Senator Clinton to Host New York Farm Day
Local Produce from Across New York, including Long Island, the Hudson Valley, the Finger Lakes, Western New York and the North Country, to be Showcased in the Nation’s Capital
WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 16—New York’s award-winning wines, farm-fresh products, sensational seafood, and fine restaurants will travel to the nation’s Capitol next week to tastefully show Congress, the Administration, and others that New York is a major agricultural state, and agriculture is a major part of the state’s economy.
On Tuesday, September 23 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will host “New York Farm Day” in the elegant Senate Russell Caucus Room at the crest of Capitol Hill. Attendees will include dozens of other Senators, the New York Congressional delegation from the House of Representatives, members of the Committees on Agriculture, legislative chiefs of staff, agricultural specialists in Congress and the Administration, members of the Washington media, top area restaurants and fine wine shops.
“Senator Clinton has been a passionate advocate for New York agriculture, including the grape and wine industry,” said Jim Trezise, President of the statewide New York Wine & Grape Foundation, which organizes the event. “New York has some of the best wines, farm products, seafood and restaurants in the world, and we are honored to partner with her in tastefully proving that to Washington. We are also fortunate to have some of the world’s top agricultural research and education institutions like Cornell University and the State University of New York, which are part of this showcase as well.”
In the past six years, New York Farm Day has become one of the most popular events on Capitol Hill, with attendance expected to top 700 people. As a reminder of the Farm Day feast, this week all U.S. Senators and New York Representatives will receive a bottle of premium New York wine with a personal note.
“Farm Day is a unique and important opportunity for us to showcase the best of what New York’s farmers and producers have to offer. Every year we bring New York to Washington DC and I am thrilled that this has become such an anticipated event on the Congressional calendar. New York’s farmers and producers are some of the best in the world and this is a great opportunity to spread the word even further about the quality of our produce. New York’s educational and research institutions are also world-class, and I am delighted that they will be displaying leading-edge processes for producing great food and energy. I know we are all looking forward to sampling some of the incredible wine, food and produce that will be on display,” Senator Clinton said.
CornellUniversity, a participant in past years, will offer a newly-formulated fruit beverage fortified with protein from skim milk, and will invite participants to suggest names for the new drink. A new participant is the State University of New York, with 64 campuses statewide, which will present five this year: Alfred State College, SUNY Cobleskill, Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), Monroe County Community College (MCC), and Morrisville State College.
Alfred will feature a table-top Hydroponic Production Unit growing organic lettuce, and hand out organic watermelon, sunflower and cucumber seeds for planting. Cobleskill will offer a SUNY Cobleskill-raised Brown Trout on SUNY Cobleskill-raised Hydroponic Greens with Meadowbrook Farms-produced Buttermilk Vinaigrette served on Schoharie Valley Farms-raised pink radish and cucumber slices. The fish, marinated in Bear Pond Winery Chardonnay, and the vinaigrette will be prepared and served by students in SUNY Cobleskill’s Culinary Arts Program. ESF will display shrub willow as an excellent alternative farm crop for the production of bioenergy and biofuels in the Northeast and Midwest, reducing the dependence on fossil fuels, and will give willow cuttings (complete with instructions) to participants. MCC will show a continuous power point presentation, “Learn a Growing Profession”, designed to raise awareness about and support of local agriculture, promoting a more sustainable community by keeping food dollars at home and finding the very best in food quality. Morrisville will offer an array of locally produced products from Nelson Farms, an entrepreneurial agri-business cr eated to assist local specialty food processors, farmers, growers, and producers in getting their products to the market place.
The event is organized according to the State’s major wine-producing regions—Long Island, the Hudson Valley, the Finger Lakes, the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Erie (Chautauqua)—as well as North Country. Each region will have a “Farm Table” showcasing local agricultural products, a “Restaurant Table” featuring a special recipe created from those products, and a “Wine Table” offering award-winning wines to match the foods.
The “Farm Tables” and a centerpiece “Cornucopia” created by Bill Sanok of Cornell Cooperative Extension (retired) on Long Island will include everything from A to Z (apples to zucchini), with a bounty of fresh vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meat and seafood illustrating New York’s diversity as an agricultural state. Though few farmers can attend since they’ll be in the middle of the fall harvest, they generously contribute their products for this event.
