Several of the Adirondack Park’s environmental, farm and rural-development organizations are urging passage of federal legislation aimed at protecting and sustaining family farms, which are still plentiful in the St. Lawrence River Valley.

The Adirondack Council, Adirondack Harvest, Adirondack North Country Association, Open Space Institute and other organizations and individuals said they support the Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act (S. 1773/ H.R. 3286), which was proposed as part of Congress’s pending multi-year reauthorization of farm policy in the 2012 Farm Bill.

At the request of U.S. Rep Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee will hold hearings on the Farm Bill Friday morning at North Country Community College in Saranac Lake. Owens is a co-sponsor of H.R. 3286.

New York’s 9,300-square-mile Adirondack Park is roughly half public forest and half private land. The park contains 103 villages and towns, spread across portions of 12 counties. Most of the park’s farms are in the St. Lawrence Valley (Franklin and St. Lawrence counties) and the Champlain Valley (Washington, Warren, Essex, and Clinton counties).

“There are 52,000 acres of open space and wildlife habitat protected by the 200 farms remaining in the Champlain Valley and St. Lawrence Valley areas of the Adirondack Park,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. “Those farms provide high-quality food to park residents, hotels and restaurants across the region, saving fuel and preventing transportation spoilage. They provide jobs that can’t be outsourced and return most of their income to the local economy when they purchase goods and services.”

“Successful, local farms are a key element of our long range vision for what the Adirondack Park should look like in 50 or 100 years,” Houseal said. “Farms have been an important part of the Adirondack Park’s landscape since the park was founded in 1892, and long before. They will be just as important in 2092.

A letter from the groups to the House delegation said, “This legislation helps small farms by addressing production, aggregation, processing, marketing, and distribution needs to access growing local and regional markets. The bill also provides secure farm bill funding for critically important programs that support family farms, expand new farming opportunities, create rural jobs, and invest our local food and agriculture economy.”

The witnesses who will testify at the hearing are all farmers from New York. They are Eric Ooms, dairy producer, partner, Adrian Ooms and Sons, Inc., Old Chatham; Neal Rea, dairy producer, chairman, Agri-Mark Dairy Cooperative, Salem; Jeremy Verratti, dairy and crop producer, Verratti Farms, LLC, Gasport; Michele Ledoux, beef producer, Adirondack Beef Company, Croghan; Larry Eckhardt, vegetable, field crop and beef producer, president, Kinderhook Creek Farm, Inc., Stephentown; Scott Osborn, wine grape producer, president, Fox Run Vineyard, Inc., Penn Yan; Ralph Child, seed potato and leafy greens producer, Malone; Adam Sullivan, apple producer, Sullivan Orchards, Peru.