New York

Information and Resources

Farm to Table.org

This excellent website allows visitors to connect to sustainable New York State farmers and vintners, find out who they are, what growing practices they use, and how and where their products can be purchased. It also provides visitors with an opportunity to read important food news from all over the globe, gives users access to a dynamic forum to discuss food and environmental issues, and offers a way to learn about sustainable agriculture & sustainable cuisine. (Earthpledge Foundation)

The Wasting of Rural New York State: Factory Farms and Public Health

Released by the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition and the Sierra Club, this report describes the adverse impact of factory farms on the environment, public health, and local economies of communities throughout New York. The report includes profiles of families and communities that have been directly affected by factory farms.

General State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) Permit for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

From the Division of Water. Includes factsheets about CAFOs.

State Information

Provides state legislative information along with documents related to state and local government. (Washburn University School of Law)

US Farms – State Fact Sheets

Links for each state, with current information about farm size, financial status, rural employment, land use, and more. (USDA)

Water Quality in the Allegheny and Monongahela River Basins Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, and Maryland, 1996-98

Water quality assessment report from the US Geological Survey.

Water Quality in the Lake Erie-Lake Saint Clair Drainages Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, New York and Pennsylvania, 1996-98

Water quality assessment report from the US Geological Survey.

State and Local Government

Groups

Citizens’ Environmental Coalition

The CEC is a statewide grassroots environmental organization working to eliminate pollution in New York State by empowering people. The organization also works to prevent the proliferation of factory farms, and recently cosponsored the publication of “The Wasting of Rural New York State: Factory Farms and Public Health.”

Friends of Rural New York

Friends of Rural New York is a coalition of concerned citizens who have come together to support local and state legislation to stop the assault on rural communities by livestock factories. The organization consists of farmers, rural neighbors, urban supporters, fishermen, hikers, small business owners, environmentalists, academics, and other concerned friends of rural New York who are working together to protect the health, the air and water quality, and the economies of the people who live in rural New York State.

Just Food

Just Food helps develop a more just and sustainable food system in the New York City region by fostering new marketing and food-growing opportunities that address the needs of regional, rural family farms, and NYC community gardeners. They build partnerships among diverse groups to tackle these issues, advancing dialogue and action on farming, hunger, nutrition, sustainability, and justice issues.

Politics of Food

The Politics of Food Program seeks to create a sustainable food system in which farmers and the communities they serve are enabled to bring safe, quality food to all. POF strives to achieve this vision through intervention in the local food system and through education and advocacy. (Rochester)

Regional Farm & Food Project

An independent nonprofit membership organization founded in Troy, NY in 1996 to foster new opportunities for family-scale farms that sustain the land and community, and to connect farmers, consumers, and communities.

Riverkeeper

Riverkeeper works to safeguard the ecological integrity of the Hudson River, its tributaries, and the watershed of New York City by tracking down and stopping polluters. Since 1983, Riverkeeper has investigated and brought to justice more than 300 environmental lawbreakers. Riverkeeper believes in the rights of every citizen to enjoy and defend our nation’s water resources.