The minutes of the January 26th meeting were accepted unanimously.
Renee Bouplon of the Columbia Land Conservancy (CLC) spoke first, giving an overview of what the organization does and the planning options that are available. CLC is a not-for-profit land trust that works to maintain wildlife habitat and open space. It conducts environmental education, sets up public conservation areas, sets up conservation easements, and provides technical assistance to landowners and municipalities.
She described easements, saying they stay on the tax rolls and are filed with the county clerk. There are 160 easements in the county, some of which are located in Claverack. Most easements consist of donated land that provides the donor a tax deduction. Some easements are put in place via purchase of development rights (PDR). Easements are flexible and can accommodate change, thereby being particularly useful for working farmers. Finding the cash to purchase development rights, however, can be difficult, and CLC does not maintain a treasury of funds for that purpose. One option for municipalities is for the town or the county to float a bond act. Another is New York State grant money; starting in 1996, the state has been awarding $8-12 million per year; it is very competitive, with upwards of $85 million in requests annually. It requires a local match of 25%, which sometimes can be met by the farmer donating the land.
Bouplon passed out a document entitled “Commonly Asked Questions about Agricultural Easements.” [Editor’s note: check out the CLC website at http://www.clctrust.org/cons_easements.htm.]
Charlie Laing spoke next, describing himself as a new staff person at CLC and a resident of Red Hook in northern Dutchess County where there is a significant amount of development pressure. There he serves on the town planning board as well as its Intermunicipal Agreement Task Force.
Laing said that Red Hook has an agricultural overlay district on areas of particularly good soil, which mandates that any development be clustered to provide for open space for farming. The town has its own PDR program, which is funded by a townwide bond act that provides $3.5 million for the purchase of agricultural conservation easements. The town hopes to purchase $7 million worth of easements, using also county funding and perhaps some state and federal funding as well. The bond act was approved within the last couple of years via a town referendum that was passed overwhelmingly. He said that townspeople recognized that, without this measure, the cost of services in town would continue to skyrocket.
Laing said that Red Hook also recently enacted a term easement program, in which owners of properties in excess of 10 acres of vacant land can have their taxes reduced if they agree not to develop it for a certain period of time. This plan targets non-agricultural property owners. He does not believe that anyone has signed up for the program yet.
Laing also said that Red Hook is beginning to explore the idea of using eminent domain on land owned by Central Hudson that it had taken years ago when a nuclear power plant had been proposed. The land in question consists of prime ag land, and the town is interested in acquiring it for farm land and recreation.
Laing said that, despite the proactive programs that Red Hook has instituted, the town still feels enormous development pressures.
He said the town also is looking at making Transfers of Development Rights (TDRs), in which development rights in an area that the town would like to see left undeveloped are transferred to another area of town, one where development is desired. The receiving districts would be around hamlets and villages and the intent would be to create traditional neighborhood-style development. Laing stressed that the town wants not to halt development, but to plan it. He mentioned that a mandatory program, in which the landowner would be compensated, was another option.
And, given the current discussion about TDRs, Laing said there is a concern that the town might see a rush to development, so they are talking about instituting a moratorium in the areas that are anticipated to be transfer districts.
Laing said that last year Red Hook did a townwide buildout analysis, and that the town is now conducting a similar analysis for the school district. Findings were that more than 4,000 units could be built; considering the additional children, added costs for services, etc., he cited the problematic nature of such growth.
Eric Ooms, president of the Farm Bureau, who has a dairy farm on the Kinderhook/Chatham line, spoke next. He finds that “everyone” likes the countryside; there isn’t anyone that doesn’t. He noted that there are three dairy farms left in Claverack. In Chatham he said there are five dairy farms and five alpaca farms, plus a great many horses. He noted that on some of the farms, the farmers’ main income isn’t farming.
He said the Town of Chatham went through the Keep Farming Project [Editor’s note: check out http://www.chathamkeepfarming.org/], which the town found quite valuable. For one thing, it educated townspeople as to what is in the town (e.g., they learned that only half of the farmed land is owned by farmers). He described differences between dairy and other kinds of farming. Dairy farmers, for example, don’t have to market their products because they are members of a cooperative, whereas all other farmers need a market for their products. Dairy farms use a great deal of land. The county’s dairy farms produce far more than the county can consume.
Chatham’s survey of its residents showed that people want more local food, and that while organic food is preferred, the food’s simply being local is what was found to be more important.
Ooms noted that banks consider the farmer’s equity in land when loaning them money. He noted that some years ago, Chatham ruled against mining, which hurt the farmers.
Chatham has a seven-member farming committee, composed of two traditional farmers, the Old Chatham Sheepherding Company, horse stable owner Edie Root, an alpaca person, and a sheep person.
New York State took an ag census in 2002 (the next will be in 2007) and found that sales were down only slightly from 1997. But, while sales were relatively steady, the number of farms declined significantly.
