New York manufacturing index bounces back in November

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The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index rose 11 points to 30.9 in November after falling in the prior month. The index — the monthly gauge on New York’s manufacturing sector — had declined 15 points to 19.8 in October, “pointing to a slower pace of growth” that month. It had climbed 16 points […]

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The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index rose 11 points to 30.9 in November after falling in the prior month.

The index — the monthly gauge on New York’s manufacturing sector — had declined 15 points to 19.8 in October, “pointing to a slower pace of growth” that month. It had climbed 16 points to 34.3 in September.

The November reading of 30.9 — based on firms responding to the survey — indicates business activity in New York “grew strongly in New York State,” the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in its Nov. 15 report. Economists had forecast an index number of 22 in November, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal.

A positive reading indicates expansion or growth in manufacturing activity, while a negative index number points to a decline in the sector.

The survey found 43 respondents reported that conditions had improved over the month, while nearly 12 percent said that conditions had worsened, the New York Fed said.

Survey details

The new-orders index rose 5 points to 28.8, and the shipments index “shot up” 19 points to 28.2, indicating “strong growth” in both orders and shipments, the New York Fed said.

The unfilled-orders index edged down to 12.7. The delivery-times index came in at 32.2, indicating “significantly longer” delivery times. Inventories increased modestly.

The index for number of employees rose 9 points to 26.0, a record high, and the average-workweek index increased 8 points to 23.1, pointing to “strong” gains in employment and hours worked.

The prices-paid index edged up 4 points to 83.0, and the prices-received index moved up 7 points to a record high of 50.8, signaling “ongoing substantial increases” in both input prices and selling prices.

Firms were less optimistic about the six-month outlook than they were last month, with the index for future business conditions falling 15 points to 36.9.

The indexes for future new orders and shipments fell to similar levels.

Longer delivery times, higher prices, and increases in employment are all expected in the months ahead.

The capital-expenditures index edged up 3 points to 34.7, and the technology-spending index ticked up to 28.0, suggesting that firms plan “significant increases” in both capital spending and technology spending.

The New York Fed distributes the Empire State Manufacturing Survey on the first day of each month to the same pool of about 200 manufacturing executives in New York. On average, about 100 executives return responses.

Three firms win cash in Oswego County’s Next Great Idea contest

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OSWEGO, N.Y. — Six Acres Farm Brewery of Mexico, North 40 Clover of Lacona, and Moth & Flame Base Camp were awarded funding in the 2021 “Next Great Idea” (NGI) Oswego County Business Competition. The winning businesses were awarded cash and business services totaling $90,000 in value to expand in Oswego County. Operation Oswego County

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The winning businesses were awarded cash and business services totaling $90,000 in value to expand in Oswego County.

Operation Oswego County announced the prizes during a reception held Nov. 16 at The Lake Ontario Event & Conference Center in Oswego.

“It was a great honor to present our fifth NGI awards on National Entrepreneur’s Day,” Austin Wheelock, NGI chair and deputy director of Operation Oswego County, said in a release. “Entrepreneurs and small business are the backbone of our economy and the building blocks for growth in our county. We believe that these three businesses are excellent examples of this and will be great ambassadors of the ‘Next Great Idea’ for Oswego County.”

Local companies, private banks, business organizations, and public and private institutions helped raise the $90,000 in cash and business services, according to Wheelock.

About the companies

Six Acres Farm Brewery secured the first-place prize of $50,000. The company — founded by Jenna Behling and head brewer Denyel Busch in Mexico — is the first niche craft-brewing company of its kind to develop fruit-infused beers with locally grown fruit and “proprietary methods to create naturally full-flavored fruit ale beverages,” per the news release.

With the brewery already producing 13 unique recipes onsite at Behling Orchards, the owners see an opportunity to capitalize on growing the fledgling craft-beverage industry in Oswego County and building on the region’s existing agri-tourism assets.

“We are extremely grateful for the opportunities that NGI has given our business and are excited to get started on expanding Six Acres Farm Brewery,” Behling said. “Winning the NGI will open up the possibility for us to increase our brewing production and expand our brewery. This will be highly beneficial as we plan to open a tasting room in the area.”

North 40 Clover On Site Hydraulic Hose Repair & Fabrication ended the competition with the second-place prize of $25,000 in cash and business services.

