New Video Featuring North & South Fork Farmers Highlights

Professional Consulting Services Available Free of Charge 

NY FarmNet, a program of Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is proud to serve Long Island farmers with personalized, confidential, and free consulting services. Family consultant Becky Wiseman partners with financial consultants Greg Mruk and Michael Robertson to provide coaching and guidance to the Long Island agricultural community. A new video, filmed by Black Mountain Visuals, features Long Island farmers and the progress they have made with the support of NY FarmNet. The video highlights how farms have benefited from both the financial and family/personal coaching, a unique and holistic approach that has provided transformational assistance to keep Long Island farms and farmers healthy and moving forward.

Long Island has a rich history of farms spanning multiple generations, and with increasing pressure from development, farmers there face a unique set of challenges. Recognizing this, NY FarmNet’s video features farmers from both the North and South Forks in Suffolk County, as well as financial and family consultants Greg Mruk and Becky Wiseman, respectively. Fred Lee of Sang Lee Farms shares his personal struggles and how Wiseman helped him through an incredibly challenging time; John Halsey of the Milk Pail covers his mental health challenges with transitioning the farm to the next generation; Michael and Katie Sepenowski share their story of coming home to farm on the North Fork but realizing that was not the right path for them long term. Dan Heston from the Peconic Land Trust noted how NY FarmNet helped their farm incubator program with both the nuts and bolts of business planning and the emotional side of farming. Both Wiseman and Mruk helped these Long Island farmers accept that theirs is a deeply emotional, physically trying business to be in, and recognize that support exists. To view the video, visit www.nyfarmnet.org/video.

Becky Wiseman has been a NY FarmNet family consultant since 2017 and covers farm cases in Suffolk and Nassau counties, as well as upstate as needed. As a farm family consultant, Becky addresses the interpersonal and communication issues that inevitably accompany multi-generational family businesses. She has 25 years of experience with agriculture on Long Island – serving as both Associate Director at Long Island Farm Bureau and Agricultural Stewardship Coordinator at Suffolk County Cooperative Extension. This familiarity with the local farming community, coupled with her Masters in Social Work and experience running her own private practice providing individual, family, and group therapy, ensures her farm clients receive truly comprehensive services.

Greg Mruk has worked with NY FarmNet as a financial consultant since 2018. His 30 years of experience in agricultural lending through the USDA-Farm Service Agency and private banks, plus his personal farming experience provides him with a wealth of knowledge to assist farmers with business management challenges. Mruk’s diversified agricultural background, from managing a farm in California, to running his own multi-enterprise farm in the Hudson Valley and managing a local farmers market, gives him a unique perspective and understanding of the complex nature of a farm business. Greg lives in Dutchess County and travels to Long Island regularly.

Michael Robertson recently joined the FarmNet team to serve farmers in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island. He is a diversified livestock farmer that direct markets from his farm and in New York City. In a previous position, Michael started a sustainable agriculture program in Queens on the largest, most continually farmed land in New York City. Robertson’s experience on vegetable, meat, and dairy farms, coupled with his interest in value-added products, farm landscape design, technology for small scale farms, and the impacts of climate change, give him a unique and modern background from which to serve farm clients across the region. 

“Greg and Michael bring a unique skill set to Long Island as both are practicing farmers with business training and expertise. I look forward to continuing my work with Greg and welcome the opportunity of including Michael as part of our Long Island team of NY FarmNet consultants,” said Becky Wiseman, NY FarmNet family consultant.

NY FarmNet helps farmers, farm families, and agricultural professionals navigate times of crisis, growth, and opportunity. Farm clients are assigned both a family and a financial consultant to help address the many issues they may face. All services are free of charge and completely confidential. For more information or to request assistance, call 1-800-547-3276 or visit www.nyarmnet.org and click the red “Contact” button.   

NY FarmNet was founded by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University in response to the national  farm crisis in the 1980s. NY FarmNet still operates at Cornell as part of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management. The Dyson School is part of both Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the SC Johnson College of Business. NY FarmNet is funded by the NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets, NYS Office of Mental Health, the private sector, and individual donations. If you are interested in making a donation to NY FarmNet, visit www.nyfarmnet.org and click the banner across the top. Contact Kate Downes, Outreach Director, kdownes@cornell.edu with any questions or for more information.