Hudson River

Foodway Corridor Study

Lower Hudson Long Island

Resource Conservation and

Development Council

Agreement #21190

Agriculture in New York State

• 36,000 farms*

• 7,000,000 acres of farmland*

• Average size of farm = 194 acres*

• Value of products sold = $4.4B**

• 75% of farms have annual sales <$50K**

• 670,000 acres of farmland lost between

2000 and 2010***

*2011 State Agriculture Overview by NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets

**2007 Census of Agriculture State Profile by USDA NY Agricultural Statistics Service

***2012 Statistical Abstract by the US Census Bureau

Local Food Movement

• Pride of New York

• Country of Origin Labeling

• NYC local/regional procurement guidelines

• 54 Farmers Markets with 230 family farms

and fishermen in NYC*

• > $800 million in potential annual demand for

local products**

*GrowNYC, Green Market web page

**A Study on Development of NYC Wholesale Farmer’s Market. 2005. Market Ventures, Inc./Karp Resources

Vision

A sustainable, regional food distribution system

that empowers the farming industry of New York

State, provides high quality food to the urban

residents, and revitalizes the region’s waterways

as the transportation corridor

Goals & Objectives

• Assess the feasibility of transporting NYS

agricultural products to NYC using the Hudson

River

Analyze transportation logistics

Survey producers to assess needs and

interest

Compile an inventory of agricultural

products

Compare truck vs. barge transport

Transportation Logistics Findings

• Value-added vs. produce market model

• Riverfront infrastructure

• New York City marine terminals

• Preliminary cost estimates

Study conducted by the Sustainable Ports

Transportation Logistics

Value-added model

• Aggregation and sorting add value

• Existing facilities associated with specific

farms

• Within a few hours drive to the city

Produce market model

• Requires a wholesale market/distributor

• Multiple trucks from farms converge at port

Transportation Logistics

Riverfront infrastructure

• West side of the river

• Not restricted to either RoRo or container

• Four ports

Port of Albany

Port of Coeymans

Newburgh

Kingston

Transportation Logistics

New York City marine terminals

• Capability

• Food related operations

• Backhaul

Transportation Logistics

Component Containers

(Albany to

Red Hook)

RoRo

(Coeymans to

Red Hook)

Notes

Barge (lease cost) $2,375 $2,375 $9,500/month for a lease >3 mos., 4 trips/mo

Tug with crew & fuel $7,200 $6,400 $400/hr as quoted by a vendor

Truck to barge $2,000 Loading and unloading

Container to barge $40,000 Loading and unloading

# of containers/trucks 100 10

Cost one way $56,775 $17,175

Round trip cost $111,175 $31,175 Without backhaul

Per container/truck $1,112 $3,118

Preliminary cost estimates

Transportation Logistics Summary

• Produce market model more feasible unless

aggregation/cold storage facility becomes

available

• Port of Albany or Port of Coeymans are

potential ports

• Port labor needs consideration

Agricultural Assessment Findings

• Catchment area for agricultural products

• High potential products

• Agricultural product inventory

• Producer attitudes

Study conducted by Karp Resources

Agricultural Assessment

Catchment area

• Distance to the city from the port

• Distance to the port

• Production volume

The role of agriculture in the New York State economy, the NYS Comptroller

Agricultural Assessment

Product inventory

Types of products Volume produced Total sales (in

millions)

Acres

harvested

Vegetables grown for fresh

market sales

11.3 million cwt $329 58,500

Vegetables for processing 113, 000 tons $27 23,400

Total vegetable production 13,56 million cwt $356 81,900

Product Volume (cwt) Value ($/cwt) Total sales (in

millions)

Acres

Cabbage 4,708 $20.00 $86.6 10,700

Squash 836 $51.30 $42.9 4,400

Apples 12,000 N/A $251.0 42,000

Agricultural Assessment

Catchment area

Hudson Valley Central NYS

Number of farms 7,116 7,820

Value of products (in million dollars) $646 $1,530

Acres of farms (in million acres) 1.2 1.9

Percent of the total value of NY agricultural

products

14.6% 34.7%

Types of products Poultry/livestock

(61%)

Crop (39%)

Poultry/livestock

(60%)

Crop (40%)

Cabbage production volume (in cwt) 52 4,433

Squash production volume (in cwt) 52 133

Apple production volume (in cwt) 3,124 8,259

Agricultural Assessment

Producer attitude

• Costs and logistics

Transport costs

Prices paid by buyer

Transaction logistics

Trusted distributor

• Travel duration

Long travel counter to consumer demand

Agricultural Assessment

Producer attitude

• Production volume

Uncertainty in ability to meet volume

requirement

• Controlling entity

Brokering or sales service tied to barge

operation

Marketing, relationship building,

aggregation

Agricultural Assessment Findings

• Central NYS produces products and volumes

more appropriate for barge

• Catchment area needs to be balanced with

distance to port vs. distance to NYC

• Logistics and costs (both transport & sale

prices) important to producers

Mode Comparison Findings

• Travel time

• Fuel consumption

• Fuel costs

• Emissions

Study conducted by the New West Technologies

Mode Comparison

Origin:

• Pomona Packing, Wolcott, NY

Destinations

• Hunts Point Produce Market

• Red Hook Container Terminal

Mode Comparison

Combinations

• Tug/barge with eTRU containers

• Tug/barge with containers

• Tug/barge with eTRU trailers

• Tug/barge with trailers

• Truck with eTRU

• Truck

Fuel consumption

Emissions

Mode Comparison Findings

• For the selected origin-port-destination

configuration, no benefits for barge

• Two primary reasons for the findings:

Geometry of the transport routes is

significant

Volume of products

No. trailers vs. fuel savings

Conclusion

• Minimum volume of containers/trailers

• Geographical relationship of origin-port-

destination

• Aggregation & Value-added processing

• Product control & logistics

• New market creation & product promotion

• Costs (transportation & produce price)

Future Research

• Mid-size farms (earning $50K to $499K) in

need of new market opportunities

• Product aggregation business model – link to

Hudson Valley Food Hub?

• Product types

• Transportation logistics

• Backhaul

• Long Island?

Acknowledgement

• Joe Tario, NYSERDA

• Members of the Technical Advisory Committee

• Sustainable Ports

• New West Technologies

• Karp Resources