The business is a startup that James Macklen of Lacona created. Macklen will use the NGI prize money to expand his mobile hydraulic repair and fabrication business that services several industries. They include manufacturing, mining, road plowing, agriculture, and trucking and logging operations around Oswego County and the North Country.

The mobile business is “especially needed in rural areas where extended downtime due to distance from repair services can be catastrophic to business,” per the release. Macklen believes the prize money will help him pursue “multiple future opportunities to expand” in the industry.

Moth & Flame Base Camp was the third-place winner of $15,000 in cash and business services. It’s a “glamping” business developed by co-founders Amanda McLaughlin and Paula Barreto. Glamping is outdoor camping with amenities and comforts (such as beds, electricity, and access to indoor plumbing) not usually used when camping, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Moth & Flame Base Camp says it allows visitors to “stay, play and support local business in the outdoors of Oswego County while having a unique and secure stay and experience in a vintage recreational vehicle, airstream and eclectic structure ‘glampground.’ “

The business will utilize social media and technology platforms to market to the quickly growing target segment of “glampers.”

The co-founders will use the prize towards developing “distinctive fully furnished basecamps in a scenic location that will complement the growing” outdoor recreation and event-tourism industry in Oswego County.

The judges

Operation Oswego County selected judges for this year’s event based on their local business knowledge and expertise in the fields of operations, management, financing, and entrepreneurship.

Those judges were Ed Alberts, local entrepreneur and former NGI winner; Mike Backus of Oswego Health; Rich Burritt of Burritt Motors; Allen Chase of Chase Enterprises; Nate Emmons, Oswego County legislator; Karen Goetz of the Richard S. Shineman Foundation; Keiko Kimura of Cayuga Community College’s Fulton campus; Kevin LaMontagne of Operation Oswego County; Liz Lonergan of the Watertown Small Business Development Center; and Tim McKernan of EJ USA of Phoenix.

Lockheed wins nearly $106M Navy contract modification

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only, Technology

SALINA, N.Y. — Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) was recently awarded a $105.7 million modification to a previously-awarded U.S. Navy contract. The firm-fixed-price modification will exercise options for the production of MK 48 Mod 7 guidance and control sections and MK 48 Mod 7 Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System kits, according to a Nov. 5

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Solar-roof manufacturer SunTegra moves to Binghamton

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KIRKWOOD, N.Y. — SunTegra, a startup manufacturer of solar roof tiles and shingles, recently announced that it’s moving manufacturing and administrative activities to the Binghamton area. Previously located in Highland, New York, near Poughkeepsie, SunTegra was formerly known as Integrated Solar Technology. Founded in 2013 by current CEO Oliver Koehler, the company designs and manufactures

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KIRKWOOD, N.Y. — SunTegra, a startup manufacturer of solar roof tiles and shingles, recently announced that it’s moving manufacturing and administrative activities to the Binghamton area.

Previously located in Highland, New York, near Poughkeepsie, SunTegra was formerly known as Integrated Solar Technology. Founded in 2013 by current CEO Oliver Koehler, the company designs and manufactures solar shingles and tiles that replace traditional roofing materials, per the SunTegra website.

Koehler came into the venture with plenty of experience in the solar world, having held product-management positions with BP Solar, a manufacturer and installer of photovoltaic solar cells, and SunPower, a firm that specializes in solar-power generation and energy storage, he tells CNYBJ. “In that role I certainly saw the consumers wanted alternatives … but as the market matures, people want more choices,” he says of the inspiration for starting what was then known as Integrated Solar Technology. He says he renamed the business to SunTegra, originally the name of its product line, in 2017.

SunTegra “will use its new facility as a main office supporting administration, sales, R&D, and to ramp up production to meet increasing demand,” the firm said in a November 10 news release.

SunTegra’s new 10,000-square-foot facility is located at 27 Link Drive in the town of Kirkwood. Koehler says that about 6,000 square feet are dedicated to manufacturing with the balance split across office space and warehousing.

It has been a circuitous route for SunTegra to end up in the Southern Tier and with a focus on the Northeast. Koehler says that the company’s initial focus was on the California market and that manufacturing was done in China and then in Mexicali, Mexico.

