by David Flint
Rensselaer County’s Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan got a boost Tuesday in the form of a check from the Hudson River Valley Greenway. The check was presented at the Berry Patch of Stone Wall Hill Farm in Stephentown in view of the fact that that farm received farmland protection in 2009 aided by a grant from the State’s farmland protection program. [private]The 2009 grant was achieved through the efforts of Berry Patch owners Dale Riggs and Don Miles in cooperation with Rensselaer County, the Columbia Land Conservancy, the Rensselaer Land Trust and the Agricultural Stewardship Association.
This grant money will go to a project to update the Plan, which was adopted in 2001. Through this project the County’s Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board will oversee an assessment of the current state of agriculture in the county and develop strategies to retain and expand the agriculture industry.
Presenting the check in the amount of $7,070, Greenway Acting Executive Director Mark Castiglione said, “Preserving and promoting our agricultural lands is essential to our quality of life in the Hudson Valley. I applaud Rensselaer County for taking this important step to ensure that working farmland is protected for future generations.”
“This grant is great news for our farms as well as all the residents of Rensselaer County who benefit from a thriving agricultural community,” said Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino. “Our local farms are vital to the high quality of life we enjoy in Rensselaer County and also ensure a safe, healthy, local food supply that we depend on, and I commend the Hudson Valley Greenway for their efforts to support this vital local industry.”
Dale Riggs said it was farmland protection that provided the capital that they could use to make some strategic investments such as putting a lot of their planting under cover. “The fact that we are able to sell fresh, local food 52 weeks of the year wouldn’t happen without us being able to get farmland protection,” she added.
The Hudson River Valley Greenway works with communities on a voluntary basis to assist in the development of local land use plans and programs related to the Greenway criteria. Greenway community planning projects can be undertaken by a single community to address local issues or a group of communities working together to address both local and regional issues. The Greenway Communities Grant Program provides grant funding to help communities develop and implement a vision for their future that balances Greenway criteria of economic development considerations with resource protection and promotion objectives. Applications for the next grant round are due May 11, 2012.[/private]