New York Ag Connection - $1 Million Available for NYS Farmland Conservation

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$1 Million Available for NYS Farmland Conservation
New York Ag Connection - 03/21/2018

State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball Tuesday announced $1 million is available through the Farmland Protection Implementation Program to support the preservation of farmland across the state. For the first time in the program's history, grants are being offered to exclusively help cover transaction costs associated with donating an agricultural conservation easement, which permanently protects the land from being developed. This is one of several new funding opportunities being implemented this year to enhance farmland conservation efforts statewide.

Commissioner Ball said, "There are enormous development pressures on New York's farmers every day. These programs help defend against those pressures, providing long-term security to our agricultural community and guaranteeing the availability of affordable land for the next generation of farmers. I thank Governor Cuomo and our partners in the State Legislature for their continued commitment to strengthening this valuable sector of the State's economy."

Preserving valuable farmland through donated agricultural conservation easements is a far less expensive process than alternative methods. The purpose of this grant opportunity is to encourage more landowners to donate conservation easements--the full value of development rights on their properties--by providing financial assistance to cover transaction costs associated with this process.

Typically, when a conservation easement is donated, the local government or conservation organization that accepts it charges a fee for taking on the permanent obligation of monitoring the use of the protected property. Often, donors are reluctant to cover that fee because they receive no financial compensation for the development rights of their property. Through this unique grant opportunity, eligible applicants can apply for grants of up to $50,000 to help cover that essential fee and other transaction costs, providing incentive for more land owners to donate conservation easements.

Eligible applicants include counties, municipalities, soil and water conservation districts, land trusts or other not-for-profit conservation organizations. All applicants must submit their proposals through Grants Gateway here.

Applications can be submitted starting today and will be accepted until the available funding is fully committed.

More information about the application process is available on the Department of Agriculture and Markets website: www.agriculture.ny.gov/RFPS.html. For questions, contact David Behm at David.Behm@agriculture.ny.gov.

This new funding opportunity builds on Governor Cuomo's pledge to improve regional collaboration to enhance farmland conservation efforts statewide. In January, the Governor announced an additional $5 million to help local governments, land trusts and soil and water conservation districts implement Option Agreement Projects, which ultimately expedite the process of purchasing a perpetual conservation easement to safeguard at-risk farmland forever.

Both initiatives are part of the broader Farmland Protection Implementation Program, which was created to protect the economic and environmental viability of the State's agricultural industry and its supporting land base. Under Governor Cuomo's leadership, the State has revitalized this program through the commitment of historic levels of funding.

Since 2011, the State has invested more than $62 million in 82 conservation projects statewide. The 2017-18 State Budget includes another $20 million for the program, which will become available later this year. In his 2018-19 Executive Budget, the Governor also proposed to maintain funding for the program at $20 million.

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