They're very prevalent in dairy communities across the North Country. Kids refer to them as large marshmallows in fields of grass. And sometimes they resemble long strings of marshmallow fluff seen among grazing cows. But they're not a sugary confectionary.

In reality, they're large white sheets of plastic that protect products of a farmer's fields: round hay bales, silage and the like, hardly the sweet substance they resemble.

Until two articles appeared in this past Sunday's Press-Republican, we're sure many non-agriculture folks never knew for sure what was under the white sheeting or gave a second thought to what happened to this plastic after it's outlived in usefulness.

Both stories told of a new recycling process in the Champlain Valley to largely reduce or eliminate large amounts agricultural plastics from being incinerated, buried or placed in our landfills, and perhaps do so at a profit.

With a $250,000 grant engineered by the Champlain Watershed Improvement Coalition of New York, which includes Clinton and five other counties bordering Lake Champlain, Clinton County took its share of the money and contracted with Big Foot Plastic Baler, a Florida-based company that has developed equipment that can compact up to a ton of plastic covering into a four-by-four-foot cube of plastic.

Using plastic to cover hay and silage is a pricey but necessary item for area farmers. For example, one 9-by-200-foot plastic bag costs $375, and half of the solid-waste cost for farmers is tied to plastics disposal.

Besides offering farmers a way to remove plastics from their businesses, the process will also benefit the environment.

And just as important is the fact the equipment will be available to area farmers free of charge while the grant money lasts, a tremendous encouragement to help farmers who can't afford to purchase such equipment on their own.

Further, there's the hope that markets can be found; they're currently in development. There's no profit in the plastic-recycling strategy now, but with developing technology, they hope the 2,000-pound cubes of plastic can become profitable.

North Country farmers are a resilient bunch and they're quick to lend a hand to each other in a time of need. Seminars will be scheduled throughout the region on the process itself. In fact, a representative from the company manufacturing the Big Foot Plastic Baler will be available to farmers on-site as farmers start to use the machinery. Farmers who've used the equipment will help, too.

Being able to recycle their agricultural plastics and make a few dollars as well sounds like a win-win proposition to us. We hope a majority of North Country farmers take advantage of the new process.