New York is losing farmland at an unsustainable rate, threatening the state's food security, economy, and environment. The state's Farmland Protection Program, funded by the Environmental Protection Fund, has successfully protected over 300 farms and 72,000 acres but was cut 83% in funding between 2008-2010. As a result, the program has ground to a halt, leaving 61 farm families awaiting payment for conservation easements. To address this crisis, New York must restore funding to the Farmland Protection Program, complete existing easement projects, and strengthen incentives and capacity for ongoing farmland conservation.

1. Renew New York’s
Commitment
to Protecting Farms
For Future Generations
The Loss of Farms Hurts New York’s
Economy & Food Security

2. New York State:
Losing Farms Fast
Concern about food security, access to
locally grown foods, nutrition, and public
health issues such as childhood obesity has
never been higher. Yet, New York continues
to lose a farm to development every 3 ½
days. Over the last 25 years New York
State has lost half a million acres of farmland
to subdivisions, strip malls and other
scattered development.
Farmland Loss
Threatens New York’s
Food Security
• Today, New York’s active
farmland is capable of feeding
only 6 million of the state’s population of
over 19 million. That’s just 30 percent of state residents.
• 83 percent of the fruits, vegetables and dairy products
produced in New York State are grown on land near cities
lying directly in the path of sprawling development.

3. The Loss of Farms Hurts
the State’s Economy
The growing, processing, buying and selling of
food has traditionally formed the foundation
of all economies — and New York State is no
different. New York’s farms generated $4.7
billion in economic activity in 2009 and serve
as the cornerstone of the state’s $31 billion
farm and food industry. Without enough
farmland to meet New York’s demand for food
we are sending our food dollars out of state.
• Farms and farm-related businesses
provide jobs in New York State, directly
employing well over 100,000 people.
Each of these on-farm jobs support
approximately 3.5 jobs off the farm. That’s
350,000 jobs that depend on agriculture.
• Farmers support the state economy by
spending money close to home. In 2007
farmers spent $3.5 billion on supplies and
services, putting money back into their local
economies.

4. Protecting Farmland
in New York
Successful Program Stems
Loss of Farms
Established in 1996, New York State’s Farmland
Protection Program supports local efforts to
protect agricultural land from development
and ensure the economic viability of agriculture.
The Farmland Protection Program is funded by
the state’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF).
• Since 1992, 50 counties and 64 towns
have received funds to develop agricultural
and farmland protection plans to spur
local action in supporting farming and
stemming the loss of farmland.
• New York State has awarded over $173
million in grants to permanently protect
over 300 farms encompassing 72,000 acres
of farmland with agricultural conservation
easements.

5. $900 Total State Spending on Farmland Protection Programs for Northeast States
$800
(Millions of Dollars) $826
New York Lags Behind
Other States
$710
$700
$600
$552
$500 • Pennsylvania has almost as much farmland
$400 as New York State but has protected 13
$300 times more of it — and that’s with a state
$200
$116 $124
$182
budget half the size of New York’s.
$87
$100
$57
$0
$4 $15 $28
• New Jersey, with only a tenth of New
York’s farmland, has spent 10 times more
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6. Funding Cuts Bring
Farmland Protection
Efforts to Standstill
New York’s Farmland Protection Program
stopped protecting new farms in 2008,
despite the fact that the state continues
to lose farmland at the rate of two acres
an hour.
• In 2008, the Farmland Protection Program was
originally funded at $30 million. By 2010 the program’s
funding had been cut to $5.2 million. That is an 83
percent cut.
• At the end of 2010, 61 farm families who have been
awarded $70 million in state funding to protect their
farms remain unpaid. This backlog represents 40 percent
of the purchase of development rights grants awarded
since the program’s inception.
• Some of these families have been waiting three years or
more to receive payment from the state. To make matters
worse, over $23 million of federal, local and private funds
that are committed to these projects are in jeopardy.

7. Environmental EPF Funding for Farmland Protection Program
SFY 2006-07-SFY 2010-11
Protection Fund Cuts $35,000,000
Affect Farmland &
$30,000,000
$25,000,000
Food Security $20,000,000
$15,000,000
The state’s Environmental Protection Fund is
$10,000,000
$5,000,000
the sole source of funding for the Farmland $0
Protection Program. The Environmental 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-11 Budget
Appropriation
2010-2011 After
Executive
Funding
Protection Fund was created in 1993 to invest Reduction
in protecting New York’s water, air and land
resources. It is financed with funding from the
state’s real estate transfer tax.
• In 2008, the Environmental
Protection Fund
appropriation was $255
million, but by 2010 it had
decreased by 47 percent to
$134 million.
• Almost $500 million has
been swept from the Environmental
Protection Fund to pay for other state expenses—
money that has never been repaid.

8. Renew New York State’s
Commitment to Protecting
Farmland
New York State must take action to stem the loss of farms
that threatens our economy and food security.
1. Maintain Integrity of the
Environmental Protection Fund (EPF)
• Sustain $134 million in EPF funding and disbursements.
• Ensure EPF dollars are spent on the environment and
not swept into the General Fund or diluted by offloads.
2. Rebuild New York’s Farmland
Protection Program
• Commit at least $12 million from the EPF for farmland
protection and pursue alternative funding sources to
complete existing farmland protection projects by the
end of 2014.
• Begin pursuing new farmland protection projects by the
end of 2013.

9. 3. Sustain State and Local
Capacity to Protect Farms
While Improving Program
Efficiency
• Continue to streamline the Farmland
Protection Program with the goal of
protecting farms in less than two years.
• Sustain staffing at the Department of
Agriculture and Markets to administer the
Farmland Protection Program and other
4. Authorize Conservation
core agency functions.
Incentives for Local
• Provide $1.575 million to the Conservation
Partnership Program to strengthen land Governments and Maximize
trust capacity and sustainability. the Use of Federal Resources
• Authorize local governments to enact new
incentives focused on slowing the loss of
farmland. Encourage funding for federal
programs and tax incentives to maximize the
use of federal resources for protecting farms
in New York.

10. New York Office
112 Spring St., Suite 207 • Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518) 581-0078 phone • (518) 581-0079 fax
www.farmland.org/newyork • newyork@farmland.org
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