“We’ve basically been jumping around solar tariffs pretty much from the start of the company,” Koehler says, adding that the Trump administration’s imposition of solar tariffs on Mexico in 2017 was the impetus for moving production first to the Poughkeepsie area, and then to the Binghamton region. Koehler says that the firm’s manufacturing today is split between the Southern Tier and a subcontractor’s facility in China. Production capacity at the Binghamton–area site is about 20,000 units per year, according to materials provided by Koehler.

SunTegra’s Kirkwood facility does not manufacture the solar laminate itself, but rather assembles the final product, ready to integrate with roofing materials. It’s there that SunTegra attaches what Koehler calls “our own special polymer composite framing systems” along with all the other requisite hardware. The company also provides materials for installation such as flashing, cables, and the solar inverter responsible for converting the solar-energy output into usable electricity.

“Binghamton offers access to great technical expertise, has talented labor and features a robust network of regional suppliers. We see Binghamton as a great platform from which to grow our business,” Koehler said in the company’s news release. He made the same points in an interview with CNYBJ and added that the company was able to find “the best facility for a reasonable price” in Binghamton rather than in the Mid-Hudson region.

Koehler and SunTegra cite the 2017 76West Clean Energy Competition as the venue where they first learned of the benefits of doing business in the Southern Tier. The competition is run by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA, to promote innovative clean-energy companies in the Southern Tier. SunTegra finished second that year and was awarded $500,000.

The company’s ties to the Binghamton area also began in 2017 as SunTegra joined the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator, located at 120 Hawley St. in Binghamton.

“Bringing innovative companies to the Binghamton area is what the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator is all about. SunTegra’s patented solar roofing products offer consumers an alternative to bulky solar panels, compete head-to-head with Tesla’s solar roof products, and are the type of technology that will help clean energy to go mainstream,” Michael Jagielski, director of clean energy programs at the incubator, said in the release.

Jagielski’s invocation of Tesla likely stems from the high visibility of that company’s solar-roofing products, which have yet to be widely released and while praised for their design have been criticized by customers and tech media for production issues and high costs.

Koehler says that SunTegra products were designed to offer similar aesthetic benefits and a more practical installation process at a lower cost. “Our product is kind of a middle ground between standard rack-mounted solar and the high-end solution that Tesla is trying to push,” he says.

SunTegra moved into the new Kirkwood facility on Aug. 1, and Koehler says that recent pandemic-related macroeconomic conditions have cut both ways for the company. “On one hand, supply chain costs have gone up … but on the other hand we’re getting lots of leads, lots of interest from customers and increasing sales too,” he says.

Building upon that potential for growth, SunTegra plans to release a second-generation product — which Koehler says is due in 2022 or early 2023. The company plans to at least double the number of employees in Binghamton by the end of 2022, from five to 10 or more. Koehler adds that the biggest obstacle to the company’s growth going forward is “expanding our dealer network,” referring to the roofers and builders to which SunTegra primarily sells. The firm also sells directly to homeowners on a limited basis.

SunTegra is also currently competing in the U.S. Department of Energy’s American-Made Solar Prize competition. It’s a $3 million prize competition “designed to energize U.S. solar manufacturing through a series of contests and the development of a diverse and powerful support network that leverages national laboratories, energy incubators, and other resources across the country,” per a description on the contest’s website. Koehler tells CNYBJ that the company won $50,000 as part of round four of the American-Made Solar Prize competition and has made a submission for round five. He says if it wins, SunTegra will be collaborating with the Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems Innovations at Syracuse University.

Byrne Dairy to invest $25 million in Cortlandville plant

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CORTLANDVILLE, N.Y. — Byrne Dairy, Inc. announced on Nov. 9 that it is making another major investment in its dairy-processing facility in Cortlandville. Originally built in 2014, Byrne says it will invest $25 million to retool the facility to produce extended shelf life and shelf-stable dairy products. It will install new processing and filling-equipment lines

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VIEWPOINT: N.Y. Employers Now Must Provide Notice of Electronic Monitoring

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

On Nov. 8, 2021, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill amending New York’s Civil Rights Law by adding a new section that requires employers to give prior written notice of any electronic monitoring to employees upon hire. The law takes effect on May 7, 2022. The law applies to all private-sector employers in New York,

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The law requires notice for any employer who monitors or intercepts telephone conversations/transmissions, emails, or internet access or usage. The law necessitates the notice to be given in writing, in an electronic record, or in another electronic form. Further, employers must receive a written or electronic acknowledgement from employees of receipt of the notice. Employers must also post the notice in a conspicuous place so that employees who are subject to electronic monitoring can readily review the notice.

