State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, addresses Richard Ball, state agriculture commissioner, during a recent joint legislative budget hearing.

State Sen. George Borrello is likely going to push for additional money in the 2025-26 state budget to help the state’s dairy farms modernize their operations.

Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, questioned Allyson Jones-Brimmer, Northeast Dairy Producers Association vice president of regulatory and legislative affairs, about the state’s Dairy Modernization Grant Program, which offers funding to help New York’s dairy farmers and agricultural marketing cooperatives enhance on-farm milk storage capacity and improve milk transportation and storage systems.

“I’m thinking in last year’s budget there was $24 million to help with on-farm milk fluid milk processing,” Borrello said during a recent joint legislative budget hearing. “It was supposed to essentially improve a number of things including stabilizing that supply. I know these things don’t happen overnight, but can you just kind of give us an update as to where this is and if it’s been helping your members.”

Applications for the grant opened on Nov. 1 and will be accepted until Feb. 14. The program is administered by the Farm and Food Growth Fund, which will award funding for projects that expand milk storage, enhance efficiencies, and invest in milk transfer systems and cooling technologies. Eligible projects include purchasing and installing milk storage tanks, milk transport tankers, milk pipelines, upgraded glycol chillers, and farm milk loading systems. “Frms are undergoing the process of getting their application submitted so we don’t know really what that’ll look like or if that’ll be over-subscribed which is very likely because these projects are often very expensive to undergo,” Jones-Brimmer said in response to Borrello’s question. “We don’t know what kind of interest is fully out there but I know a lot of our members were really excited about this program and were looking forward to submitting applications.”

Another $10 million is included in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2025-26 budget proposal, but Borrello wondered if that investment is enough to make sure small farms like those in Chautauqua County and the rest of Borrello’s Senate district are able to receive funding.

“You know we always hear about small dairy farms versus the big farms,” Borrello said. “I guess my concern is that $24 million going to be gobbled up by the big farms. Are there any guardrails that were put in place so that it would ensure that small farms have access to that as well?”

Hochul’s budget did not include a proposal to sell wine in grocery stores in New York state, there have been attempts by state legislators to pass legislation allowing the practice. Borrello said he isn’t opposed to selling wine in grocery stores, but questioned bills that could end up leaving local wineries out in the cold because they will cost more than national wine brands.

“That’s a softball question but I think it speaks the point that there’s I think there’s very little chance quite honestly that you’re going to see you know the local wines, which typically are a little more expensive,” Borrello said. “You’re going to see those, you know, two-buck chuck things in the shelves in your grocery stores if we don’t put some kind of guardrails to ensure that our wineries and our farmers get that.”

Kyle Wallach, state Farm Bureau associate director of public policy, welcomed Borrello’s idea of a stipulation to sell only New York-based wines in stores.

“Being the Farm Bureau, we’re always going to support our local New York wine,” Wallach said.