NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FOOD PARK An Edifice for Economic Transformation in Line with the US Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act

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1 NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FOOD PARK An Edifice for Economic Transformation in Line with the US Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act Prepared by Eduardo D. Bacolod Focus on Agriculture for Economic Recovery Agriculture is still New York State s largest industry although for years, manufacturing has served as the foundation of the New York economy. Until today, the service industries that include finance, insurance, and real estate, which have taken over manufacturing, account for more than one-third of the state s income. However, the service sectors that flourished later and would appear to be the stupendous pillars of the economy of New York are the ones hardly hit by the current US recession. Of the many solutions that are proposed for economic recovery, very few have dealt with long term but sustainable solution. It appears that most of the projects will deal only with priming up the US economy by circulating government money. Very few policy makers are looking at agriculture as an important strategic focus to address the present economic crisis in spite of the fact that it is still the state s largest industry. New York state is endowed with rich natural resources and have the technological and human resources potential that can be fully explored for this development alternative. Furthermore, President Obama's Administration has made it clear that energy and environmental policies are his priorities. Reviving local agriculture with international dimension In spite of a large agriculture sector, much of New York State s food budget goes to outof-state agriculture interests. That agriculture is a highly subsidized sector in the US because there are more economically productive sectors is a policy that must end. Due to this protectionist policy in favor of agriculture but a policy bias against its own development, the State of New York purchase $43 billion worth of food each year, but only about $2.8 billion of it goes to the State s farmers. Agricultural production returns just over $3.0 billion to the state s economy annually. Even with huge food importation, there is still a report in the deficit of food supply. For instance, in New York City alone, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Market estimates that about 866 million $US worth of vegetables are still unmet. There is therefore a very clear reality that 25 percent of the state s land area or 7.6 million acres used by 37,000 farmers are far from being adequate to meet the huge food demand. The State of New York has also one of the most internationally diverse population in the United States. About a quarter of its population are of Hispanic and Asian origins. This population mix coupled with a changing international food orientation of American born

2 population that have adopted international foods such as Mexican, Chinese, and Japanese, have further resulted in widening the gap between production and food imports. There are efforts though that have been exerted in reviving local agriculture in New York. Impacts are not glaring though because interventions are not massive and often unsustainable. Some programs are established merely to address food security and nutrition or poverty in general. But as long as New York agriculture will not face and embrace the need to have the most modern and internationally competitive agriculture sector, the road map for agriculture to be a economically sustainable sector will never be drawn. The International Food Park Providing the Structure and Order There must be a solid solution. One alternative is to establish structures and orders that will guide New York state agriculture in addressing the needs to increase productivity and gross production, to revive agriculture as a significant source of employment, and to institute food safety systems. Hence, the establishment of an international food park in New York State is being proposed to provide the needed structure and order. The New York International Food Park is a physical, business, social, tourism and entertainment, and research and training infrastructure that will be established in a strategic place in the state. The most ideal place is still near the Metropolitan New York and with good access to the neighboring states and as far as the neighboring country of Canada. Based on the International Food Park model prepared by Wagenengin University in The Netherlands, it will be spread over 2500 acres which will encompass all the aspects of food supply chain and will facilitate unique integration of various agribusiness value chain components with spatial integration of different agro-production chains, processing units and non-agro functions in the states. The international food park will be linked to various production and trading centers in the state. It will also provide tremendous scope for economic transformation and employment generation including domestic and international tourism. The international food park being proposed will be easily accessible by road, rail, sea and air. The site will be also within easy distance, which will thus connect the park to international markets and thereby making this a logistically efficient site. If the intersection of major highways in New York is an important planning consideration, the area where two Interstate Highways I-87 and I-84 are meeting in Orange county is ideal. The nearby Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, New York is also ideal for the facilities. Nonetheless, the New York International Food Park will have facilities for: Production Green Houses, Glass Houses, Tunnels and Nurseries for plant production, integrated dairy farms, and livestock farms etc. Aggregation Market terminal, loading and unloading Yards, Sorting, Grading and Auction Halls Segregation Sorting-Grading-Repacking Facilities For Wet and Dry cargo

