State OKs more than 3,000 acres for hemp cultivation

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ALBANY — More than 60 farms and businesses have received research permits under New York’s Industrial Hemp Agricultural Research Pilot program. “There is a renewed interest in industrial hemp production and processing throughout the country, and with our strong grower community and innovative researchers, New York is in a great position to lead,” Gov. Andrew […]

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ALBANY — More than 60 farms and businesses have received research permits under New York’s Industrial Hemp Agricultural Research Pilot program.

“There is a renewed interest in industrial hemp production and processing throughout the country, and with our strong grower community and innovative researchers, New York is in a great position to lead,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a news release. “By providing an alternative crop for our farmers, industrial hemp has the potential to change the landscape of our agricultural economy, create jobs and drive growth across the Southern Tier and throughout New York.”

The Industrial Hemp Agricultural Research Pilot Program received applications from more than 100 farms and businesses, 62 have received research permits for the 2018 growing season, according to a release from the governor’s office.

Additionally, 18 New York companies have registered to process industrial hemp.

Going forward, applications for food and fiber research will be accepted on a rolling basis, subject to no deadline. The application is available on the state Department of Agriculture and Markets website.

About 3,500 acres of farmland is approved for hemp research across New York, the state said. That is up from 2,000 acres last season.

According to the release, research projects will focus on using hemp for food, fiber, and grain for the production of animal bedding, insulation, pellets for heating and other consumer uses. Researchers will also look at wellness benefits of cannabidiol, a chemical found in hemp that is often referred to as CBD.

New York State’s $5 million Industrial Hemp Processors Grant Fund was launched last year to enhance hemp processing and support business development. The program helps cover capital costs related to industrial hemp processing, including construction and the purchase of equipment, according to the release.

Southern Tier Hemp

In January, the state also invested $650,000 through the Regional Economic Development Councils to establish a

$3.17 million industrial hemp processing facility in the Binghamton area. Southern Tier Hemp, the company leading this effort, develops, manufactures, and sells CBD-based health products using a proprietary method of extraction.

Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D–Endwell) said, “All around the country people are realizing the vast potential of industrial hemp for farmers, processors, manufacturers, and researchers. I am very proud of the leading role New York State is playing in the buildup of this new industry. All eyes are on New York as we show what can happen when government, higher education, farms and other businesses work together on this groundbreaking effort.”

Sen. Thomas F. O’Mara, (R–Big Flats), added, “We have worked steadily over the past several years to move New York State to the forefront of this new industry with the potential to diversify our agricultural economy, generate revenue and create jobs.”

Nationally, industrial hemp generates nearly $600 million per year in sales of a variety of consumer, industrial, and medical products, according to state figures.

Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor offers grants

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WATERFORD — Seven education and recreation projects will get off the ground this year with funding support from the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. The grants are aimed at “inspiring people to learn more” about New York’s “legendary canals” and further explore the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, according to a Corridor news release. The

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Drone Film Festival organizers seek applicants for State Fair event

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GEDDES — Calling all drone filmmakers. The New York State Fair’s Drone Film Festival and Competition is open for entries until June 30. The competition, which is in its second year, is open to all amateur, professional, and corporate filmmakers who use video from drones in their work. “Competition is open to anybody in the

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GEDDES — Calling all drone filmmakers. The New York State Fair’s Drone Film Festival and Competition is open for entries until June 30.

The competition, which is in its second year, is open to all amateur, professional, and corporate filmmakers who use video from drones in their work.

“Competition is open to anybody in the world,” says Michael Massurin, managing director of the New York State Fair Drone Film Festival. “Last year, we had worldwide submissions.”

The competition “highlights and complements” the state’s investment in growing the unmanned aerial vehicle industry, according to the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Rules, categories, fees, and other details for the competition can be found on the event website at FilmFreeway.com (search for NYS Fair Drone Film Festival), where filmmakers can also upload their videos for consideration.

