In April, New York state hit a big number in its increasing effort to protect dwindling farmland.
The question is whether what the state government is doing, and what many other states are also trying to accomplish, is enough to reverse a trend that is seeing much of the nation’s farmland in jeopardy of being sold and turned into something else.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that through its Farmland Protection Implementation Grant program, the state broke through the crucial 100,000-acre number as it announced that the program has helped preserve more than 107,000 acres of farmland through completed conservation easement projects totaling more than $250 million on nearly 370 farms.
The governor signed legislation last year to contribute to national efforts to conserve at least 30 percent of national land and water by 2030, less than seven years away.
Hopefully this is the start of a yeoman effort by New York and many other states across the country to help farmers maintain their business in light of rising real estate costs, higher property taxes in some states and the much higher cost of operating farms in current times. Officials across the country worry that with climate change and a dwindling number of farms, a stable food supply could be at risk if immediate steps are not taken to protect these operations.
Across the nation, various farming agencies say that more needs to be done to help farmers stay ahead of the curve and make ends’ meet. As we all know, the cost of being a farmer is becoming prohibitive for many, especially small family farms that are finding it more difficult to make the profit they need to maintain their operations. In some cases, with profits falling, some farmers, especially those closer to major metropolitan areas, are tempted by the opportunity to cash out, often for big bucks.
New York, and much of the Northeast, is a great example. With about seven million acres of farms throughout the state, farming in several regions of the state, particularly Long Island and the northern suburbs of New York City, is becoming much more expensive for the operators. With housing for workers at a premium, the price to house these employees is skyrocketing, meaning a demand for higher salaries.
On the other hand, developers in this region of the state are becoming much more aggressive with offers to buy their property and usually turn them into lucrative housing developments in a region where some say the housing stock needs to be quickly increased by 10 percent to 20 percent over the next decade.
The temptation is there for some farmers. This has state officials worried that a slow trickle of farm sales could quickly mushroom out of control and impact the entire industry in New York and, eventually, create a national emergency.
In the words of New York state assembly member Donna Lupardo, “The program keeps agricultural land in production and helps keep farmers on the land. This effort now supports other key goals as food security, climate resiliency and water protection, acknowledging the vital role farmers play in environmental stewardship.”
What that means is that New York and almost all of the other 50 states need to continue to pump money into making sure that their farmers can continue to operate their farms at a healthy profit and the number of farms and their acreage is stabilized and, perhaps, even allowed to increase.