WORKING LANDSCAPES

• ANCA staff developed twenty grazing plans on beef, dairy, goat, sheep, mixed species, horse and poultry farms across the ANCA region.
• ANCA hosted four farm visits with staff from the Grazing Land Conservation Initiative (GLCI) at farm locations in St. Lawrence, Franklin and Jefferson counties.
• ANCA and GLCI hosted a Grazing Day in St. Lawrence County in July that featured speakers from Pennsylvania's Project Grass and a pasture walk of a farm in Lisbon. The event was attended by thirty guests.
• ANCA hosted a two-part series of pasture walks on dairy and equine grazing systems in Jefferson County in May.
• ANCA hosted a Pasture Management workshop in Bombay with twenty people in attendance.
• ANCA and the Cornell Cooperative Extensions of Franklin and St. Lawrence counties hosted a Permaculture Workshop with over twenty-five producers in attendance.
• ANCA participated in a Farm Diversity Day in February in Malone with over twenty producers in attendance.
• ANCA developed a working partnership with Heifer International. Staff attended the Heifer International Project Partner Meeting in New York City in February.
• ANCA staff assisted with the coordination of a Heifer International Group Meeting of farmers in February and March to finalize details of the project prior to the submission of the grant application.
• ANCA secured a $94,250 three-year grant through Heifer Project International for a Northern New York Farm Partnership program. The partnership consists of a core group of small to medium-scale farmers working together to create opportunities for small farmers.
• ANCA managed funding from the NYS Empire State Development Corporation for the Dairy Viability Project. CI-TEC, headquartered in Potsdam, conducted the project research and developed a profile of the dairy industry. The plant-specific assessments summarized steps that the various companies involved in the study could undertake to improve their productivity and competitive positions.
• Staff continued the mentoring of Paul Smith College culinary students who completed their Senior Capstone Project on the health benefits of buying locally. The students rewrote the educational portion of ANCA's North Country Meat Directory.
• ANCA posted the revised copy of the North Country Meat Directory on ANCA's website at www.adirondack.org The Directory supports ANCA’s goal to develop producer/buyer networks to encourage local purchases of food.
• ANCA developed a producer/buyer network between a producer in St. Lawrence County and buyers in the Tri-Lakes.

• Staff assisted a private entrepreneur with a test burn of a waxed cardboard pellet at the Lyonsdale Co-Gen Plant in Lyonsdale and attended a press conference on the project to discuss the need for favorable legislation to aid the future of the "Green Power" Co-Gen facility.
• Staff continued outreach and planning services to the NYS Woodsmen Field Days in Boonville and assisted with development of the seminar program and exhibits.
• Staff provided support to the Black River/St. Lawrence RC & D through involvement with their Forestry Committee.
• Staff participated in discussions with Lewis County legislators on alternative energy planning.
• Staff continued to provide marketing assistance to companies and worked directly with Southern Cross Trading Company in Lowville on a new marketing initiative.
• ANCA secured a $99,017 competitive grant through the USDA Forest Service toward the rewrite of a national marketing publication that will highlight trends in internet marketing, networking and best practices. The implementation of the eighteen-month project will go from 2005 through 2006.
• Staff attended a marketing meeting in Blacksburg, Virginia and met with Ed Cesa, reviewer of the marketing grant application and initial author of the previous guide. The marketing work will include research of case studies and a compilation of current contacts and addresses for the appendix of the marketing booklet.
• ANCA's USDA Forest Service project and research will build on best practices in business that were developed through ANCA's 2004 partnership with the NYS Department of Labor and regional workforce investment boards in the implementation of the Accelerate New York funding.
• ANCA's 2005 marketing work broadened the outreach of the 2004 Accelerate New York project to grow New York's small and medium-sized businesses through ANCA providing business assistance to twenty-six wood products companies.
• ANCA staff addressed company planning needs in the areas of internet marketing opportunities, training, and production analysis. The resource information will be a valuable component to the new marketing guide.

• Staff completed work on the Marketing and Sale of Special Forest Products project that had been funded with a $25,000 grant by the USDA Forest Service.
• ANCA presented 10 new producers and 111 new products into the regional e-commerce service www.AdirondackCraft.com and the products and services of 163 wood products companies were listed on www.AdirondackWood.com.
• ANCA expanded markets for locally made wood products.
• ANCA developed new online tools that were integrated into www.AdirondackWood.com that allow producers to update their listings with new information and product information at any time.
• ANCA developed a user-friendly version of the wood products directories posted to www.AdirondackWood.com for convenient printing and distribution. The project was an innovative and important next step in an evolving program that continues to improve the competitiveness and market readiness of wood products producers throughout the region. The project also serves as a prototype for refining online and offline marketing and sales assistance tools for special forest products throughout New York, and in other states where wood products are an important component of local economies.