The law does not apply to processes that are designed to manage the type or volume of email, voicemail, or internet usage; that are not targeted to monitor or intercept employee communications; and that are performed solely for the purpose of system maintenance and/or protection.

Regarding the content of the notice, the law provides as follows:

For purposes of written notice . . . an employee shall be advised that any and all telephone conversations or transmissions, electronic mail or transmissions, or internet access or usage by an employee by any electronic device or system, including but not limited to the use of a computer, telephone, wire, radio or electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photo-optical systems may be subject to monitoring at any and all times and by any lawful means.

The law does not provide for a private right of action. The New York State attorney general is responsible for enforcement of the law. Employers found to be in violation of the law may be subject to a maximum civil penalty of $500 for the first offense, $1,000 for the second offense, and $3,000 for the third and each subsequent offense.

Employers should determine if any new hires will be subject to the notice provisions of this law and determine the manner in which they will provide such notice.

Richard C. White is an associate attorney in the Albany office of Syracuse–based Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC. He is a labor and employment law attorney who represents employers in proceedings before federal and state courts and various government agencies. Contact White at rwhite@bsk.com. This article is drawn from Bond’s New York Labor & Employment Law Report blog.

CEO FOCUS: A Unicorn, an Acquisition, & Millions in Investments

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

These are worth celebrating in CNY’s startup ecosystem Over the past few weeks, several significant announcements have placed a spotlight on the strength of our innovation ecosystem, serving as categorical proof that Central New York is a place where tech companies and startups can grow and thrive. Among the most exceptional, CenterState CEO member and Tech

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These are worth celebrating in CNY’s startup ecosystem

Over the past few weeks, several significant announcements have placed a spotlight on the strength of our innovation ecosystem, serving as categorical proof that Central New York is a place where tech companies and startups can grow and thrive.

Among the most exceptional, CenterState CEO member and Tech Garden anchor tenant Density announced a $125 million capital raise led by Kleiner Perkins (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/density-secures-125-million-in-series-d-funding-to-accelerate-growth-acquires-helix-re-301421033.html). This investment brings the startup’s valuation to $1.05 billion, officially making it the first “unicorn” — a privately held startup company valued at more than $1 billion — to come out of the Tech Garden. With just over 900 “unicorns” worldwide, and fewer than 450 in the U.S., this is truly a remarkable accomplishment.

Density’s people-counting, AI-powered sensors, manufactured within the Tech Garden’s hardware center, anonymously measure how people use space, allowing customers to build better workplace experiences. In addition to this Series D raise, the company also announced it acquired HelixRE, a technology that creates a digital representation of buildings to streamline data collection. Since March 2020, Density has experienced more than 500-percent growth, and expanded its employee base by 300 percent since the start of 2021, with plans to double its headcount in the next year.

Just down the road from the Tech Garden, TCGplayer is also experiencing explosive growth, expanding its workforce by more than 81 percent in the past year — creating hundreds of jobs in downtown Syracuse and adding nearly 100,000 square feet of office space. The company, which is the leading technology platform for the collectibles industry and operator of the largest online marketplace for trading card games, announced earlier this month that it has acquired Roca Robotics Inc. (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tcgplayer-acquires-roca-robotics-301416101.html). [That Colorado–based company] has produced the world’s leading robotic card-sorting machine for the trading-card market. The acquisition will allow the company to better support its customers and clients, and continue its significant growth.

Our GENIUS NY teams have also announced recent investments. Over five rounds, 26 unmanned-systems startups have used $15 million invested to date to leverage more than $75 million in follow-on funding, and have contributed to more than 70 new jobs in upstate New York.

