ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)–During Governor Hochul’s budget presentation, she made it a point to mention farmers.
“We will also ensure that the people who feed our state the farmers— don’t ever forget the farmers. They work so hard. They need the resources to do their work. We are going to make the investment tax credit for farmers refundable for 5 years. Something they’ve asked for,” said Governor Hochul on Wednesday.
Lauren Williams, Deputy Director of Public Policy for the New York Farm Bureau, explained how this will help farmers.
“For farmers who are investing in their farm— buying a piece of equipment or utilizing different technologies, they will be able to get a tax credit back for purchasing that item. So, it will really encourage further investment by boosting their ability to purchase technology of a new piece of equipment,” said Williams.
The New York Farm Bureau is also pleased that New York State is increasing the percentage of locally grown food it purchases.
“We are directing our state agencies to create a whole new market place for our farmers. State funded programs will buy their food from New York farmers,” said Hochul.
However, one thing the bureau isn’t happy about is increasing minimum wage to the rate of inflation, a proposal Governor Hochul is hoping to make a reality.
“Our farmers are already facing increased costs with inflation and just general operating costs going up not only from the world economic environment we’re in, but facing some overtime wages,” said Williams. “Just adding an additional probable cost to minimum wage is really unattainable at this point with everything else that’s going on.”