Issue Position: Agriculture & Rural Development

Issue Position

New York's 22nd Congressional district, is home to numerous farms and agriculture business including dairy farms, apple orchards and food processors. As New York's second largest industry, Maurice has made sure agriculture remains a viable part of upstate New York's economy. When a record freeze destroyed New York's apple crops in 2002 and could have ended New York's apple industry, Maurice worked across the aisle in a bipartisan fashion to successfully provide emergency assistance for apples growers. Today, as prices threaten to close the few remaining dairy farms in upstate New York, Maurice is working to strengthen the dairy industry with policies that ensure farmers get a fair price for the milk they produce and by providing support for specialty crops, farmers markets, and other rural development initiatives.

Maurice believes upstate New York farms are well-positioned to take advantage recent trends promoting locally-grown products, especially in the New York City market. That's why Maurice is supporting efforts to bring farmers from across the region together to promote upstate's products and reduce the costs of marketing and transporting their products to New York City.

In addition to supporting upstate New York's agriculture industry, Maurice is working to make sure our rural communities are given the same opportunities as more urban areas. One major effort, funded through the federal Recovery Act, which Maurice supported, is the extension of broadband Internet into rural areas, which will help expand economic opportunity by providing access to a global marketplace.

In addition, to further help spur economic development in struggling rural areas, Maurice developed the Rural Area Economic Partnership (REAP) program. REAP Zones are first cousins to the internationally recognized Empowerment Zones & Enterprise Communities and are pilot projects of the USDA. Only five REAP Zones exists and, as a result of his work, two of them are located in the district Maurice represents -- a REAP Zone covering all of Tioga County and a second REAP Zone in Sullivan County and Wawarsing. The REAP Zones have been very successful and given the areas a priority status for receiving federal support.

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