There will be an information meeting about  upcoming farmland protection grant funding on Thursday January 23^rd from 4:30pm to 6pm at Cooperative Extension Tompkins County. The Executive Director from the New York Agricultural Land Trust will be speaking along with a farmer who has been through this process before. There will be discussion on the grant process and timeline for applying for this grant. Pre-applications for the grant are due Monday March 3^rd so now is the time to learn about this grant and get on top of the pre-application!

 

Find out more and register for the information session here. The event is free, but registration is required. You can find out more about the grant program on the CCE Tompkins website.

 

Background: There is significant funding coming available soon for farmland protection and we want to make sure that farmers in Tompkins County are ready to take advantage of this opportunity. In the past, funding has been made available every other year (usually around $45 million for the state divided up to provide $5 million per region). The New York State Environmental Bond Act has thrown us an (exciting) loop. The Bond Act will release an additional $150 million for farmland protection and easements in 2025, in addition to the normal funding allocation for this program. And for last grant round, there were significant funds left over for our region that ended up being allocated to other regions in New York – this grant program is not as competitive as it is perceived to be and there are lots of funding categories (including for farms as small as 10 acres and for farms that don’t include prime farmland). We want to help farmers access these funds and use them to protect farmland in Tompkins County!