Dan Northrop spoke next, explaining that for 34 years he ran a 600-acre dairy farm, that it was not profitable, and that it’s taken three years to sell his property. He is not optimistic about the future of dairy farms in this town. He said that dairy imports from Australia and New Zealand, which have increased since the beginning of the Iraq war, have hurt domestic dairies. He said he chose not to put an easement on his property because he would have received $7,000/acre less than by selling without an easement; he said that selling with an easement would not have made his farm profitable.
He said that farmers in town were badly hurt when they lost their ability to mine gravel. He feels that people coming up to buy real estate have plenty of money and that development will occur regardless of any restrictions put on it. He believes agriculture will become more diverse, with farms not of 400-600 acres but of 20-40.
Dairy, as compared to other kinds of farms, was said to impact the highest numbers of local businesses.
Pete Chiaro of Yonder Farms spoke. The largest fruit grower in the county, he has been farming since 1956, in Claverack and in Kinderhook, on 400-500 acres of owned land plus other land that he and his partners lease. He says there is still plenty of vacant land in town and doesn’t believe there is a crisis in terms of development. He described Kinderhook as being very restrictive to farmers. He is trying to stay in the fruit business, but only one of his sons wants to continue in it. He said he was very fortunate some years ago when, after Empire Homes failed, the county came in to take over that building, because the county purchased seven acres from him at $40,000 per acre.
Chiaro cited as one problem the labor issue in the fall. Offshore workers are needed to pick the apples, and farmers have to pay them $10/hour plus housing and other expenses. He said there is no state program that helps the fruit industry. He also cited the high cost of fuel.
Chiaro is very concerned because Price Chopper will soon be having fruit shipped in from out of state, via train, into Duanesburg. He says that selling to Europe is problematic because of the restrictions and specifications involved. Selling to big chain stores is problematic because of their demands. He also cited the growing deer population, which is very hard on fruit trees, and he thinks deer controls are needed. He noted that larger building lots encourage more deer. And then there are the coyotes. He feels that housing should be close to hamlets, that clustering is good, and that sprawl is not. Subdivisions should provide for recreation areas, because, otherwise, kids will be all over the farmers’ land, e.g., for snowmobiling.
Richard Harrison of Harrison Farms on Gahbauer Road spoke. He cited the existence of 49 farms in town, of diverse types that include dairy, orchard, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), vegetable, sheep and goat, chicken, cow and pig, horse, herb, and Christmas-tree.
Hugh Williams of Threshold Farm in Philmont spoke. For 13 years he has been farming there, growing fruits, vegetables, and a small herd of cattle, on land that is owned by others and leased long term (i.e., 30 or 40 years). He is very happy about the farming situation in Claverack. He spoke of a number of farmers who are in a farmer-training program and are planning for their retirement. He described them as an upbeat group. He asked the committee to “imagine the Town of Claverack with a lot more farms like ours.” He believes that what is needed, by the committee as well as by farmers, is imagination, hard work, creativity, and a more diverse imagination. He cited the excellent wholesale market that is reachable from this area, including Albany, Boston, and New York City. He said the potential for farming here is enormous, and that it’s critical that the land be kept open so that farms can be established in the future.
Ooms mentioned that a farmer who uses someone else’s land generally does not pay rent. Instead, the property owner benefits by receiving an ag tax assessment. He noted that the law provides for a tax penalty, looking back seven years, if ag-assessed land is sold, and he noted that not all towns enforce that law. He also noted that owners who lease land to a farmer should expect the crops to be rotated; he said some owners want the same crop there year after year, which creates a problem for the farmer.
Jessica Riley of Friendship Farm, a 100-acre horse farm, is concerned about retiring and the equity she has in her land. She asked if there were any active farmers on the committee, to which the response was “no.”
Chris Cashen of The Farm at Millers Crossing identified himself as a first-generation farmer. He bought his land with a CLC ag easement on it. He feels he should not have the option to do absolutely anything on his farm, nor should other farmers on their land. He is very concerned about development occurring on good acreage, and thinks the Red Hook ideas that Laing described are good ones.
Other comments addressed the need to “keep open space open” so that farms and even community gardens can locate there in the future. Claverack was said to be, according to realtors, a “dead spot in the county,” with land selling at $6,000-$10,000/acre.
Laing noted that Red Hook has an Agriculture and Open Space Committee. He believes farmers are positive about the ag overlay, and says that the Red Hook farmers are “lined up” for PDR. Other Dutchess County towns are going the same route as Red Hook. He distributed a fact sheet from the American Farmland Trust about TDR [Editor’s note: see http://www.farmlandinfo.org/documents/27746/FS_TDR_1-01.pdf], and also a flyer about a one-day conference on March 22nd in Washington County called Planning a Future for Farms.
Ooms will send the committee a list of the steps Chatham is taking, such as the Keep Farming process, which he described as having been a very positive experience.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Virginia Martin
Self-Appointed and Unofficial Note-Taker
vmartin@mhcable.com
518.851.5191
Caveat: While the writer has endeavored to accurately represent what transpired at this meeting, the foregoing “notes” have not been, and are not expected to be, reviewed by the committee for accuracy. However, the writer encourages anyone who was in attendance at the meeting (committee members, audience members) to contact her with suggested corrections.