Provide grants to develop Farmland Protection Plans
Action
The State can help communities protect working farms and other land by giving grants to cities and counties to develop Farmland Protection Plans. Farmland Protection Plans are valuable tools in local land preservation efforts, often encouraging predictable, coordinated and strategic preservation. They also can work with economic development plans to promote local agriculture.
Local officials often want to develop protection plans but lack the resources. Grants can help them develop plans and, at the same time, provide an opportunity for the State to partner with communities in developing and implementing a successful farmland preservation strategy.
Process
The Department of Agriculture must establish the criteria for awarding farmland protection planning grants to local governments, set up an application process and develop a list of expenses eligible for reimbursement. The State should consider reimbursing expenses most clearly related to the development of Farmland Protection Plans (e.g., consultant, secretarial and legal services; conducting public hearings; travel; and printing.). The State also may wish to develop procedures for approving protection plans.
Example
- New York's County Farmland Protection Planning Grants
Under its County Farmland Protection Grant program, the New York Department of Agriculture & Markets provides up to $50,000 to counties to cover up to 50 percent of costs related to the development of Farmland Protection Plans. Grants are awarded each year on a rolling basis. Since the program's creation in 1994, the Department has awarded more than $2 million to approximately 50 counties. Many counties are now implementing recommendations from their plans, which range from hiring Ag Protection Planners in county planning offices to setting up local Purchase of Development Rights programs to protect viable farms. Recent legislation permits any county with a plan that is at least 10 years old to reapply to the Department of Agriculture & Markets for up to $50,000 in matching funds to develop a new plan or to update its existing one.
New York also has developed an agriculture planning grant program to help municipalities with revisions of the agricultural sections of their local planning documents. The grants will fund up to $25,000 or 75 percent of the cost (whichever is less) of developing a local protection plan. Since the start of the municipal program in late 2007 the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets has awarded 47 municipal agricultural protection planning grants.
— New York's County Farmland Protection Program