The drone competition complements Central NY Rising, the region’s “comprehensive strategy to grow the economy,” according to Cuomo’s office. Central New York and the Mohawk Valley are home to New York State’s drone corridor, a 50-mile area “devoted to cutting-edge” research and development for the “fast-growing” drone industry.

The New York State Fair wanted to present an event about drones that would highlight “in an entertaining way” to help people understand what they’re all about, says Dave Bullard, marketing and public relations manager for the New York State Fair.

“We started talking about a number of ideas that we could execute before last year’s fair,” says Bullard, noting that the talks generated the idea for the film festival.

Both Bullard and Massurin spoke to CNYBJ on March 22.

Bullard notes the discussion included representatives from the NUAIR Alliance, which says it is a “nonprofit coalition of more than 200 private and public entities and academic institutions working to operate and oversee testing of unmanned aircraft systems in New York, Massachusetts, and Michigan.” NUAIR is short for Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance.

Submissions

Filmmakers can submit videos in eight categories, including “New York State Drones” for films made only in New York.

“It’s got to be made here in the state somewhere,” says Massurin.

The categories also include “Narrative,” in which drone video helps to tell a narrative story; “Landscape/Architecture” for videos highlighting beautiful or interesting scenes; “Showreel,” in which drone videographers show highlights of their best work; “Sports,” for videos about athletic action; “Student,” for works created by high school or college students; “Corporate/Industrial/Business,” for films that feature drones and/or the people who work with them; and “News,” a new category this year, for videos in which drones contribute to coverage of a news story.

“Drones are increasingly being used to cover news stories,” says Massurin.

In addition, the competition includes a new category: “Drone Photos” for still photographs taken by drones.

“All of the films do not have to be shot completely with drones … a number of them, it’s just a minimal requirement. Most of the films are five minutes in length. The narrative is 10 minutes and corporate industrial is up to 20 minutes,” says Massurin.

Entry fees for most categories are $25. Student entries cost $5 and entries in the corporate category are $50.

Gold, silver, and bronze medals will be awarded in each category. The gold medal winners will also compete for the top prize, Best in Show, which carries a $250 award. Winning videos will be screened at an evening ceremony in the Art & Home Center’s Empire Theater on Sunday, Aug. 26.

The inaugural event attracted 83 entries, 27 of which captured awards, according to Massurin.

Last year’s “Best in Show” video, “Cargo Drones in Amazon: Behind the Scenes,” presented the story of using an unmanned aerial vehicle for the first time to deliver medicine needed to save a snake-bite victim deep into the Amazon rainforest. Other gold-medal videos presented new views of the Erie Canal, took viewers inside an expedition to Alaska, and showed the rugged beauty of Iceland.

“This is a blending of technology and film together,” says Massurin. “It’s really appreciating some of the amazing research that’s being done right here in Central New York.”

Leadership Mohawk Valley honors area individuals, organizations at Follow the Leader Awards dinner

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WHITESBORO — Leadership Mohawk Valley (LMV) held its 16th Follow the Leader Awards dinner on Wednesday, March 21, at Hart’s Hill Inn in Whitesboro. It honored eight individuals and two organizations. The individuals honored were: Lenora D’Apice, Community Wellness Partners; Jacob DiBari, American Building Components; Mark Dudek, The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter; Cathy Newell, Mohawk Ltd.;

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Broome County says coalition will save it millions on prescriptions

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BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The Broome County government expects to save at least $3.2 million on its health-care spending after joining a pharmacy purchasing coalition. That works out to more than 20 percent in savings on prescription costs for the county, says Thomas Dellapenna, Broome County risk manager. Last year, the county spent about $16 million

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BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The Broome County government expects to save at least $3.2 million on its health-care spending after joining a pharmacy purchasing coalition.

That works out to more than 20 percent in savings on prescription costs for the county, says Thomas Dellapenna, Broome County risk manager. Last year, the county spent about $16 million on prescriptions for the 6,000 people in its plan.