From Long Island, there will be Fresh Mixed Greens and cherry tomatoes with a Vinaigrette Dressing, North Fork Potato Chips, Fresh Oysters and Hard Clams farmed by Long Island’s East End Marine Farmers’ Association, and Fresh Sliced Long Island Duck. Chef/Owner Tom Schaudel of Cool Fish Restaurant will offer Smoked Jurgielewicz Duck Breast with Fig-Gravensrein Apple Compote and Orient Point Lavender Honey—accompanied by Long Islandwines from Bedell Cellars, Brooklyn Oenology, Castello di Borghese Vineyard, Corey Creek Vineyards, Lieb Family Cellars, Pindar Vineyards, Shinn Estate Vineyard, and Wölffer Estate.
The Hudson Valley region will be represented by Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Hudson Valley Fruit Project, which will feature a variety of locally produced fruits and vegetables with Hudson Valley dips, dressings, and local cheeses. The Culinary Institute of America will offer chocolate-covered NYS dried cherries and NYS apple and Concord Grape jellies. Young entrepreneurs from Westchester who created Cool Beans Dips will feature samples of their all natural Lemon Roasted Garlic, Sweet Onion, and Taco Chili white bean dips. HudsonValley wines and juices include Brotherhood, America’s Oldest Winery, Clinton Vineyards, Millbrook Vineyards & Winery, Rivendell Winery, and Royal Kedem Winery.
Appropriately located between the large apple-producing regions of the Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes, the New York Apple Associationwill feature Freshly Harvested Gala and Honey Crisp Apples, Fuji Apple Juice, Freshly Pressed Apple Cider, Cranapple Cider, and Raspberry Apple Cider.
Chef Debra Whiting of Red Newt Cellars Winery & Bistro, Chef Samantha Izzo of Sheldrake Point Vineyard & Café and Chef Frank Caravita of Fox Run Vineyards & Café will demonstrate how Finger Lakes wineries have taken the lead in creating fine cuisine in that agriculturally rich region by offering, respectively, Autumn Harvest Farms Pork Tenderloin stuffed with local apples, Lively Run Chevre, pork sausage and Swiss Chard topped with an apple Riesling sauce; Penne pasta baked with béchamel sauce and topped with roasted root vegetables from Stick and Stone and Blue Heron Farms and maple reduction with a Parmesan panko topping; and Sweet Corn Bisque. The New York Wine & Culinary, a culinary tourism facility in Canandaigua, will offer Maple Apple Turnovers and assorted truffle bites from Renée Suzette’s Chocolates.
From theFinger Lakes region, farmers and chefs involved with “Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty” will display the abundance of fresh produce and specialty items created upstate including Knapp Farms Lakeside Salsa, Finger Lakes Farmstead Cheese Artisian Cheese, Franjo Farms Onion Jelly, Crackerman of Etna Crackers, Nunda Mustard, Chutney Fever Chutney, Marc Antony Specialty Foods Sausage, Cowlick Farms Artisan Cheese, Whole in the Wall Pesto, Nordic Farms Jams & Pickles, NY Natural Chevon goat sausage, and Stony Brook Cookie Company cookies.
Participating Finger Lakeswineries include Americana Vineyards Winery, Anthony Road Wine Company, Casa Larga Vineyards, Chateau LaFayette Reneau, Damiani Wine Cellars, Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars, Fox Run Vineyards, Fulkerson Winery, Glenora Wine Cellars, Heron Hill Winery, Hickory Hollow Wine Cellars, Highland Cellars, Hosmer Winery, Hunt Country Vineyards, King Ferry Winery (Treleaven), Lakewood Vineyards, Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars, Miles Wine Cellars, Pleasant Valley Wine Company, Prejean Winery, Red Newt Cellars, Red Tail Ridge Winery, Sheldrake Point Vineyards, and Wagner Vineyards.
A new participant this year, Chef Anand “AJ” Jayapal from Miss Sydney’s Secret Family Recipes near Albany, will present Miss Sydney’s Original Marinade with Chicken Tenders and Squash, and Miss Sydney’s Indu’s Chutney with pretzels.
