Ag districts gaining land, report says

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. >> The amount of farmland being included in designated agricultural districts across Dutchess County has grown over the past eight years, and the ways that land is being farmed is changing, according to a report issued by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County.

Since 2008, the number of acres in the four agricultural districts in Dutchess County has grown by 19 percent, to 196,164 acres from the 164,380 acres, according to the report. Farmland in agricultural districts now makes up 38 percent of the county’s total land base.

The report was completed as part of a county initiative to create an “agricultural navigator” to work with municipalities, the farming community and agricultural organizations on agricultural issues and solutions, economic viability and sustainability of farming, and opportunities and feasibility of new infrastructures related to agriculture, as well as to assist in the implementation of the Dutchess County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan.

“This is ... so people understand the impact and how important agriculture really is in this area,” said Jennifer Fimbel, the Dutchess County agricultural navigator. “Everybody says agriculture is dyin,g and it really isn’t. At least in Dutchess County, it keeps growing little by little by little.

“I think that are farmers here in the county are innovators, they’re entrepreneurs, they’re on top of what is current in terms of foods and how to get to it the marketplace,” Fimbel said.

The report looked at a variety of agricultural measures, including jobs created, top agricultural commodities and the changing nature of agriculture, and it outlined steps to be taken to ensure the continued success of farming in the county.