More Money Available For New York’s Farmland Protection Program

Farmers are very important people and farms are very special places. While that seems like a simple, and obvious, statement to make, unfortunately not everyone sees it that way. Which is amazing to me, because where would we be without our farmers and our local farms. They are very important to our health and well-being as well as our economy.

Thankfully, for the past twenty years, New York State has funded the Farmland Protection Implementation Grant program. This program helps farmers protect valuable and at-risk farmlands. This year, on the twentieth anniversary of the program, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that $26 million is now available for the program for this year, a $5 million increase over last year.

Here's how some of the monies were put to use a bit north of us.

While in the past, applying for this hasn't been the easiest, the New York Department of Agriculture has streamlined the application process. There are fewer forms to complete and the previous restriction of $29,000-per-acre limitation of the state's contribution towards these projects has been removed.

In addition, municipalities, counties, soil and water conservation districts and land trusts are eligible to apply for individual grants through the program's Round 14 Request for Proposals to protect viable agricultural land from being converted to non-agricultural use. You can get the application here.

For deadlines, forms, and any additional information, click here.