Those savings come from joining the Keenan Pharmacy Purchasing Coalition, a group of employers and health-care purchasers that says it negotiates better prices for members. Because the coalition represents about 600,000 individuals, it has a lot more leverage, says Dellapenna.

He notes that the county will pay $202,892 to belong to the coalition. Other savings are possible with other programs. A clinical program can save the county an estimated $1.5 million if physicians in the area write prescriptions to maximize value.

Some medications are much less expensive in different doses, so that a medication taken twice a day may be considerably less pricey than the same dose of the medication delivered once a day, Dellapenna explains.

Dellapenna recognizes that change may cause some disruption for people who have to remember to take a second dose and for doctors who will need to check one more thing before prescribing but, he says, the savings are substantial.

“Any time you can talk about saving millions of dollars, it’s a game-changer,” Broome County Executive Jason Garnar said when the program was announced in late February.

Dellapenna says those on county health plans won’t see any change in co-pays. Despite the savings from joining the coalition, health-care costs have steadily increased for the county.

“We’re a rich plan,” Dellapenna says, noting that compared to private-sector employers, the county pays a larger percentage of health-care expenses for plan members.

“Our costs are constantly on the rise so this just helps, he adds. Last year, Broome County spent $49 million on health care, he says, adding that all employees pay a portion of their health-care costs. The cost varies depending on the type of union involved.

About KPPC

The Keenan Pharmacy Purchasing Coalition says it delivers cost savings and prescription management-capabilities for self-funded clients through its group negotiating power. This leads to volume discount pricing, manufacturer rebates, lower dispensing fees, and increased use of lower-priced generic drugs.

KPPC says it is “powered” by Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX), the largest pharmacy benefit-management services company in the United States. Express Scripts generated revenue of $100 billion in 2017.

Contact McChesney at cmcchesney@cnybj.com

2018 Manufacturing Directory

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Click to view the 2018 Manufacturing Directory

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Award Show Politics is Bad for Business, yet it Persists

Opinion, Subscriber Only

Recent surveys say 75 percent of television viewers don’t like the snide remarks. They don’t like celebs and sports stars lecturing them — about political and social issues. That probably won’t surprise you. Because there is a 75 percent chance you are one of the 75 percent. As you know, the stars assault us with

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Recent surveys say 75 percent of television viewers don’t like the snide remarks. They don’t like celebs and sports stars lecturing them — about political and social issues.

That probably won’t surprise you. Because there is a 75 percent chance you are one of the 75 percent.

As you know, the stars assault us with their political and social views most every chance they get. Oprah lectures Golden Globe viewers for 9 minutes. Whenever Robert De Niro nears a microphone, he rips into Donald Trump. NFL players demonstrate during the National Anthem. And so on.

Not to be outdone, the Grammy Awards fling anti-Trump skits at us. Hillary Clinton reads to us from an anti-Trump book. On various shows, the stars implore us to support gun control and save-the-earth projects. They urge us to frog-march climate-change skeptics out of our lives.

Most of us don’t like this. That is what we tell pollsters.

Here is what surprises me: It is bad for business. Yet the business operators let it continue.

The Golden Globes is a business operation. As are the Oscars and the Grammy Awards. The NFL is a massive business. Why then, do these businesses tolerate and even encourage behavior that damages them?

Why does CNN allow its celebs to perform scorched-earth attacks on the current administration? Its viewership numbers are abysmal. Surely, they can see there is a connection between their hate-filled attacks and their anemic ratings.

The NFL did sweet little to squelch the player demonstrations this year. Viewership this season fell about 10 percent. Super Bowl viewership fell to a 7-year low.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards allowed the host to mock the first lady. Viewership was down 30 percent from last year.

The Grammy Awards, mentioned above, lost 24 percent of its audience from last year. Their viewership hit an all-time low.