3 Post Harvest Pre-cooling, Ripening, Irradiation and Vapour Heat Treatment, IQF / Freeze dried / RTC / RTE Storage (Wet) Multi-chamber Cold Rooms, Commodity Cold Storage and Subzero Chambers Storage (Dry) Modern Warehouses, Silos, Oil Tanks and Fumigation Services Distribution Inward and Outward Logistics and Distribution/Consolidation Centers and container handling facilities etc. Value Addition Food Processing Zone and Built-to-suit Units for Large, Medium and Small Processing Units for meat & poultry, dairy, juices, cereals, snacks, pickles, confectionary, Nutraceuticals & Food Additives (ex. Pectin) and feed manufacturing and units as desired by the tenants. Quality World class Quality Control Lab, R&D Center and Pilot Plantincubation Facilities Amenities Admin Center, IT Center, Banking facilities Guest Rooms, Dormitory and Canteens Training Agri-polytechnic, Horticulture Training Center, Agri-clinics, Farmer Training Center and Retail Training are being proposed. Social Infrastructure Education, Health Care, Rural BPO, Rural Mart, Motel/Hotel, Rural Tourism, Residential Zone, Leisure and Entertainment Zone Common infrastructure utilities - Power Generation, Transmission & Distribution, Water Sourcing, Generation, Supply & Recycling System, Telecom & Info-com Infrastructure, Sewage / Effluent Treatment System, Solid Waste Management System etc.. Community development focus of the project Although the New York International Food Park will be established as an edifice that will portray a solid structure towards an internationally competitive agriculture economy in the state, its community focused will be functionally integrated as an active response to the perceived weakness that the recent development strategies in the US were inadequate in community development focus. On this basis, farming communities in New York will serve as the major production units of the food park. The park will also address concerns such as job training, business skill development, urban greening, farmland preservation, and community revitalization. The food park may be functionally linked to such resources that may include supermarkets, farmers markets, gardens, transportation, community-based food, processing ventures, and urban farms. The food park will also focus on self-reliance and empowerment. In line with the development of local agriculture, the international food park will establish better links between farmers and consumers, helping to strengthen consumer knowledge and concern about their food source. The food park will also focus on the food system, by focusing on collaboration among many partners involved in farming, processing, distributing, marketing and consuming food products. Participatory project ownership and accountability

4 The food park will embark on experimenting project ownership and accountability models. Its general ownership will be formed based on a mix of government, private sector, and community participation. The mutually harmonious relationships that will be established among these important sectors and stakeholders will provide the needed strength for the international food park. More important, the food park will attract the best technologies and business models in the world, a symbolism that New York must stand for in line with global development. Project cost and foreseen impact The project will cost roughly about 500 million to 1 billion $US. The planning and physical development cost of the project is being initially proposed for government assistance through the US Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Private sector investment will follow for the establishment of various business facilities. The foreseen impact of the project will include revitalizing local agriculture, employment generation, reduced dependency on imported food, internationally competitive agriculture sector, and more important its impact as a solid business and physical infrastructure for US economic recovery. Project Stage The project is still in the conceptualization stage although state of the art international food park models in China, India, and The Netherlands are still either in the planning or construction stages. The project planning stage of the project will be a collaborative undertaking among YES Bank of India, an Indian investment bank, Wageningen University in The Netherlands, the leading international food park planner in the world, and Global Green Technologies Corporation, a New York corporation. The partnership is looking for government assistance in the research and planning stage. But to further attract worthy investors and locators as worthy participants, a vigorous campaign right at the beginning of the project will be launched. Conclusion The New York International Food Park is a model that fully embraces community development and in effect, it will diligently advocate the business in development paradigm, which is perhaps the best answer to global economic recovery today. References: a) Dunlea Mark, McCarthy Sheila, Pasquantonio, Susannah, A Community Food Security Agenda for New York A Report by the Hunger Action Network of New York State, May

5 b) YES Bank of India and Wageningen University. Chennai Food Park Model, Project Management Office, Ground Floor- Nehru Centre; Discovery of India Building, Mumbai, India. February c) Better Policy for Farms, Food, and The Environment. March 2009