There's been a big push in recent years, encouraging shoppers to buy local.
In Central New York, that extends to farms with the Buy-Local-Onondaga-Grown Campaign. Local farmers are celebrating their connection to the community.
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon and members of the Agriculture Council held a kick-off today for the fifth annual “Buy Local. Buy Onondaga Grown.” campaign at Tre-G Farms in Pompey. Jim Smith, Owner of Tre-G, says he couldn’t be happier to represent farmers all across the county.
"It's a great feeling every day to get up and get going, get out and see what's new for the day,” Smith said.
Due to the heavy rainfall this year, dairy farmers like the Smith family are about three weeks behind where they'd like to be.
"Weather's good for everything, everybody, our frame of mind, and a lot of businesses depend on it too,” Smith said.
But they're hoping the community continues buying local so they can survive. Jim’s son, Ryker Smith, is a recent graduate from Cornell’s school of agriculture. He believes everyone should buy local, and not just because it means getting fresh food.
"This community, if you picture it like it's your own house,” said Ryker. “You’ve got to invest in the infrastructure of that house to keep it in good structure for yourself and it's the same thing with the Onondaga Grown Campaign, it's investing in the roots of this county which is agriculture to provide a great foundation to everything else in this county."
As part of that campaign, everyone is encouraged to come out to the Onondaga Farm Fest this fall. 11 local farms, including Tre-G, will offer tours so community members can learn more about farming.
Tre-G might look like your typical dairy farm with tractors, barns, and cows, but if you take a closer look, you might be surprised to see who is milking those cows -- or rather, what is milking them. The Smiths recently put robots in their barns to milk the cows.
"It allows us, the farmer, to enhance our quality of life and not work as long hours as what we used to,” Ryker said.
Each cow is given what Ryker calls “the cow equivalent of a Fitbit.” It identifies each of them and tracks their steps and how they feel.
The cows walk into the robot every 8-12 hours, whenever they’re ready. The robot gives the cow food and goes underneath to milk her.
"They're allowed to come and go and get milked as they please,” said Ryker. “In fact they want to get milked."
It’s a win-win for the cows and the farmers.
"We love the way we're doing things now and for the future with technology and the way we currently operate,” said Jim Smith.
If shoppers keep supporting their local farms, they'll be able to keep growing for years to come. Ryker doesn’t like thinking about what would happen if people completely stopped supporting local farms in Onondaga County.
"I'd be out of a job, here anyway, looking elsewhere,” Ryker said. “My family that's been doing this for about a hundred years would be out looking for something else to do."