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This month New York State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker announced that the Town of Lansing would be receiving a $25,000 grant to be used to develop a farmland protection plan.  The grant is part of a $500,000 fund that will help 21 New york counties create such plans.

"One of the most important roles of a municipality is the regulation of land use," Hooker said in an Auburn news conference two weeks ago. "This responsibility gives them the authority and opportunity to provide a supportive environment for agriculture. I applaud these towns for taking the initiative to address evolving land use issues in their area and plan for the protection of viable and active farmland. It is their participation in the planning process and commitment to providing a supportive business environment for agriculture that will make smart growth a reality here in New York State."

Lansing Environmental Planner Darby Kiley says the money will be used in part to hire an agriculture consultant to help develop the plan.  "We'll use it for updating the land use ordinance that will become a local zoning law." she says.  "We'll also develop an agriculture action plan specifically for the town."

Kiley says the state originally offered $50,000 of grant funding to counties.  This month's funding is the first round of making money available for for towns, villages and cities.  The Department of Agriculture made it easy for municipalities to apply for the grant on a first come, first served basis.

"Larry Zuidema, who is on our planning board, went to a session at the Planning Federation meeting where they talked about the grant money," Kiley says.  "He's the one who encouraged me to apply for it.  They had another meeting in Auburn some time later in October, and a few days later I had the application done."


The Town will be responsible for 25% of the cost of developing the plan, which will be provided in 'in-kind' services.  Even though Lansing has a Right To Farm law and the town's long term comprehensive plan supports farming in the town, Kiley says this new plan will be important because future state grants will depend on towns having it.  "But for towns that don't have this they might say, 'You haven't made farming a priority, so we may not fund you,'" she says.

So far two Lansing Farms have qualified for Farmland Protection Grants.  Last December Hooker announced that the 942 acre Bensvue Farm in Lansingville would receive $1.3 million for the development rights in perpetuity, to guarantee that the farm would continue to be worked by the Benson Family from generation to generation.  Between Bensvue farm and the 439 acre Donald Howser farm that was accepted in an earlier round of the program, nearly 1,400 acres of Lansing farm land will be preserved.  Kiley says part of the purpose of this new plan is to identify other Lansing farms that the town could put forward for Farmland Protection grants.


The entire Town of Lansing encompasses 38,848 acres, or 60.7 square miles.  There are about 57 farms in town including 14 dairy farms, 22 cash crop farms growing vegetables, hay, or grain, 9 livestock, 8 Christmas tree farms and nurseries, and 1 orchard.  The northern two thirds of the town is designated in the town's zoning ordinance as 'Rural Agriculture.'

Kiley says that project partners will include the Cornell Cooperative Extension, Fingerlakes Land Trust, Cayuga Lake Watershed Network, the County Planning Department, and the Soil and Water Conservation District.

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