Land for future farmers eyed
Assemblywoman seeks $700K in state funding
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner is seeking $700,000 in state funding to help young farmers obtain the one thing they need most — land.
A proposed Farmland for a New Generation program is modeled after an existing Hudson Valley Farmlink Network that helps beginning farmers identify and buy land.
Funding, if approved, would boost this existing program and spread it to other parts of upstate New York.
“It’s been successful enough that I think it’s ready to go statewide,” said Woerner, D-Round Lake, an assembly Agriculture Committee member.
Hudson Valley Farmlink was initiated by American Farmland Trust’s state office, based in Saratoga Springs. In the last three years, it’s helped 105 farmers find the land they need, said David Haight, the trust’s state director.
The program’s database works as a two-way street by also giving existing farmers, who want to sell land, a way to find prospective buyers.
“I’ve spoken to a number of farmers who are approaching retirement age,” Woerner said. “They’re struggling with, what do we do with our land? How do we manage this transition if there’s no family member who wants to take over?”
Farmland Trust state Director David Haight said, “We’ve got 10,000 farmers in New York alone that are over age 65, managing two million acres of land. We don’t want that lost to real estate development.”
About 5,000 New York farms have been lost to development
since the 1980s, he said.
In some cases, rural property owners who don’t farm may want to lease their land for agricultural purposes. Farmlink helps connect these people, too, Haight said.
Woerner is one of 28 assembly members, including Agriculture Committee Chairman Bill Magee, D- Oneida County, that have written to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, seeking funding for the New Generation program.
Money would come from the state Environmental Protection Fund and would be spent two ways.
The first $ 200,000 would allow for creation of a statewide farmland resource center, at Farmland Trust offices in Saratoga Springs. It would include a new website and an expert staff person trained to help any new and beginning farmer find the land they need.
Another $500,000, administered by the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, would provide grants to those who need financial assistance with farmland purchases.
Haight said the program’s success will depend heavily on partnerships with existing grassroots land preservation groups such as Saratoga PLAN, the Agricultural Stewardship Association, which serves Washington and Rensselaer counties, and agencies such as Cornell Cooperative Extension.
“No single agency can deal with a problem of this scale,” Haight said.