Ready access to productive land resources is an essential component of the survival strategy for New York`s farm and food producers. This legacy program partners with Cornell Cooperative Extension to help inform stakeholders on streamlined and effective policies to help resolve conflicts over alternate land uses and improve quality of life for all citizens.

Structural adjustment in New York agriculture, as reflected in the number and size of farms, continues to alter the working landscape and influence the economic and social vibrancy of rural communities. Although few New Yorkers are now actively employed in farm and food production, active farmers own or lease-own or lease a substantial share of all land area for use in farm commodity production. For New York farm and food producers to survive, they need ready access to productive land resources. Efforts to understand the forces underlying rural land use trends and articulate viable policy options for policy makers are essential if the industry is to flourish in the years ahead.

The Department of Applied Economics and Management operates a legacy farmland protection program that is multidimensional and dates to the 1970s. The cornerstone of the program is applied research dealing with the social and economic aspects of farmland use and policy. The campus-based program is a partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension educators in nearly 50 county associations who deliver programs in the farmland protection arena; the program centers on the New York Agricultural Districts Law, which is overseen by the New York State commissioner of agriculture and markets. Program efforts are complemented with timely dissemination of applied research results and periodic inservice training for Extension educators and members of agricultural and farmland protection boards.

New York county legislators have created agricultural districts that now comprise about 8.5 million acres, or 28 percent of the total New York land area. Farming is recognized as a priority land use in districts and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets estimates that about 6.3 million acres, or 72 percent of all districted acreage, is farmed by 21,600 farm operators. Agricultural assessments available under this legislation provide aggregate tax benefits now exceeding $100 million per year. Separate provisions for a 10-year exemption on new farm structures generate about $11 million in property tax savings each year. Forty-six New York counties are engaged with comprehensive agricultural and farmland protection planning efforts with components that encourage retention of land in farm use and enhance agricultural economic development.