New York Giving $4.6M to Protect Farmland
New York officials say they're granting $4.6 million to finish projects permanently protecting 2,200 acres of farmland in five counties.
The State Environmental Protection Fund provides money for the grant program administered by the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.
So far, officials say more than $128 million has gone to protect about 51,000 acres on 220 farms across the state.
Current grants include $2.1 million to preserve 1,298 acres on Hourigan Farm, a 1,000-cow dairy operation in the Onondaga County town of Elbridge.
In Saratoga, $987,000 is for the Hoogeveen Farm to protect 390 acres at the century-old dairy farm.
Grants of about $500,000 each went to farms growing holiday plants on Long Island and grapes in the Finger Lakes and grazing dairy cattle in the Southern Tier.
