{"id":331297,"date":"2026-08-27T20:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/331297\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T20:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:38:11","slug":"new-york-losing-farms-farmland-at-faster-rate-making-state-fair-career-day-vital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/331297\/","title":{"rendered":"New York losing farms, farmland at faster rate, making State Fair career day vital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GEDDES, N.Y. \u2014 New York is losing farms and farmland at a pace that outstrips the rest of the country, raising new urgency around efforts to recruit and train the next generation of agricultural workers.<\/p>\n<p>A state comptroller\u2019s audit from this year found that between 2024 and 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osc.ny.gov\/reports\/new-york-farms-and-farmland-decrease-higher-rate-nationally-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York state lost 500 farms<\/a> \u2014 twice the national rate. The state also lost more than 100,000 acres of farmland in that same time span \u2014 five times the national rate.<\/p>\n<p>The losses come as farmers face rising costs for land, fuel and equipment, while state and federal regulations affect access to both farmland and a workforce. At the same time, conflicts between regulations and environmental policies, along with political disputes in Washington, D.C., and Albany over international trade, immigration and agricultural funding, can leave New York farms caught in the middle.<\/p>\n<p>Against that backdrop, the New York Future Farmers of America chapter is working to build a pipeline of new workers and future farm owners, including through the New York State Fair\u2019s annual Agricultural Career Day.<\/p>\n<p>ALSO READ | <a href=\"https:\/\/cnycentral.com\/news\/local\/hochul-opens-new-ffa-building-as-2026-new-york-state-fair-begins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Hochul opens new FFA building as 2026 New York State Fair begins<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Emily Lucak, a NYS FFA state sentinel, said the organization focuses on preparing students for the jobs they want. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a lot of career development events and leadership development events that focus on career readiness. We are actually getting our students ready for the career they are interested in,\u201d Lucak said.<\/p>\n<p>FFA leaders also point to rapid changes in the industry, with new technology reshaping how farms operate and what skills are needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we go through time and advance, we have so much innovation. I mean farming has completely changed from just even 10-15 years ago. Now we have AI and all this different technology that we are navigating,\u201d said Sage Schroeder, NYS FFA president.<\/p>\n<p>Schroeder said policies and restrictions can shape what farmers are able to do, particularly when it comes to inputs such as fertilizers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a lot of policies on farmers and restrictions they have and things they can implement. Especially when it comes to fertilizers or what farmers are allowed to use on their different farms. Not always are the policies that are implemented that have a positive impact,\u201d Schroeder said.<\/p>\n<p>Schroeder added that misunderstandings about agriculture can also be a challenge. \u201cWhen we think about farming, not everyone has a true understanding or background of what farming looks like,\u201d Schroeder said.<\/p>\n<p>FFA leaders say exposing students to agricultural careers early could be critical as technology, automation and more efficient practices create new opportunities \u2014 and as New York tries to reverse the trend of losing farms and farmland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GEDDES, N.Y. \u2014 New York is losing farms and farmland at a pace that outstrips the rest of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":["post-331297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}