The New York Department of Agriculture and Markets makes critical updates to the Farmland Protection program, following an audit from the state comptroller.
In July, an audit found that funding is allocated equally among 10 regions, including New York City, where farmers are ineligible to apply for farmland protection grants. After all applications have been received, the department takes any remaining funds, including the money allocated to New York City, to give to other projects. This created a delay for when the remaining funding is available, the comptroller’s office said.
“The allocation methodology has been changed to no longer allocate available funding to the New York City region,” said New York Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball in a letter.
Additionally, it was recommended that the Department of Agriculture and Markets reevaluate the $2 million limit on each project, and the letter said they have updated that to $3 million. The response also outlines an additional $1 million that was allocated by the Legislature to increase staff capacity specifically to facilitate these farmland protection grants.