Resource Conservation and Preservation

Farmers across the state work hard to be good environmental stewards, keeping the air, land and water safe and clean for all of us with the help of government conservation programs. But many of our conservation programs have had to turn farmers away when asking for assistance to protect our environment because of a lack of funds. Further, development pressures and urban sprawl have created an extraordinary demand for farmland preservation programs in New York State threatening nearly 19,000 acres of farmland. I continue to champion the increases in conservation program funding in the 2002 Farm Bill, specifically to programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) from the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA. I am also working hard to maintain the funding for the invaluable grassroots Resource Conservation & Development Councils who do a variety of environmental and economic development projects at a local level throughout New York State.

Conservation Security Program: One big step forward is the new Conservation Security Program that rewards farmers for being good stewards of the land and will be open to all farmers across the country. I welcomed the news from The Conservation Security Program that five New York watersheds – Ausable, Buffalo (Eighteen Mile Creek), Niagara ( Tonawanda), Northern Long Island, and Southern Long Island - were among the 202 watersheds across the country eligible to participate in the program.

Farmland Protection Program: I also worked to expand access to farmland preservation programs in the 2002 Farm Bill. Fortunately, the Senate approved an historic increase - almost 20 fold -- in the federal Farmland Protection Program in recent years. This funding will help farmers and communities preserve working, open farmland, through the purchase of development rights and conservation easements. That is why I have worked to ensure that New York is first in line to compete for highly sought-after federal farmland protection dollars by calling on New York State to provide sufficient funding for the state agricultural and farmland protection program.