Sunnyside Farms of Cayuga County Selected for New York AEM-Leopol...

New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball today joined the Sand County Foundation to announce that Sunnyside Farms of Scipio Center has been selected for the New York Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM)-Leopold Conservation Award. The award honors farmers and forestland owners who go above and beyond in the management of soil health, water quality, and wildlife habitat on working land.

Brothers Greg and Neil Rejman, who own and operate Sunnyside Farms, were presented with the award by Commissioner Ball and the Sand County Foundation at a special ceremony on October 10. Sunnyside Farms encompasses 7,500 acres nestled between Cayuga and Owasco Lakes. The farm is home to approximately 5,000 dairy cows with an additional 4,000 replacement stock. The Rejmans implement conservation practices with thoughtfulness and purpose throughout their farm for the benefit of water quality and climate, including long-standing participation in AEM with the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District. The Rejmans are active participants in education and outreach on their dairy, which includes opening their farm to research, hosting trainings, and holding tours for state agencies and local community and industry members.

Commissioner Ball said, “New York’s AEM-Leopold Conservation Award is an annual opportunity to recognize landowners who inspire others with their dedication to land, water, and wildlife habitat management and who are dedicated to leaving the land better than how they found it, each and every day. We thank the Sand County Foundation for collaborating with us to host this most distinguished award and congratulate the Rejman family, Sunnyside Farms, and the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District for their incredible work stewarding the land in their care. You serve as an inspiration to other farm families across New York who are keeping their land healthy, productive, and thriving.” 

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar said, “Farms like Sunnyside play a central role in feeding our families while also protecting soil and water quality in communities across New York State. Congratulations to Sunnyside Farms for their well-deserved AEM-Leopold Conservation Award, which recognizes dedication to environmental stewardship, soil conservation, and storm resiliency to help sustain their farm for future generations. Farms like Sunnyside are great examples of how New York’s agricultural community is helping meet the challenge of our changing climate.”

Kevin McAleese, Sand County Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer said, “These award recipients are examples of how Aldo Leopold’s land ethic is alive and well today. Their dedication to conservation shows how individuals can improve the health of the land while producing food and fiber.”

New York’s longstanding Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) Award joined forces with the nationally recognized Leopold Conservation Award^® program in 2020. The New York AEM-Leopold Conservation Award honors a farm and its nominating Soil and Water Conservation District for their efforts to promote and protect the environment through the preservation of soil and water quality while helping to ensure farm viability for future generations.

Earlier this year, New York State Soil and Water Conservation Districts were encouraged to identify and nominate the best examples of conservation success in their district. Applications were reviewed by an independent panel of agricultural and conservation leaders from New York.

Sand County Foundation, a national nonprofit conservation organization, presents a $10,000 cash award through the support of American Farmland Trust, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Farm Credit East, The Ida and Robert Gordon Family Foundation, Audubon New York, New York Farm Bureau, McDonald’s, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the New York State Agribusiness Association.

New York State Soil and Water Conservation District Chair Dale Stein said, “Congratulations to Sunnyside Farms and the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District on their selection as the 2024 AEM-Leopold Conservation Award winner. We are honored to host this most distinguished award, which recognizes an individual or a farm family and a supporting Conservation District dedicated to the implementation of sound land management practices that benefit all New Yorkers.”

John Piotti, American Farmland Trust President and Chief Executive Officer said, “As the national sponsor for Sand County Foundation’s Leopold Conservation Award, American Farmland Trust celebrates the hard work and dedication of the New York recipient. At AFT we believe that conservation in agriculture requires a focus on the land, the practices and the people and this award recognizes the integral role of all three.”

Sand County Foundation and national sponsor American Farmland Trust will present Leopold Conservation Awards to landowners in 28 states this year. Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, the award recognizes farmers who inspire others with their dedication to environmental improvement. In his influential 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, Leopold called for “a land ethic,” an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage.

ABOUT SUNNYSIDE FARMS

Every seed is planted with purpose at Sunnyside Farms. Brothers Greg and Neil Rejman say it has been that way since their grandfather milked 14 cows by hand. Over the years, the Rejmans have grown their dairy herd and their supporting land base for crop production, but the farm’s commitment to conservation has not changed.

