by Bea Peterson
Hoosick was one of 14 towns that recently received grants from the NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets to develop a Farmland Protection Plan. Town Supervisor Marilyn Douglas said the $25,000 grant will be used to process and identify all the farms in Hoosick with prime soils as well as open space. “The objective is the preservation of farm lands and the purchasing of development rights to those lands.” The Town will be talking to David Haight, Director of the NYS American Farmland Trust, about overseeing the project. “Establishing a town-wide plan will put our farmers in a better position to receive funding to sustain their land and to help them identify other farm related sources of revenue,” she said. Supervisor Douglas said the County has a Farmland Protection Plan, but she believes Hoosick is one of the first Towns in the County to develop its own plan. “I believe farming is an important business in the Town, and it’s important we preserve its economic vitality. This grant will help to further the preservation of our farmland.”
According to a release from the NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets, since the program’s inception in 1996, NY has awarded more than $151.4 million out of the Environmental Protection Fund for farmland protection projects, assisting local governments and their project partners in 26 counties to help protect 63,800 acres on 276 farms. To date nearly half of those project contracts have closed, protecting in perpetuity 28,138 acres of farmland. NYS has 7.5 million acres of farmland with more than 34,000 farms.