Sheffer Farm To Sell Development Rights to NY State
by Alex Brooks
Sheffer’s Grassland Dairy has been awarded funds for purchase of development rights to the farm. Owner Eric Sheffer said he has been working with the Agricultural Stewardship Association of Greenwich, NY on this project for some time and he just got the letter this week notifying him that the funds have been awarded.
In a letter dated April 3, the New York State Dept. of Agriculture and Markets notified the Agricultural Stewardship Association (ASA) that it is awarding $564,601 for the purpose of buying development rights for the Sheffer farm. These funds are coming from the Dairy Transitions Farmland Protection Initiative Phase 2. Phase 1 of that program awarded more than $30 million, and the State is currently working with $75 million that was committed to farmland protection in 2018. These funds come from the NYS Environmental Protection Fund.
The next step will be to sign a contract between Ag & Markets and ASA to specify the terms of the grant. ASA then needs to sign an agreement with the Sheffer farm for purchase of the development rights, and before that can happen the land must be professionally appraised. Sheffer said he expects a fairly lengthy process before the deal can be finalized.
This farm has been in his family since 1774. Eric’s son is the seventh generation on the farm. Eric has been buying land to enlarge the farm in order to stay competitive. The farm has gone from 160 acres to 420 acres over the last five years.
Sheffer started turning it into an organic farm in 2014 and became a certified organic farm in 2017. This enabled him to sign a 5 year contract with Stonyfield Yogurt of New Hampshire, which gave him a stable milk price through 2022, at a time when many dairy farmers have been buffeted by depressed and fluctuating milk prices. It is a difficult time to be a dairy farmer, but the Sheffer farm seems to be building itself a solid future.