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Home My WebLink AboutPB-08/10/1970-S r . o� Southold Town Planning Board p • S O UTH O LD, L. I., N. Y. 11971 PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS John Wickham, Chairman Henry Molsa Alfred Grebe Henry Raynor Frank Coyle SOUTHOLD TOWN 'PLANNING BOARD Special Meeting REPORT OF AGRICULTURAL STUDY by Dr. Joseph Sullivan August 10. 1970 A special meeting of the Planning Board was called to order by the Chairman.. at 8:30 P.M.-,. Monday*; August 10., 1970,, for the purpose of 'receiving an oral report from Dr. Joseph Sullivan on the Agricultural Study conducted by him. All Board members were present', plus , the following persons: James Hi.cky,, Wm. Pollerte, & Harold Smith of -the Southold--Peconic C&vic Association,,' representatives from the League .of Women Voters,,.,, and Supervisor Martocchia. Dr. Sullivan began his report with an outline of the purpose of the study. In general terms the purpose of this study is to find out what is going on with agriculture in the Town of Southold. This study was meant to be a follow up of the Cornell Study which was conducted in 1965. This particular study which Dr. Sullivan is conducting is concerned with the following questions: 1. How many farmers are there in the Town of Southold?. Dr. Sullivan's first attempt to answer this question was through the Extension Service in Riverhead,,, which did not work too well because all of the farmers do not belong to the Extension Service. _ Dr.- .Sullivan reported that he received most of his data on the number of farmers through Agway. Although all- the farmers do not belong to the Extension Service,, the majority of -them have accounts with Agway. Dr. Sullivan 'reported that there are 103 farm operations in the Town of. Southold. L Southold Town Plant j Board -2- August 10,, 1970 2. ' How many farmers are renting land and how. many farmers own their land? There are 9,.400 acres of land being cultivated in the Town of Southold,, 5,,000 acres are rented. Approximately 55-60/ .of the farm land in the Town of Southold is rented land. Dr. Sullivan reported that he came down to :the Building Dept. and spoke with Howard Terry;,. who was very helpful to him. Mr. Terry supplied him with a large map of the Town on which he ploted out the location .of the residences on each farm. 3. . The questionnaire was finally resolved. ' All. questions were set up in a very open ended manner. The checking of boxes and the yes-no• type of question were avoided. In general,, it is found that a much more accurate answer is'given if the question is aksed and left for the participant-,'to answer in .his ow i n words. The questionnaire consisted of the following questions: 1. Age of farmer? 2. Nativity of farmer? 3. Ethnic background? 4. Number of sons? 5. What the farmers feel is the biggest drawback in. farming today? 6. How can farm land preservation be carried out effectively? 70 Why do farmers leave farming? 80 What happens to .the land after they leave? 9. Would they remain if some sort of program for preservation was developed? 10. Who is leaving? Why? 11. Who is staying? 12. What they think aboutkeeping farming going? 13. Would they stay if a program was developed? 1. Age of -farmer? 6/ - 70 or over 24/ - 60's 32/ - 50's 28/ - 40's 0 - 30's 6/ -- 20's Over half of* the farmers in Southold Town are from 40-599_ about are in their 60."s. 2. Nativity of farmer? 88% of the farmers in Southold .Town are natives of Southold Town,, 4/ are from outside of Southold Town,, but natives of Suffolk County,, 3/ are natives of Nassau County,. 2/ are European born. Southold Town Planr a Board -3 ,ugust 10,, 1970 3. Ethnic background? 62% East Auropean background - 56/ polish 4% Lithuanian.. 2/ Ukranian 20% British 'Isles English 7% German 10/ mixed origin 1% unknown 4. Number of sons = 34% of the farmers have no sons 28% 1 25% - 2 7% - 3 4/ - 4 2/ - 5 Regional Breakdown 6 - farm operations in Orient 2 - If " " East Marion 1 it " Greenport 20 - It " " Southold 14 - " if " Peconic 40 - " " If Cutchogue 10 - " " " East Mattituck 7 - " " If West Mattituck Size of Farms 2/ - 300+ acres 12/ - 200+ acres 42/ - 100-199 acres 30% - 50-99 acres 6% - 25-49 acres 4/ - under 25 acres Types of farms in reference to crops 50% - potatoes,_ few vegetables 30/ -- potatoes only 6/ - vegetables & berries 7/ - vegetables,; berries, & potatoes Labor - 20 farm operations said that they hired no help, all labor done entirely on a family basis. 6 farm operations said that they exchanged labor with other farmers. Southold -Town Planr' j 'Board -4- ;august 10., 1970 72/ said that they would hire more local people if they could get them,; but they would have to know how to do things, 20/ said that they would not 2% were undecided There is an estimated total of 283 workers - 54 - year round locals t 73 - seasonal locals 156+ or about 55% are seasonal workers mainly from Puerto Rico, The farmers were asked if -they anticipated any change in the size of theli farm for the coming year: 43% - no change 24% - plan to increase the size of their farm..= 14/ - " " decrease Proiect4on:;for change in type of for the coming year: 33 1/3/ - no change 18/ - more potatoes,, less vegetables 9/ - more vegetables 11/ - no vegetables Projection for change in marketing procedures for the coming year: 65 - no change 7 - plan different procedures Farming trends, in general, for the near future,: 54 «. no change 22 - undecided 2 - plan to build more storage Biggest Drawbacks in Farming Today 47/ - low returns due to selling on a supply-demand basis 46% - labor problems - Welfare taking away prospective workers; can't compete with govt. & local industry for workers, 29/ - rising production costs - more pesticides needed because of increase in insects 19/ - risina taxes 3/ - interference of do--goodersg, such as Health Dept. a, Conservation Dept and other govt, agencies. Southold Town Planx g Board -5- .-►ugust 10,. 1970 Reasons for leaving farming: financial., labor problems,, age, healthy, disgusted-selling out., developing the farms. Preserving Farmland: about 2/3 of the farmers said yes., farm land should be preserved 14% - no 8/ - no opinion l2/ - would not answer Methods of preserving farmland, in the farmerts Qpinion: 24%r-answered better returns 245/6- " tax relief 23� would not respond 69.-said .that it should be preserved a but did not know how. 5Y.-more and better labor 35/6-organization amongst the farmers 3Y.--negative easements 82/ said that they would be willing be stay in farming if a farm land preservation program were developed. 3/ said that they would not 15% were uncertain 6/ of the farmers said .that they were definitely going out of farming this year 22% plan to leave .farming by 1975,, if conditions do not improve 40/ are uncertain 33/ stated that they are in 'for life The foregoing minutes were_, compiled from an oral report given by Dr. Joseph Sullivan. The preliminary report to be submitted by Dr. Sullivan will differ from -this report in reference to organization.. and there may be a slight difference in percentages and number of responses.' Dr. Sullivan advised the Board that he plans to submit .a preliminary written report. by the end of Augusta Respectfully submitted,, Betty Neville,., Secretary Southold Town Planning Board jh:!n�Wickham,, Chairman