Fracking vs. food: N.Y.’s choice
As chefs and proprietors of New York City restaurants, we care a great deal about the ingredients going into the dishes we serve to our customers: where they come from, how they’re produced and any health or safety risks they might carry.
At the same time, we are committed to providing sustainable and ecologically friendly dining, which means buying seasonal ingredients, often from upstate New York. Whether it is fresh fruits and vegetables, grass-fed animals or dairy products, we love what this state has to offer.
For these reasons and many others, we are deeply concerned about the prospect of hydrofracking in New York. Fracking — a controversial method of extracting natural gas from deep underground — could do serious damage to our state’s agricultural industry and hurt businesses, like ours, that rely on safe, healthy, locally sourced foods.
New York’s agricultural economy is strong and vast, and is an important economic driver for our state. We have the second-largest number of farmers’ markets in the country and the fourth-highest number of organic farms — and are the third-largest dairy-producing state. New York is second only to California in its wine production.
Read more at http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/fracking-food-n-y-s-choice-article-1.1357913