Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the 2013-14 State Budget yesterday at the University at Buffalo. The budget passed both houses of the New York State Legislature on March 29.

The budget provides $13 million, an increase of $1 million, for the state’s Farmland Protection Program, which funds the purchase of agricultural conservation easements on farmland and the development of municipal and county agriculture and farmland protection plans. The Farmland Protection Program is part of the Environmental Protection Fund, which received $153 million, an increase of $19 million.

New York’s 30,000 farms sell almost $5 billion in farm products annually and are the critical link in a chain of food processors and agriculturally related businesses that annually generate $46.7 billion in economic impact. “Farmland forms the foundation of New York’s farm and food economy yet over the last 25 years the state has lost half a million acres of farmland to real estate development,” said David Haight, New York State Director for American Farmland Trust. The Environmental Protection Fund is currently the sole source of funding for the state’s Farmland Protection Program, which provides funding to protect farms from poorly planned development. The Farmland Protection Program also enables farmers to invest funds they receive in exchange for placing a conservation easement on their farm in diversifying and expanding their farm businesses. Many of these farmers build new infrastructure, introduce new crops, purchase equipment or livestock, and perhaps most importantly, transfer family farms to the next generation of farmers.” 

Among other No Farms No Food Rally budget priorities, the approved budget contains language that enables state agencies to purchase up to $200,000 of food grown in New York without going through a formal competitive bid process. This is a big increase over the previous cap of $15,000. Direct funding to the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program, which buys food from New York farmers to provide to people in need, was restored at $28 million, a cut from the $29.7 million in last year’s budget. However lawmakers did approve a separate allocation of $2 million from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant program to food banks.

Many thanks to Governor Cuomo and State Legislators for including these important priorities in this year’s State Budget as well as to all the No Farms No Food Rally participants who came to Albany to support funding for farmland conservation and strong local food systems. We must now work together to encourage the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to solicit new applications for farmland conservation funding in Fiscal Year 2013-2014 so that we can keep protecting farmland for the next generation of farmers in New York.

In the last fiscal year New York’s Farmland Protection Program aided in permanently protecting 9 farms. The farms are located across the state from Long Island, to the Hudson Valley, the Finger Lakes Region and Western New York and represent a full range of agriculture including nursery, dairy, and crop farming. One farm, Sunset Ridge Dairy, located in Dutchess County, is operated by Kevin Smith. “We wanted to plan for our retirement and pass the farm on, as it is, to our daughters. Protecting our farm allows us to provide agricultural land for future generations.”

New York Farms Protected with Funding from Farmland Protection Program

FY 2012-2013

Bos Haven Farm, Dutchess County (dairy)

Delalio Sod Farm, Suffolk County (sod)

Domino Farm, Ulster County (dairy)

Gulliver Farm, Cayuga County (feed crop)

Lew-Lin Farm, Tompkins County (dairy)

Reed Farm, Madison County (dairy)

Sunset Ridge Farm, Dutchess County (dairy)

Totino Nursery, Suffolk County (nursery)

Zaweksi Farm, Suffolk County (sod)

Pandora Davis, Saratoga P.L.A.N.; NYS Assemblyman Michael Benedetto; Eliza Topham-White, Peconic Land Trust; Renee Bouplon, Agricultural Stewardship Association

Last week’s No Farms No Food® Rally was well-timed as Governor Cuomo and state legislators are in heated negotiations that are anticipated to result in a new state budget by March 21st.  On Wednesday, March 13, 16 No Farms No Food® lobby teams deployed to meet with over 70 state legislators to talk about the importance of protecting the farmland that lies at the foundation of New York’s vital farm and food economy. The No Farms No Food® Rally, held in the Legislative Office Building, was sponsored by Senator Patty Ritchie, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

The message legislators heard was all the more powerful because it came from so many different vantage points.  “One of the No Farms No Food® Rally’s greatest strengths is the cross-section of people,” said David Haight, New York state director for American Farmland Trust, during the day’s opening remarks. “We are joined by young farmers, mature farmers, land trusts and conservation organizations, hunger relief and public health advocates and local food groups to tell our elected officials that farms and growing food in New York State matters.”

Darrel Aubertine, New York’s Commissioner of Agriculture, spoke at the No Farms No Food® Rally in support of farmland conservation. “One thing they are not making any more of is farmland,” said Commissioner Aubertine.  “Too often farmland’s final crop is a house. And, once farmland is developed it is out of production forever. Governor Cuomo understands the importance of agriculture here in New York.  Under his leadership, state government is making sound investments in food hubs, farmers’ markets and agricultural and farmland protection. “

Assemblyman Bill Magee, chair of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture is working with American Farmland Trust and its partners to draft a new bill aimed at identifying state-owned land suitable for agriculture, making it available to the next generation of farmers through leases, and protecting it with conservation easements if it is to be sold, keeping the land available for future generations to farm . “The focus needs to be on the next generation of farmers,” said Assemblyman Magee. “Whether they are farmers who have grown up on a farm or new farmers who are starting out fresh.–we all need to work together to get more people into farming and make sure farms get passed down to the next generation.”

No Farms No Food® Budget and Policy priorities the lobby teams advocated for include: increased funding for the Environmental Protection Fund and the Farmland Protection Program as well as a release of a new Request for Proposals for farmland conservation projects in Fiscal Year 2013-2014; support for S. 4061 (Ritchie)/A. 5102 (Peoples-Stokes) – legislation to encourage state agencies to buy food grown in New York; as well as new legislation under development to help the next generation of farmers secure farmland.

Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes spoke about expanding the market for New York State grown food by encouraging state institutions to buy more food from New York farmers through passage of bill S. 4061 (Ritchie)/A. 5102 (Peoples-Stokes). “Don’t buy fruit and vegetables from Mexico. We grow them right here in New York State,” said Peoples-Stokes. “We need individual consumers to seek out New York-grown food but we need state institutions to seek it out too. At the end of the day farmers can only be successful if they are making money. This bill provides farmers with the opportunity to make money while feeding New Yorkers at state institutions good food. Our farms will be stronger. Our lives will be stronger. We will all be better off.”

“What better way to grow families and communities than to support New York farmers who are growing healthy food while conserving farmland and protecting open space and watersheds,” said Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, Chair of the Assembly Task Force on Food, Farm and Nutrition Policy.

“This is democracy in action,” said environmental advocate Jeff Jones, lobbyist for the Land Trust Alliance, who worked with the Heritage Radio Network to coach No Farms No Food® Rally participants on advocacy prior to the day’s lobbying visits. “You are the people who the decision makers are working for,” he told the group. “There are a lot of people coming through Albany this time of year because important decisions are being made about the state budget, which is due at the end of the month. We have to come here and express our opinions or risk being shut out by other pressing interests. Participating in the No Farms No Food® Rally and expressing your support for farmland conservation and local food is an important way to directly engage in the democratic process.”

“Coming to the No Farms No Food® Rally empowers me as a citizen and as a voter to be able to come up here to talk to directly to elected officials about farm and food issues,” said Brooklyn local foods advocate Melissa Danielle  who traveled to Albany on the No Farms No Food® Rally bus from New York City, sponsored by Slow Food NYC and Food Systems Network NYC. “It’s really valuable and important to me to be able to have this opportunity to be civically and politically engaged at this level.”

“Farming is one of New York State’s most important and enduring industries, putting food on our tables and generating billions of dollars in economic activity each year,” said First Deputy ComptrollerPete Grannis, who spoke to the group during lunch. “Generations of New York growers have played an important role in producing the food we eat and as crucial shepherds of our environment and open spaces.  Agriculture is steeped in our history and its well-being has to be high on policymakers’ agenda.”

The No Farms No Food Rally is only one week away and it’s not too late to register .

New York State has lost nearly 4,500 farms to real estate development since the early 1980s.  This has got to stop.  Join us at the No Farms No Food Rally March 13 in Albany and tell Governor Cuomo and our state legislators how much you care about local farms and food.  Check out our state budget and policy priorities. Pack a brown bag lunch made with New York State grown food. Register to join the No Farms No Food Rally March 13!

Get on the Bus!

There’s still room on the bus roundtrip from Union Square in NYC to Albany and, thanks to generous support from Slow Food NYC and Food Systems NYC, we are able to offer 10 need-based bus scholarships for people taking the trip from Manhattan!  For more information on the No Farms No Food Rally and the bus scholarship, contact us at newyork@farmland.org or call (518) 581-0078.

Special thanks to Melissa Danielle, who is helping organize the NYC bus.  We couldn’t do it without you!

Lobbying 101

New to political advocacy? Never lobbied a state legislator before? It’s easy, it’s fun and it’s effective! Take a crash course with the No Farms No Food Rally Training Tools on the Heritage Radio Network, a No Farms No Food Rally sponsor. And don’t miss “The Farm Report” with Erin Fairbanks, airing Thursdays at 1:00 pm.

Episode 41 – No Farms No Food Rally 2013 Part 1: Event Overview

Episode 42 – No Farms No Food Rally 2013 Part 2: AFT Priorities

Episode 43 – No Farms No Food Rally 2013 Part 3: Advocacy & Lobbying

Normally our rally participants are a last minute crowd but we are two weeks out from the No Farms No Food® Rally and we have more people signed up at this point than ever before. Our intern, Rachel, is on the phone setting up dozens of meetings with state legislators for our lobby teams. Come join the many people that have signed up to talk with our elected leaders about saving farmland – we’ve still got room for more participants!

Get on the Bus

And, thanks to generous support from Slow Food NYC and Food Systems NYC, we are able to offer 10 need-based bus scholarships for people taking the trip from Manhattan! For more information on the bus scholarship or the No Farms No Food® Rally contact us at newyork@farmland.org or call (518) 581-0078. Special thanks to our other Rally Sponsors: the Heritage Radio Network, which will be covering the event; and New York City-based local foods advocate Melissa Danielle, who is helping organize the NYC bus. We couldn’t do it without you!

First Deputy Comptroller Pete Grannis Joining the Rally

First Deputy Comptroller Pete Grannis of the New York State Office of the State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, will speak during the No Farms No Food Rally brown bag lunch. Comptroller DiNapoli’s office is a powerful advocate for farmland conservation, the business of agriculture and strong local food systems. Check out his hard-hitting and information packed reports on the critical importance of farming, farmland protection, farmers markets to the state’s economy and childhood obesity due to a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Speaking to Our State Leaders

Over the last 30 years, New York State has lost roughly 4,500 median-sized farms to real estate development. This needs to stop. Join us and tell Governor Cuomo and our state legislators how much you care about local farms and food. Check out our No Farms No Food® Rally state budget and policy priorities. Pack a brown bag lunch made with New York State grown food and register to join the crowd!