Fundamental Purpose, Values
Our mission is to find creative, innovative answers to problems of organization, infrastructure, and markets in farming; to continue an old agricultural tradition within new land ownership patterns, to save money for our members; to improve the soil and the services it provides; to preserve the rural agricultural aspect of the countryside; and to expand use of biofeedstocks for petroleum product replacement in the Finger Lakes.
Provide A Single Trusted Entity
Movement of people from the city and suburbs to the rural areas has increased the price of land and caused parcelization of what were once large farms. The Cooperative provides a means to re-aggregate and reuse old fields now left going to brush. It then becomes feasible for biomass brokers to deal with the coop as a single, large, reliable source unifying fragmented farms and small owners to form a large agricultural base to attract new business through economies of scale.
Aggregation also pools the income for all parcels making it possible for the coop as a whole to qualify all members for agricultural property tax assessments. To meet tax requirements a qualifying parcel must have at least seven acres of open land and the gross average annual income of the Cooperative must exceed $10,000.
Benefits
Member benefits:
Agricultural property tax assessment, shared profits, shared equipment use, networking, timesharing, security
Community benefits:
Provides local employment (harvest contractors, loggers, value added businesses), preserves open space against development
Environmental benefits:
Enhances soil/water/air quality, improves saw timber quality, helps manage invasive species and diseases, enhances wildlife habitat, sequesters carbon, displaces fossil fuels
Business benefits:
Provides single source supply for biomass buyers, provides collective bargaining power, facilitates shared ownership of value added businesses, accesses grant funding
Value added businesses:
Firewood, wood chips, pellets, powdered fuel, district heat, CHP, biochar, liquid fuels (these can be operated by the coop or by local entrepreneurs using coop feedstocks)