The Golden Globe Awards lost viewers compared to last year. The Oscars were down a whopping 20 percent year-to-year. They experienced their worst viewership ever.

Oh, there are reasons and excuses for these declines. TV ratings as a whole are falling with more entertainment options than ever. The viewing habits of Americans are changing. The latest crop of movies is lackluster. The baby-boomer generation is doing whatever it is doing. And all that.

Set all those reasons aside. What remains is political and social stuff. It is common in all of these productions. It amazes me that the business people who run these ventures don’t see this. Or if they see it, they still allow their employees to abuse the customers.

Make a list of the things you do for relaxation and entertainment. You watch movies or television shows. You watch sports. You dine out. You travel.

If you are like most people, you probably feel abused if your wine steward tells you how to vote. You probably take offense if the waitress curls her nose when you add to global warming by ordering beef. The folks who own the restaurant would probably fire these servers.

You might think the people who run the movie industry would sense that the Streeps, De Niros, and Streisands offend millions of customers. You might think they would tell them to foam a bit less at the mouth. You might think they would remind them that “These are the customers. Without them we are nothing. Yes, many of them agree with you. But many don’t. So why tick off any of them if you don’t have to?”

I don’t understand behavior like this. Which is one reason why I am not a movie star or NFL quarterback. One of many reasons.

From Tom…as in Morgan.

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com. You can read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com

The Indispensable Craft of the Politician

Opinion, Subscriber Only

For the most part, we Americans value expertise. We want our physicians to possess knowledge and experience. We want our lawyers to know the law inside out. We want our clergymen, our engineers, our farmers to bring the kind of proficiency and skill to their work that comes only with familiarity and practice. So, here’s

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So, here’s a question. Why is it that the more expertise politicians’ gain in their field, the more we deride them?

Politicians may disappoint us, frustrate us, or even anger us. They certainly make mistakes. But here’s the thing: we cannot solve our problems at any level — local, state, or federal — without skilled politicians. They’re indispensable to the system. And the craft of politics requires certain characteristics. Not every politician possesses them, but the good ones — and there are plenty of good politicians — strive for them.

First, they’re attuned to the moods of the people and to shifts in public opinion. They have faith in this country and its future, and they often hold a vision for what its success will look like. They believe it can make progress.

They also know that progress will not come easily. They understand they’ll face setbacks, failure, and hardship, but they persevere in the American way of governing because it can make a lot of things possible. They are pragmatic, and prepared to adjust, compromise, and improvise to move policy in the direction they’d like to see it go.

They’re comfortable holding authority and responsibility, and because they recognize that they share these burdens with others, they respect their colleagues. They try to be civil with them, since they understand the dynamic nature of politics — that you don’t have permanent enemies or allies and that your foe one day may be a comrade the next.

Finally, good politicians understand that politics consists of a lot more than running for election. In the end, politics is about striving to make the world, or at least this country, better.

I don’t want to suggest that I think all politicians possess these qualities, or that any politician enjoys them all. Yet these characteristics are what mastery of the craft demands, and they come only with time and experience. Any politician who displays them deserves the same respect we’d give any specialist who has acquired the knowledge, skill, and insight demanded by a complicated, demanding, and meaningful profession.

Lee Hamilton is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at the IU School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years, representing a district in south central Indiana.

KYLE UNSER

People on the Move, Subscriber Only

Dermody, Burke & Brown, CPAs, LLC recently hired KYLE UNSER as an associate in its New Hartford office. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting and is in the process of completing his master’s degree in accounting from SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Unser previously worked as an intern at Dermody, Burke & Brown in the New

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KRISTA JOHNSON

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Pinckney Hugo Group has hired KRISTA JOHNSON as an account manager. Prior to joining Pinckney Hugo, she gained experience in marketing and account services in Central New York and New York City. Johnson is an adjunct professor at Syracuse University. She has a bachelor’s degree in public relations from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public

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