By Bridget Halloran
EDEN — A 43-acre farm property in Eden is on track to stay farmland for good, through a state grant and a conservation easement that would strip away its development rights forever.
The Henry Farmland is one of three Western New York farms picked for New York’s latest round of Farmland Protection Implementation Grants, WGRZ reported Tuesday. The property is leased to two agricultural operators who grow vegetables and field crops, including crops used to support a local dairy.
The other two local projects are the 230-acre Rettig Farm, a hay operation in Middleport in Niagara County, and the 294-acre Youngers Farmland in North Java in Wyoming County, which supports a family dairy. Together, the three cover 567 acres.
Why a leased farm matters
The Western New York Land Conservancy will work with the landowner on the easement. Its acquisitions director, Rachel Chrostowski, said in comments reported by WGRZ that the fact the Eden land is rented out to farmers is exactly why it needed protecting.
“Farmland is a finite resource,” Chrostowski said, “and protecting it means thinking beyond the land itself. Leased farmland, like the land owned by Bill Henry, is very vulnerable to conversion, so it’s especially critical to protect it from development.”
She added, “We need to make sure productive soils remain available for the future, but we also need to support the farmers who know how to work that land and grow food for our communities.”
Under a conservation easement, the land stays in private hands and can still be farmed and passed down. What goes away is the right to develop it. The state program pays for those development rights.
A record round of state money
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the round on Oct. 20: more than $48.5 million for 43 farms statewide, protecting 16,005 acres, according to her office. The program, run by the state Department of Agriculture and Markets and paid for through the Environmental Protection Fund, got a boost this year from the state’s Environmental Bond Act. More than $15 million in this round is still available and will be awarded on a rolling basis.
“Through the Bond Act, which we championed and New Yorkers approved, we have invested even more in our Farmland Protection program in this round, providing record funding to this monumental program to ensure our farmers can keep their land forever in agriculture and pass it on to their families,” Hochul said in the announcement.
State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said protected land “is forever dedicated to agriculture, providing opportunity for our next generation and for new and beginning farmers, protected from development pressures, and preserving open space for our communities.”
The state said more than 144,760 acres on 473 farms have been preserved through completed easement projects since the program started 30 years ago. The Land Conservancy also received part of a separate $1 million pilot program to help land trusts hire staff for this work.
Eden has done this before
The Henry property would not be Eden’s first protected farm. Erie County’s Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan update notes that the Town of Eden set up its own program to help acquire conservation easements. In 2012, the Land Conservancy bought the development rights to the 102-acre Surgenor farm. In 2014, it acquired development rights on 90 acres of the Meyer farm, using federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program money, a private foundation’s help and funds from the Town of Eden.
The county plan says the Land Conservancy holds easements on about 2,901 acres of farmland in the towns of Amherst, Clarence, Eden, Elma, Marilla and Wales.
In a post about the three new projects, the Land Conservancy wrote that “through conservation easements, we’ll help ensure these farms can continue producing food and supporting local agriculture without the threat of future development.” Once these are complete, the group said, it will have permanently protected more than 5,000 acres of farmland in Western New York.
What we still don’t know
Public reports so far have not said how much the Eden easement will cost, how much of that the state grant covers, or when the deal is expected to close.
It is also not yet clear whether the two farmers who lease the Henry land have long-term leases, or whether the town will play any role, as it did with the Meyer farm a decade ago.
The Buffalo Chronicle is seeking comment from the Western New York Land Conservancy on the award amount, the timeline and the farmers working the land, and will update this story with any response.
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