Farming creates jobs, contributes to the global food supply and increasingly provides fresh produce for local markets. It also helps to shape a state’s character.

When agricultural land is converted to development, residents must obtain their food from more distant sources, agriculture industries suffer, open space disappears and communities often lose a sense of where they came from and who they are. The change also can place a burden on local and state governments. New land uses require new infrastructure and developed land — particularly housing — tends to demand more services than farms do.

This section offers policy ideas that can help preserve farmland, so that agriculture continues to be a source of community stability, economic vitality and environmental sustainability for generations to come. Specifically, we discuss strategies to keep farmland in production, to reduce development pressure and to support conservation.

Policies

Click here to download the entire Agriculture section of the Policy Guide (PDF).
Click here to download the entire Policy Guide (PDF).

Additional Resources

• American Farmland Trust
• American Farm Bureau
• Agriculture Innovation Center Program
• Farmland Information Center
• Purchase of Development Rights Fact Sheet (PDF) – American Farmland Trust
• Agricultural Districts Fact Sheet (PDF) – American Farmland Trust
• Protecting Farmland Fact Sheet (PDF) – American Farmland Trust
• New York State Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association (PDF) – Model Zoning Laws for Farm Direct Marketing