Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Joins New York Farm Bureau and Farmers to Highlight Her FY27 Budget Proposals

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul today joined the New York Farm Bureau, Northeast Dairy Producers and farmers from Upstate to highlight her proposals to bring down auto insurance rates and tackle fraudulent claims across New York State. The Governor’s common-sense reforms will battle fraud, limit damages paid out to bad actors and ensure that drivers, not insurance companies, are prioritized. Additionally, Governor Hochul proposed $30 million in her FY27 Budget for direct “tariff relief” for New York farmers to offset increased costs for equipment, fertilizer and supplies caused by federal tariffs. These measures build on Governor Hochul’s ongoing efforts to make the state more affordable and put money back into the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 Welcome to Wagner Farm in Poestenskill, which I was just told by the grandson of the local historian that I may be the first governor who ever came to this beautiful part of our state. So, proud to be here, joined by Keith Wagner. Keith is a part of three generations of Wagners. I met his grandmother who told me how she and her husband met in college and came up from New Jersey and Long Island, and found God's country here and have kept the business going. And we're so grateful for that continuation with Keith and his parents and the grandparents as well.

I’m also joined by Kim Skellie, the Vice President of the New York Farm Bureau. The Farm Bureau has been so instrumental in helping champion many of our pro-farmer policies, of which there are many this year. And also Allyson Jones-Brimmer, the Executive Director of the Northeast Dairy Producers Association. We've worked so closely together to try to create more markets and capability for our farmers, especially our dairy farmers. And of course, Commissioner Ball — Mr. Farm, himself. And I want to thank him for years of public service where we have used his expertise as an active farmer himself still in helping the farmers across our great state.

So, we're here because it's been a tough year for our farmers. It's been really brutal and we know how important they are to our state. And because of that and a history I have — my family are dairy farmers in Ireland. I visited the farm many times, and they concluded that I would never make a good farmer's wife and I shouldn't continue in the field. So I took that advice from my grandmother. But here I am being able to be a champion for farmers, and I was proud in Congress to represent the counties that are the largest dairy producers — Wyoming County and others. And so, I got very immersed in the culture and the challenges, and how I can use government to help lift them up because it is an $8.5 billion industry here in our state — one that must be protected as well as recognizing that we need the food that comes from these farms.

And we've seen a loss of family farms over the last many decades because of costs. And I'm going to keep fighting to make sure that we can protect the ones that we still have remaining with us. You know, we have great products. We're number one in many dairy products like yogurt and cottage cheese — number one in the nation. Number two for apples and maple syrup. And our maple syrup is the very best in the world. But also, you know, we talked about what they're dealing with — and you'll hear more from Keith — just a little over a year ago when the tariffs started from the Trump administration. It just slammed our farmers, you know, very early on. Allyson and Kim know this.

We convened our farmers to talk about what's happening and ingredients for fertilizer that are essential for our farms only come from a few places in the world. One of them is Canada. The wood shavings that you see at many of our farms and the lumber was always coming from Canada, and it has absolutely been thrown into chaos. Their ability to project their costs, I mean, no one saw this coming. And weren't tariffs supposed to reduce prices for everybody? Still waiting for that one. So I want to just focus on some of those challenges. And you know, I just talked to — and we’re going to hear from Keith soon, but — talking to another farmer, when I did a forum with farmers a few weeks ago, you know, Jim Bitner told me that fertilizer costs are up 30 percent and the specialty equipment that they have to import is up 50 percent. Now farmers are living on the margins. They do the very best they can and they're providing a great service to all of us. Thank God they do what they do, working hard 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But they're getting slammed with these tariff costs, but that's not the only one.

Exports are down. Other countries like Canada are not buying our products, so it's hurting their abilities to make a profit. Then you have the cost of utilities going up and up, and Keith can tell you a little bit about that futuristic structure over there that is actually a biodigester, which is innovative. I wish we could help more farmers and I want to help more farmers secure this technology to be able to help reduce their on-farm costs. But you know — talk about gas prices. I mean, gas prices since the war started just a few weeks ago is up over 40 percent, but imagine having vehicles like this only operating on diesel, which is now approaching $6 a gallon. I guarantee when the Wagner families did their budgeting last year and early this year, they could not have anticipated that on top of the tariffs that came out of the blue, on top of inflation, which was ever present, on top of that is now self-inflicted wounds to all of our farmers and everyone who drives a vehicle because of the high cost of gas.

So it's a lot. It's a lot what our farmers are having to deal with. Now, let's throw one more thing on top of this: the high cost of auto insurance. Now everybody thinks this only affects the people on the highways and the big roads, but it's affecting the farm equipment here. The cost of just filling up one of the tanks of these trucks that come in every day and take the milk — it's incredible. And now that's just another cost that is being born on the backs of our hardworking farmers. It is too much.

So I want to talk about the car insurance, the auto insurance. As you know, I'm championing this because New Yorkers pay among the highest in the nation, with an average of $4,000 per vehicle. And we'll hear about what that means on a place like a working farm like this, but also about $1,500 more than our neighboring states. Now, money like that, if you get a reduction — which is what I'm fighting for, because I want to reduce the cost-drivers that are making us among the highest with excessive litigation and fraud — if we do that there's a lot more that Keith and his family can do with the money here on the farm instead of having to send it off in insurance premiums.

So I want to talk about one more thing. I'm also committed to doing everything I can to alleviate the stress on our farmers. That's why in this year's Budget — and I want to get this passed in the Budget as soon as we can — $30 million set aside in a tariff relief fund for our farmers, just to help them a little bit. How this works, and Commissioner Ball will know all the answers on this if you have any, it's going to find a way that we can get the money directly into the family farms in particular, direct support for specialty crop growers and livestock producers and dairy farmers. And also, not just our farmers, but as I talked about yesterday, the businesses in this country are now eligible to get a refund on the tariffs, because as the Supreme Court said, it was an illegal scheme.

Illegal meaning the money has to go back. But I'm also looking at New York families who over the last year since this went into place are paying through the nose. They're paying so much more for every single product. So we are owed $13.5 billion in the State of New York. On average $1,700 per family and we're fighting to get that return. So lastly, the money we're putting in the refundable investment tax credit program to help farmers for another $15 million for our dairy farm modernization. So all these are within the Budget. But also — and you will hear about the bio digester — It's a great way to generate fuel from waste products.

This is the way it has been done in Europe for decades. It needs to be done more here. And I want to keep focusing on that innovation and also focusing on how we can bring down the cost of energy by helping farms do this, as well as making some revisions to our climate law, which I think is going to be hopefully getting over the finish line soon. So all of this, all these stress factors, all these cost drivers on our small businesses and particularly our farmers, is really making life so difficult.

So I'm here, came out here personally just to say we're here for you and to tell the agricultural community we have their backs. A lot of this is just unforeseen outside their control, but they have a governor who understands the high value of agriculture in our state and for our people.

So, with that, let me bring up Keith Wagner who's going to talk about what's going on at the family farm here. Keith, thank you very much.