Erie County finishes plan to protect farmland

EDEN, N.Y. (WIVB) - It was a 20-month long process but Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, the Erie County Farm Bureau, and the Erie County Agricultural Farm Land Protection Board introduced the Erie County Agricultural and Farmland Protection plan Thursday.

"I think the number one thing that this plan does is that it lets those in the agricultural community know that we are there to assist them, to help, them and grow their industry. We need to do everything we can to maintain a sustainable economy in Western New York. Too many people talk about industries that don't exist and want to bring them to Western New York. Well we have an industry that already exists," said Poloncarz.

One of the immediate results of the plan are mapping tools that were developed to identify prime soil locations and farm clusters for protection.

"We overlay that information within the development activity within the county. So that provides an immediate tool between the county and local governments when we make land use decisions," explained  Tom Deary, Deputy Commissioner of Environment and Planning.

Another hurdle is appealing to the younger generation of farmers and providing information of the benefits of agriculture.

"They also have to see that there are not barriers to them doing that. There needs to be the availability of land, there needs to be cooperation amongst local governments," said Timothy Bigham of the New York Farm Bureau.

To further expand on the education, the goal is to have more classes available in local schools that focus on agriculture and they also plan on setting up touring and events on local farms to bring more attention to them.