Conservancy Receives $12.3 Million to Protect 11,600 Acres

Six family farms in the Genesee Valley will soon be protected thanks to grant awards announced today. The grant funding will allow Genesee Valley Conservancy to purchase 25 conservation easements on highly productive farmland across three counties and eight towns in the Genesee Valley.

Protecting these farms will ensure their highly productive soils remain available for agricultural use for generations to come and that the families farming these lands will be able to continue their business without losing their land to subdivision or development.

The farms to be protected are:

• Emerling Farm in Perry will protect over 1,300 acres

• Stein Family Farm in Caledonia and York will protect over 1,200 acres

• Sparta Farm in Groveland will protect over 1,500 acres

• Heindale Farm in Caledonia and East Bethany will protect over 650 acres

• Marquart Brothers Farm in Wethersfield and Orangeville will protect over 1,100 acres

• Armson Farms in Covington and York will protect over 1,000 acres

Each of these farms were competitively ranked locally by Livingston and Wyoming counties and were endorsed as priority projects. The farms were also endorsed by the towns in which their land is located.

This significant award is the result of work over the past two years by:

• Staff of Genesee Valley Conservancy

• Livingston County Board of Supervisors

• Livingston County Agricultural & Farmland Protection Board

• Livingston County Planning Department

• Livingston County Soil and Water Conservation District

• Wyoming County Board of Supervisors

• Wyoming County Agriculture & Farmland Protection Board

• Wyoming County Planning and Development

• Cornell Cooperative Extension of Wyoming County

• Wyoming County Soil and Water

Farmland owners interested in learning about land protection options and wishing to be considered for future opportunities should review the quickly approaching deadlines in Livingston and Wyoming Counties.