State will protect the Barber farm

SCHUYLER COUNTY--The Barber farm, located in the towns of Hector and Montour Falls and situated on 513 acres, was named by the state Friday, Feb. 8 as a recipient of a state department of agriculture conservation easement grant.
A total of $1,140,769 was awarded for the conservation of the property. This project will protect their 513 acres and allow the Barber Farm to continue as a dairy while it undergoes a transition to a more diversified farm operation.
A second grant was announced for the conservation of the Terrance Jones Dairy farm, located in the town of Trenton, Oneida County. This award will protect 740 acres while the farming operation transitions to more diversity while still operating in part as a dairy.
The department of agriculture and markets announced more than $2.8 million has been provided in support of conservation easement projects for these two New York dairy farms. Dairy farmers continue to face challenges from prolonged low milk prices, increasing the threat of conversion of viable agricultural land to non-farm development. The Farmland Protection Implementation Grant program is helping to ensure dairy farms the opportunity to diversify their operations or transition their farms to the next generation at more affordable costs, while ensuring the land forever remains used for agricultural purposes. The funding builds on the nearly $8.5 million awarded in December 2018 to permanently protect five dairy farms in the Finger Lakes, Mid-Hudson Valley and Central New York regions.
The state continues to accept applications on a rolling basis for farmland protection grants of up to $2 million from eligible entities, such as land trusts, municipalities, counties, and soil and water conservation districts. There is no application deadline.
Conservation easement projects will be awarded to eligible dairy farms that are:
• Transitioning to the next ownership of a continuing dairy, but whose operation has been modified to ensure greater financial sustainability;
• Continuing dairy, but diversifying the overall farm operation; or
• Converting to a non-dairy farm operation.
All farmland protection project proposals must be submitted electronically through the New York State Grants Gateway. For more information regarding the Grants Gateway, visit https://grantsgateway.ny.gov. Additional information and the RFA can be found on the Department's website at https://www.agriculture.ny.gov/RFPS.html.
"Farmland preservation can be a valuable program to keep land in production for the next generation. It can be especially important in today's farm economy to provide families an outlet to remain in the dairy business, while also exploring value-added or diversification opportunities in our state's large agricultural community," said David Fisher, New York Farm Bureau president.
"The dairy transitions program came at just the right time for dairy farmers in New York, providing a real opportunity to help these farms remain viable at a time when the dairy industry really needs help," said Samantha Levy, New York policy manager for American Farmland Trust.