Anyone who has watched the evolution of this innovation ecosystem over the past two decades knows how truly incredible these benchmarks are. It speaks to the positive trajectory of a region that once lagged so many of its peers in resources, investment opportunities, public and private-sector support, and the collaborative partnerships needed for startups and entrepreneurs to excel. Today, the speed of growth for these young firms is accelerating. They are job drivers, contributors to the vibrancy of our community, and integral to the vitality of our 21st century regional economy. As we celebrate these companies and their milestones, we remain committed to supporting the environment that will ensure similar success for others within this ecosystem.

Please join me in congratulating these companies on their progress and success. To learn how you can mentor and support companies in our innovation ecosystem, please contact Jeff Fuchsberg, CenterState CEO’s VP of innovation and entrepreneurship, at JFuchsberg@thetechgarden.com.

Robert M. Simpson is president and CEO of CenterState CEO, the primary economic-development organization for Central New York. This article is drawn and edited from the “CEO Focus” email newsletter that the organization sent to members on Nov. 18.

SUNY Poly researchers receive $5.5 million from Rome Lab

Health Care, Nonprofits, Subscriber Only, Technology

Will use money for research on computer chips that can learn and adapt A professor at SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) and his research team will use a $5.5 million award from Rome Lab to fabricate small, low-power neuromorphic computer chips. The effort seeks to “demonstrate adaptable and reconfigurable neural networks, computing systems

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Will use money for research on computer chips that can learn and adapt

A professor at SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) and his research team will use a $5.5 million award from Rome Lab to fabricate small, low-power neuromorphic computer chips.

The effort seeks to “demonstrate adaptable and reconfigurable neural networks, computing systems that act like synapses in the human brain,” SUNY Poly said.

Rome Lab is formally known as the Air Force Research Laboratory-Information Directorate (AFRL).

The funding will allow Nathaniel Cady, professor of nanobioscience, Karsten Beckmann, an adjunct faculty member at SUNY Poly, and their research team to work on these chips. The chips will be “more efficient” than the types of chips currently available.

They’ll also be able to perform complex functions while having the ability to “learn and adapt.” Once fabricated, they’ll be used in a variety of U.S. military and civilian applications.

More specifically, this research seeks to fabricate, test, and deliver custom-built CMOS-based chips or wafers, the platform upon which computer chips are built (CMOS is short for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor).

They will be integrated with novel resistive memory materials, combining each of them with new switching materials within the computer-chip process flow, and performing 3D integrated circuit integration and packaging to yield a unique neuromorphic (brain-inspired computing) processor.

The final aspect of the initiative will be to assist with the development of a range of applications of this powerful, but efficient computing capability.

The research is part of a larger overall program with research groups from the University of Tennessee, as well as the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force, SUNY Poly said.

Taking place primarily at SUNY Poly’s Albany campus, it will leverage the Albany Nanotech Complex’s world-class 300 mm. cleanrooms and SUNY Poly’s electronics- testing labs.

The university’s Marcy campus is also involved as a number of faculty and students are participating across both sites. Steven Wood, SUNY Poly’s senior director of technology-applications development for this project, is providing support. Besides that role, Wood also serves as associate director of innovation and entrepreneurship at the Research Foundation for SUNY, the school noted.

“This expansive and exciting project brings together the true potential of the SUNY Poly educational and research ecosystem, and I am proud to congratulate Professor Cady and the research teams on receiving this critical funding,” Tod Laursen, acting president of SUNY Poly, said. “This AFRL award is testament to SUNY Poly’s impactful research capabilities, which not only foster hands-on student opportunities, but also utilize deep faculty expertise across both of our campuses.”

The research will also be done in collaboration with the Research Foundation for SUNY to further develop applications for the new chips. As this effort progresses, the AFRL, Navy, and Army research teams will use the chips that SUNY Poly researchers develop for further research and development at their facilities across the U.S., with plans to leverage the resources of the new Innovare Advancement Center at the Griffiss Institute in Rome.

“This research project is an excellent example of the research and educational synergies that exist at SUNY Poly and which are further enabled via close collaboration with our partners,” Cady said. “I am grateful to the AFRL for their support and funding of this important research initiative, and, with Dr. Beckmann, I am proud to work with fellow faculty across SUNY Poly’s two campuses, provide students with leading-edge learning opportunities, and partner with UT-Knoxville, NY CREATES, and the RF for SUNY.”

