Farmland Protection

Good news from Albany for those of us who think protecting working farms should be a state priority. David Haight, the New York director of American Farmland Trust, sent us an email that says the following:

... Governor Paterson signed into law S. 7908/A. 11511 that makes private, non-profit land trusts eligible for grants from the state's Farmland Protection Program to support their work with local governments and farmland owners on farmland protection projects.  This is a significant step forward in building local capacity to develop and complete high-quality farmland protection projects as land trusts are involved in completing and holding permanent conservation easements in approximately 75% of state-funded farmland protection projects.  ..

Westchester Land Trust has been involved in two state-funded farmland protection projects - Stuart's Fruit Farm, in the Granite Springs section of Somers, and Hemlock Hill Farm, which is on the Yorktown Cortlandt border. In both cases, we worked to help the county acquire the funding through the state program. Under the new law, land trusts will be eligible to receive grants directly, which might make farmland protection more efficient.

Here's another excerpt from David Haight's email:

State legislators enacted a number of budget and legislative priorities this session that will help accelerate farmland protection in New York including:

• $30 million was appropriated for the Farmland Protection Program in the State Budget. This is almost a 100% increase from 3 years ago and puts New York as one of the 5 best funded state programs in the nation.
• 2 new staff positions were included in the Department of Agriculture and Markets budget to work on farmland protection programs. These positions constitute at least a 50% increase in state capacity and will result in farms being protected more quickly through the state's Farmland Protection Program.

These actions will result in real impacts on farms and communities around New York.  The $30 million in state funding will likely result in the protection of 10,000 to 15,000 acres on 25-35 farms.  The new staff and land trust funding will mean that high-quality projects will be cultivated that are much more likely to be completed in less than 2 years (rather than the 3 to 5 years historically required).