For most Americans, the name “New York” conjures a vision of skyscrapers, but in fact just north of the city and Highway 84, the land is largely farming country, producing apples, wine, dairy products, honey and other edibles.
The region, still considered metro, includes Milton, Grahamsville and Jeffersonville, and a recent grant of $371,000 offers farmers in the area an opportunity to be even greener by going solar.
The grants, via the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Renewable Energy for America program, will provide $191,000 in funding and loan guarantees to Sunshine Orchards in Milton to install a 42-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system that will supplement 60 percent of the farm’s energy use.
The farm, owned by the Clarke family since 1817, operates in two segments; a wholesale fruit operation (Sunshine Orchards) and a pick-your-own retail arm called Prospect Hill Orchards.
The funding will provide for 240 solar panels on the farm’s cold storage facility, and the cost – estimated at $360,000 – is partially offset by funding through New York State’s Energy Research and Development Authority. The balance, an estimated $100,000, is being paid out-of-pocket, according to owner Steve Clarke.
Hepworth Farms, also in Milton, will get a $44,500 grant to install 22.8 kilowatts of solar photovoltaic energy install a 22.8 kilowatt solar electricity generation system. Hepworth, which has been in the same family for seven generations, grows vegetables, fruits and herbs, many sold under the organic farming label, on 45 acres.
In Grahamsville, Thunder View Farms will get more than $29,300 to help purchase a solar energy system. Thunder View raises corn-fed, Angus cattle for resale as organic meat. In Jeffersonville, Bridle Hill Farm, a horse farm offering riding lessons, horse sales, shows and boarding, will get grant funding in the amount of $28,500 for another solar energy system.
The grants and awards are all contingent on the owners matching grant amounts; federal grants are limited to one quarter of a project’s cost. Loans, on the other hand, can be used to fund 75 percent of installation costs and, while guaranteed, require repayment.
Other amounts were also given out for wind turbine installations, and process improvement measures aimed at energy efficiency. Regional funding (for the mid-Hudson Valley) represented about 89 percent of the $371,481 total awarded across the state.