OPINION: New York State closing 6 more prisons is another step back on public safety

Opinion, Subscriber Only

The Nov. 8 announcement by the New York Department of Corrections that six correctional facilities will be closed is more evidence that Gov. Kathy Hochul is campaigning rather than governing. Closing prisons is an idea that might appeal to liberal voters in a primary, but it’s of no benefit to upstate communities and represents yet another step

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Shutting down these facilities in the same reckless manner used by her predecessor demonstrates a complete lack of respect for the men and women who have dedicated their careers to serving the public.

Shamefully, the employees impacted by these decisions have often been given only 60- to 90-days’ notice that their jobs would be moved or eliminated. Treating members of our state workforce with such disregard is completely unacceptable. While the governor’s office has been singularly focused on wiping correctional facilities off the map, it has failed to recognize that incidents of violence against staff and between inmates have escalated dramatically in state prisons. Rather than celebrate another announcement about shutting down buildings, maybe it’s time we do something to improve the safety of the people in them.

William (Will) A. Barclay, Republican, is the New York Assembly minority leader and represents the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact Barclay at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us. This editorial is drawn from a Nov. 8 news release that Barclay issued in response to New York’s announcement that it will close Ogdensburg Correctional Facility, Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility near Lake Champlain, Willard Drug Treatment Campus in the Finger Lakes area, Southport Correctional Facility near Elmira, Downstate Correctional Facility in the Hudson Valley area, and Rochester Correctional Facility by March 10, 2022.

OPINION: For Better and Worse, We’re All Connected

Opinion, Subscriber Only

It’s a cliché to say that everything is connected. But we live in a world where this is clearly true. Ideas, goods, services, workers, tourists, commerce, communications, drugs, crime, migrants, refugees, weapons, climate impacts, and, of course, viruses — they all cross borders constantly. This is one reason I have come to believe that drawing a distinction

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This is one reason I have come to believe that drawing a distinction between “foreign” and “domestic” policy, while often helpful, is also misleading. Globalization essentially means that we can’t escape the impact of what’s happening in other countries and regions around the globe — either at the policy level in Washington or on the street where you live.

This is often beneficial. The free movement of goods and services from this country to others builds our economy and creates jobs. Likewise, goods and services produced elsewhere and imported or used here have provided many American consumers with a quality of life that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. The relatively free flow of ideas, cultural life, and people with talent, skill, ambition, or all three, have enriched this country and many others.

Yet managing globalization is also a clear challenge, because it’s not only the good stuff that goes along with it. The work of government — not just at the federal level, but in our states, counties, cities, and towns — is to find ways of promoting what’s good and mitigating what’s bad.

Sometimes, this takes global coordination. The UN Climate Conference in Scotland is one clear example. Climate change affects everything, from the kinds of plants and animals you might see in your backyard to the behavior of the oceans and global wind currents. The Glasgow meeting was aimed at accelerating governments’ action on ratcheting back the human-made causes of climate change and at finding ways for nations and communities to adapt to the changes that we’re too late to prevent.

Sometimes, this demands clear-headed national strategies. All countries need goods and services from other countries: food, cars, entertainment, manufacturing parts. And economists would argue that our inter-connectedness on these fronts has on the whole, served both the U.S. and the world well, raising standards of living, lowering costs, and expanding the array of choices available. Yet when factory workers are thrown out of work, farmers are disrupted by competition from overseas, or over-dependence on the global supply chain proves to be a vulnerability — as during the pandemic — these demand thoughtful policy change from the federal government. [That includes] pursuing trade talks, developing support for re-training programs, or buttressing small-scale agriculture and local supply chains.

And at the local level, the forces of globalization clearly require a community response. Maybe it’s finding ways of assimilating and educating migrant workers or refugees. Maybe it is helping small farms connect with local markets that will boost their chances of success and help feed surrounding communities. And maybe it’s promoting home weatherization and other energy-related policies that help reduce carbon emissions.

The point is that the forces of globalization are with us whether we like it or not, and we can’t ignore them. We’re affected by what takes place everywhere else, and both at home and in the halls of power we have to understand and manage it. It’s inevitable that we’ll face challenges and disruption. Our task is to recognize the opportunities and spread the benefits.

Lee Hamilton, 90, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south central Indiana.

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