ANCRAMDALE, New York — The pressure on dairy farmers like Jim Davenport to quit comes from every direction these days: volatile milk prices. Shuttered dairy plants. Rising land values that promise a windfall to cash out out to developers.
Without a little help from the government, farmers say, agriculture here in the Hudson River Valley and other places dominated by small farms might succumb and shrink into little more than a hobby.
Davenport is one of just seven dairy farmers left in Columbia County; there were 16 seven years ago and far more in decades past. Even the region’s iconic apple orchards face questions about their future beyond farm stands and other direct marketing.
For farms that remain, the expiration Sept. 30 of the five-year farm bill that governs federal agriculture policy was yet another missed opportunity.
