On a drive to
Middlefield, NY one is struck by the picturesque scenery. The tranquil rolling
hills and lush valley floor are dotted with upper-end houses. Scattered among
the houses are the remnants of the valley’s agricultural farming history.
According to historical accounts, agriculture has always been the backbone of
this community. However,
the once agricultural land has been subdivided to locate the houses bought by
urbanites looking for rural refuge; the fertile valley for the most part now
lies fallow. Further along the drive, a marked entrance announces the location
of the Brewery Ommegang. Despite the peculiarity of the location of the
brewery, local residents have embraced it as a part of the community. As a
large truck exits the brewery grounds one is quickly reminded that a brewery is
an industrial activity; a strong testament that the region supports multiple
land use.
A few miles up from the
Brewery is one of the surviving farms in the valley; The Cooperstown Holstein
Corporation (CHC) farm. The farm represents the changing aspects of rural
agriculture; the need for diversity. Peter
Huntington, one of the farm’s founders had a vision for a self-sustained and
energy efficient farm that maximized long term stability; a model of an agroecosystem farm management strategy; a strategy
that blurs the distinction between the farm’s ecosystem and the natural
ecosystems.
Jennifer Huntington, the
farms’ current steward is a well-respected, hardworking and extremely
knowledgeable farmer. She walks in the footsteps of her father. Next to the
CHC’s milking barn and animal barn is a Methane Digester and a biogas fueled
Cogeneration system. The systems which once produced energy for both the farm
and the nearby County Office building, now sit silent, enveloped in a film of
dust. Frozen in a time when
agriculture intersected the community. Now the silence is eerily similar to the
farms and barns down the road which sit empty and unused.
Besides the methane
digestor/CoGen system, the farm presses locally grown canola seeds for
bio-diesel, and utilizes a seed dryer to save seeds that would otherwise been
ruined by high moisture content. Developing
this kind of agroecosystem takes capital which most farmers lack. So, when landmen
knocked on the farmer’s doors, farmers saw natural gas development as a viable
avenue to maximize their farm’s efficiency.
However, the farmer’s
vision differed from their neighbors who saw natural gas development as an
infringement on their rural lifestyle by a vilified industry. When the gas development
discussion reached the Middlefield Town Board, the farmers were largely missing
from the town hall; they were out busy working on their farms. The Town Board
listened to about 30 minutes of information supporting gas development and
spent even less time listening to the farmers. What the board did hear was
hours of public sentiment against natural gas development and
within a short time, the Town enacted a ban against natural gas development
activities.
For farmers like Jennifer
Huntington who still get up every morning to milk their cows, ensuring that
their neighbors have cream for their morning cups of coffee, daily routines
have not changed. What has changed is how they are now perceived; they have
been demonized by those opposed to local natural gas development and their
motives have been questioned. The explanation as to how something that started
off as simple desire to improve a farm’s sustainability has turned into
something divisive is as elusive as the reason why a community would turn on
their local farmers.
