ITHACA, N.Y. — The Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming, an Ithaca–based nonprofit initiative, has been awarded a three-year grant of more than $700,000 to support training and business-incubation programs for beginning farmers in Central New York. 

The grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will be used to further expand the Groundswell Center’s technical and business-training offerings, according to a news release, and to secure a second, larger plot of land.

“This is great news for beginning farmers and for our regional economy,” Joanna Green, director of the Groundswell Center, said in the release. “Growing new farmers is essential to growing our world-class regional cuisine, and expanding agriculinary tourism. Agriculture is the perfect clean and green economic engine for our region.”

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, an agency of the USDA, awarded the grant as part of a larger effort to provide financial assistance to new farmers and ranchers across the country through its Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP).

In all, more than $18 million in grant money was awarded nationally through the BFRDP, according to a separate news release from the USDA.

The Groundswell Center is a project financed under the Center for Transformative Action (CTA), an Ithaca nonprofit that says it provides fiscal sponsorship to social programs and entrepreneurs in the state. The CTA offices are located on the campus of Cornell University, with which the nonprofit is affiliated.

Groundswell’s educational programs are provided at several area farms, or “mentor farms,” such as Kingbird Farm in Berkshire, Northland Sheep Dairy in Marathon, and Main Street Farms, LLC, in Homer, to name a few.

The 10-acre plot of land at West Haven Farm, in the town of Ithaca, currently used by the Groundswell Center for its Farm Business Incubator Program — which provides affordable land and other resources — is only suitable for “very small” start-up farmers, Green says in an interview. With the grant money, the nonprofit will begin looking for a second plot of land that is 100 acres or larger, which would be for farmers who are more advanced and in need of more growing space, she says.

The new plot of land would be attained either through a partnership with another group, or with a lease, says Green. The nonprofit would not purchase land outright. She says it has yet to begin the search process formally.

Farming business course

According to its website, the Groundswell Center’s educational offerings include a 10-session farm-business planning course. It started Jan. 15 and meets every Thursday evening, from 6-9 p.m., through March 19. 

The center offers the course in collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County and Alternatives Federal Credit Union’s Business CENTS Program.

The “intensive” course is for the “serious beginning farmer” who needs a plan, the site says. Established farmers who want to improve their business planning and management skills can also participate. The 10 weekly sessions cover legal and regulatory issues; production planning; marketing; financial feasibility, budgets and record keeping; and other topics. 

CANTON — St. Lawrence University’s economic impact on the North Country increased by nearly $15 million during the years 2012 and 2013 to $276 million, compared to the prior two-year period.

That’s according to a study that the Rochester–based Center of Governmental Research (CGR) conducted on behalf of the New York’s Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (or CICU).

Growth at St. Lawrence University is driving the increase in the school’s economic impact, says Ben Dixon, coordinator of regional development at the university.

“We’re serving more students, we’re expanding our program, our physical plant has grown accordingly, and all of that means more impact to the local economy,” says Dixon.

He spoke with CNYBJ on Jan. 29.

The CGR report indicated that St. Lawrence University’s spending in the region totaled $115.5 million in 2013, while construction spending contributed another $8.75 million, according to a news release that St. Lawrence University issued in mid-January about the study’s findings.

“We now have open on campus a new residence hall, Kirk Douglas Hall, [which] is … home to over 150 students,” says Dixon.

The construction on the $14 million project continued into the winter of 2014, the school said in the news release.

At the same time, St. Lawrence directly employed 880 people, and it helped create or support an additional 1,000 jobs in the region.

Dixon also estimates labor compensation, including salaries and wages and annual construction-labor costs, contributes another $105 million.

“And then there’s another $22 million that is from student and visitor impact,” he adds.

The three private colleges of the North Country — Clarkson University, Paul Smith’s College, and St. Lawrence University — contributed $680 million to the region, which included more than $69 million in student and visitor spending. The three institutions directly employed nearly 2,000 people and helped create another 210 construction jobs.

“Higher education is a proven and powerful economic catalyst, bringing benefits to host communities,” William Fox, president of St. Lawrence University, contended in the news release. “Through creating and maintaining jobs, purchasing of goods and services, spending by students, families and alumni visitors, and other financial contributions, colleges help propel economic development, a mission we take very seriously.”

The study indicated that New York’s independent colleges and universities contributed $74.3 billion to the state’s economy in 2013, up by $11.1 billion, or 17.6 percent, since 2011. In addition, New York’s independent-college sector directly employs 190,500 people, an increase of nearly 10,000 jobs, or 5 percent, since 2011.