Forty-three farms were awarded a total of $48 million to protect 16,000 acres of farmland, the New York State Commissioner of Agriculture announced on Tuesday.
“The idea of making sure we have adequate food supply, that we’re the food shed for the state and that we keep agriculture as a viable way to make a living is so important,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Richard Ball in an interview.
The announcement was made today at Heer Farm in Syracuse, which is a recipient of one of the grants to preserve 230-acres of farmland. Raymond and Toni Heer have farmed the land for 40 years, but the farm has been in the family for over 100 years.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve walked alongside my father, Raymond P. Heer, working this land and listening to him tell me of my parents’ dream to have our farm protected forever in agriculture; their dream is our dream. It’s been an honor to have worked with this group of people and to have been awarded the grant that has ultimately made my parents’ and our wish become reality,” said Raymond Heer.
Raymond and Toni Heer speak during a press conference on their farm. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)
New York State has awarded farms through this program for 30 years and has preserved a total of almost 145,000 acres on 473 farms. Ball said there are many reasons why farmland is under threat.
“Farmland is threatened on a daily basis, urban sprawl, now we’re talking data centers. We have to look at anything that takes land out of production. We have to seriously think about that. We have to be thoughtful about the way we think about what we need for a food shed here,” he said.
New York experienced a loss of farms at a rate of 1.6% in 2025, double than the national rate of 0.8%, according to a report from the New York State Comptrollers Office. Additionally, the decline in farmland in New York was five times the national rate.
“Making sure farmers are making money is the best way to preserve farmland, preserve farmers,” Ball said.
The announcement also included an additional $1 million to six land trusts that work with farmers to preserve farmland to add more staff capacity.
“The [Farmland Protection Implementation Grant] program has played a crucial role in the long-term success of the New York Agricultural Land Trust by providing funding for farmland protection which has enabled NYALT to protect and preserve over 13,000 acres of farmland to date,” said executive director of the New York Agricultural Land Trust Brandy Colebrook.
Ball said that farmers should take advantage of the opportunity to preserve farmland.
“We have such good farmers here. We farm over 7 million acres of land. We rank in the top 10 over 30 different commodities. We’ve got the best land grant system of agriculture education int he country right here. We have water. We need to take care of all of that,” he said.