Conservancy Secures $6.95 Million
On Friday, New York State announced over $21.3 million in investments to protect 7,890 acres of agricultural lands across New York State.
Genesee Valley Conservancy is the recipient of $6.95 million of these funds, which will allow the Conservancy to purchase protections across 3,000 acres of local farmland - protecting some of the most productive agricultural lands in New York State.
The lands that will be protected are:
Coyne Farm (Avon)
The conservation project at Coyne farm will protect an additional 260 acres of land. The Coyne family previously worked with the Conservancy to protect 1,400 acres in 2011.
These latest lands for conservation consist of 74% USDA Prime soils and 5% Statewide Important soils, some of the most productive soils around.
The project is directly adjacent to previously protected lands by the Conservancy and expands upon 25 previous conservation projects in Avon.
Hillcrest Farm (Leicester & Mount Morris)
With lands directly adjoining Letchworth State Park, the Hillcrest conservation project will protect 756 acres of lands in Leicester and Mount Morris.
This crop farm boats 59% USDA Prime soils, some of the most productive soils around. These highly productive soils have helped the farm receive 1st place in the National Corn Growers Association national yield contest, topping out at 330 bushels per acre (the New York State average is 127 bushels/acre).
The farm continues to improve its operation and uses no-till practices to reduce erosion and disruption of the soil and adding GPS technology to its tractors to reduce the amount of inputs needed for maintaining crop health.
Howlett Farm (Avon)
This project will protect 517 acres in the Town of Avon, with property directly adjacent to pending agricultural conservation projects north of the Village and directly adjacent to Genesee Valley Greenway State Park west of the Village.
This crop farm has 68% USDA Prime soils and 12% NYS Important soils.
Table Rock Farm (Castile)
Located above Letchworth State Park, this dairy farm project will protect 814 acres of lands in the Town of Castile, the third such project by Genesee Valley Conservancy here.
The farm has 35% USDA Prime soils and 45% NYS Important soils, one measure of the high quality productivity that this land base has.
Woodlawn Farm (York)
The Woodlawn Farm is a 4th generation cash crop and beef farm in the Town of York.
This conservation project will be the fourth for the Conservancy in York, protecting 668 acres of land.
The project contains 65% USDA Prime soils and 6% NYS Important Soils.
The Program
Funding for the protection of these farms comes from the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets Farmland Protection Implementation Grant which pays associated project costs of the conservation projects (legal fees, survey, appraisal, etc.) and compensates the landowners at a bargain sale rate of 87.5% of the value of their development rights being given up in favor of a conservation easement to ensure the land remains viable farmland.
The farms above were selected for conservation after several highly competitive reviews. First, the projects were locally ranked and selected by Wyoming and Livingston Counties (respectively) as top priority projects for conservation based on their size, soil quality, development pressure, and other characteristics. The farms then sought endorsement from their local towns to ensure protecting agricultural lands were in line with the local municipalities goals for the future. Finally, these farms were reviewed by NYS through a competitive process that identifies and funds the best projects for conservation in order to protect highly productive lands that are the base of NYS’s agricultural economy.
Farmland owners interested in pursuing conservation options for their land should contact Matt at matt@geneseevalleyconservancy.org for more information about future farmland protection opportunities.