Now with 5,000 dairy cows and 4,000 heifers and calves on 7,500 acres, the sheer size and scale of Sunnyside Farms is impressive, but what happens behind the scenes and beneath its soil is what’s most remarkable.

The Rejmans have managed their family’s farm in New York’s Finger Lakes region since the 1930s. The farmstead is situated six miles to the east and west of Cayuga Lake and Owasco Lake and they grow crops to feed their cows in both watersheds, which provide drinking water to nearly 150,000 people. They focus on doing the right thing to protect the water quality of area streams and lakes.

Buffer strips and grass waterways line their corn fields to conserve soil and protect streams during storms. They note that they manage enough buffers and waterways to entirely encircle Owasco Lake. Facilities were designed to recycle wash water from the milking parlor and leachate from their silage storage bunkers for fertilizer. Instead of growing corn on about 900 acres of steep-sloped, erosion-prone farmland, permanent hay fields and grasslands have been established to use manure nutrients to produce high quality forage for their herd. Each year 100 acres of grass is reseeded to maintain soil stability.

Soil health practices, like cover crops, reduced tillage, strip cropping, and rotating corn with hay increase the soil’s capacity to infiltrate water, cycle nutrients, and sequester carbon, while decreasing erosion and runoff. Cover crops provide a year-round layer of protection and biodiversity to the soil on the farm’s more than 3,500 acres of corn. To reduce the negative impacts of soil compaction, machinery at Sunnyside Farms is purposely equipped with flotation tires.

The Rejmans completed stream stabilization projects, and a variety of conservation practices, in collaboration with the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District, which underscores their dedication to environmental stewardship. Their efforts have resulted in more habitat for wild turkey, geese, ducks, bald eagles, and ospreys.

In 2008, in addition to its significant manure storage system, the Rejmans invested in a manure digester that generates renewable electricity and natural gas in quantities enough to power 800 homes. Every material has a use at Sunnyside Farms, so manure solids from the digester are recycled as comfortable, homemade livestock bedding. As part of the farm’s precision nutrient management system, manure liquids are injected as fertilizer into crop fields, rather than surface applied, to reduce runoff potential and enhance nutrient recycling.

More than 10 miles of carefully engineered underground piping transfers manure from the storage facility to the field. This reduces the need for heavy manure hauling equipment on rural roadways, and likewise eliminates the potential for accidental manure spillage onto roads or ditches. Recently, cover and flare systems have been added to manure storage facilities to mitigate odor and further reduce the farm’s carbon footprint.

Sunnyside Farms also puts applied research into practice to diversify and improve the resiliency of their pest management strategies through biological pest control alternatives such as nematodes. Such innovations are aided by the farm’s proximity to Cornell University. As host for a variety of crop, dairy, and environmental research projects, the Rejmans consider themselves lucky to learn from the expertise of Cornell’s professors and graduate students.

They also credit Sunnyside Farms’ team of about 70 staff with helping them demonstrate agriculture’s resiliency in a changing climate. Off the farm, the Rejmans are members of Partners for Healthy Watersheds, Owasco Lake Watershed Inspection Committee, and Cornell’s Nutrient Management Spear Program External Advisory Committee.

Last year’s AEM-Leopold Conservation Award recipient was Dygert Farms of Palatine Bridge. For more information on the award, visit www.leopoldconservationaward.org.

LEOPOLD CONSERVATION AWARDS recognize landowner achievement in voluntary conservation. Sand County Foundation presents the award in California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and in New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont). www.leopoldconservationaward.org

NEW YORK STATE AEM AWARD

New York State’s annual Agricultural Environmental Management Award winners are chosen from nominees submitted by County Soil and Water Conservation Districts from around the state. The first Agricultural Environmental Management Award was presented in 2002; prior to that, the award was known as the Agricultural Stewardship Award.

New York State’s AEM framework is a model for the nation as a voluntary, incentive-based approach to protect natural resources and meet the economic needs of the agricultural community.

AMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST

American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through its No Farms, No Food message. Since its founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally sound farming practices on millions of additional acres, and supported thousands of farm families. www.farmland.org

SAND COUNTY FOUNDATION

Sand County Foundation inspires and empowers a growing number of private landowners to ethically manage natural resources in their care, so future generations have clean and abundant water, healthy soil to support agriculture and forestry, plentiful habitat for wildlife and opportunities for outdoor recreation. www.sandcountyfoundation.org