administrative assistant and finance assistant with staff scheduled to start on Feb. 5. The agricultural assistant in procurement of BMPs. The finance assistant is a newly developed position set to assist with preparation of quarterly payment requests.

WAC directors approved several committee appointments. John Verhoeven, Steve Reed, Tom Hutson, Fred Huneke, and Jason Helmbold were appointed to the Governance Committee. Verhoeven, Reed, and Dwight Bruno were appointed to the Audit Committee. Huneke and Marilyn Wyman were appointed to the Audit and Regulatory Committee.

Directors entered into two executive sessions, one for legal counsel and another to hear updates on the negotiations with watershed stakeholders and New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Negotiations are regarding updates and adjustments to DEP land and streamside acquisition programs within the watershed. The report was given by New York State Department of Health representative Patrick Palmer.

The next WAC Council of Directors meeting is scheduled Tuesday, Feb. 27.