The Source, another newcomer and Washington’s hottest new restaurant with Executive chef Scott Drewno from Penn Yan, NY, will present Spicy Tuna Tartare in Buckwheat sesame-miso with New York Apples, shaved Bonito and Tobiko using products from New York sources.
The Lake Erie region, where “Concord is King!”, and the Niagara Escarpment will be represented by National Grape Cooperative/Welch Foods, featuring Concord and Niagara Sparkling and Still Grape Juice as well as Welch’s Fruit Snacks. Lake Eriewines from Mazza Chautauqua Cellars, Merritt Estate Winery, Niagara Landing Wine Cellars, and The Winery at Marjim Manor will be featured as well.
Rosa Mexicano, a popular Manhattan restaurant that has a Washington presence, will offer Guacamole en Molcajete featuring New York Onions, Tomatoes, and Cilantro.
Right next to the popular Mexican restaurant will be Ithaca Beer with samples of their Apricot Wheat, Nut Brown, Cascazilla, Flower Power IPA, Ten, and White Gold and McCadam Cheese, which was rated America’s finest at a national cheese competition in Wisconsin. Offerings include Extra Sharp Cheddar (Best American Cheese, and State Fair Grand Champion), Muenster, Pepper Jack, and Horseradish Cheddar.
The New York Maple Producers Association will present a broad array of products including maple mustard, maple coated cashews, and maple cream on wheat crackers. Rounding out the sweet table will be Butternut Squash Cookies and Tassleberry Farms Strawberry Butter presented by the Upstate New York Growers & Packers Cooperative.
North Country, representing the Adirondacks and Thousands Islands, will offer a potpourri of products including Kraft Philadelphia Ready-to-Eat Key Lime Cheescake filling; Adirondak Beef Company All Natural Beef Jerky; Pierce’s Sugar Sigpot Maple Hard Candy; Black Watch Farm All Natural Jelly; Honey Crisp apples from Gunnison’s Orchards; and Multigrain Bread from Crown Point Bread Company.
Mercer's A La Port Wine Ice Cream, a perennial favorite, will be joined by their Royal White Riesling, Cherry Merlot, Red Raspberry Chardonnay, and Chocolate Cabernet flavors, each combining New York cream with New York wines. They will also feature their Vanilla Organic Ice Cream. Accompanying Mercer’s Ice Creams will be Ice Wines from Casa Larga Vineyards, Hunt Country Vineyards, Sheldrake Point Vineyards, and Mazza Chautauqua Cellars.
Farm Day visitors will also get a glimpse of a 13-segment public television series, “New York Wine & Table”, produced by WXXI public broadcasting in Rochester and the New York Wine & Grape Foundation. Produced in high definition, the series features New York wineries, farms, seafood operations, restaurants, and other parts of the agricultural community. It will be carried by all New York State public television stations and many in other states as well.
As visitors leave the reception, they will receive literature and a flash drive from the Pride of New York program, whose display will greet them on the way in.
New York Farm Day is sponsored by Constellation Brands, Farm Credit of Western New York, First Pioneer Farm Credit, Long Island Farm Bureau, MasterCraft Glassware, New York Apple Association, New York Farm Bureau, New York State Restaurant Association, the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, Pride of New York (New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets), and Yankee Farm Credit. The event is organized by the New York Wine & Grape Foundation in conjunction with numerous other organizations and individuals who have contributed their time, products and services for the good of New York.
Farming is vital to New York’s economy. About 25% of the State’s land area, or 7,500,000 acres, is covered by 35,000 farms. New York is among America’s major agricultural states, ranking #2 in apples and maple syrup, #3 in dairy, grapes, wine, and corn silage, #4 in pears, and #5 in floriculture. The wine, grape and grape juice industry alone contributes over $3.4 billion annually to the State’s economy, and is the fastest growing industry in the agriculture and tourism sectors.
“New York has it all – great foods, great wines, great restaurants,” said Trezise. “When most people think of New York, they think of the Statue of Liberty, Broadway, or Times Square. But New York is much greater than those wonderful attractions, and it’s fun to watch people discover that fact. We applaud Senator Clinton for using New York Farm Day to raise awareness among her colleagues, the media, and others that New York State produces some of the world’s best foods and wines, which some of the world’s best chefs turn into mouth-watering magic.”
