New ag venture support program

New ag venture support program

Summary

Summary
1) A “majority of [Wayne County farmers] indicate that the next generation of their family will probably not be farming (62 percent, according to a 1994 Wayne County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board survey).1”

2) There is an identified interest in starting a small farm business, and there are approximately 5500 parcels of land in the County that are between 10 and 70 acres in size, many of which have been subdivided from working farms;

3) In the last few years, as towns in Wayne County have updated their comprehensive plans, the role of agriculture is highlighted significantly more than in previous plans. As an example- the proposed Town of Ontario comprehensive plan update contains nine pages of text regarding agriculture compared to the previous plan that had one paragraph.

To address these problems, Wayne County will

1) develop a New and Beginning Farmer Resource web page that brings the many existing resources to one easily accessed point of information;

2) offer the “Exploring the Small Farm Dream” workshop for rural and suburban landowners and;

3) utilize the American Farmland Trust “Planning for Agriculture” workbook and a farmer panel to train Town Planning Board and Zoning Board members on agricultural issues as they relate to town zoning law.

1 Wayne County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan, 1997

Objectives/Performance Targets

* Offer the “Exploring the Small Farm Dream” course to twenty people to help them clarify their feelings and identify potential farm enterprise opportunities. The course will also help them lay the groundwork for a more extensive business planning exercise for those people who want to further pursue a farm business. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Wayne County will be offering this course in February and March.

* Offer a Planning and Zoning Board member training program for 60 members of local boards, utilizing the American Farmland Trust “Planning for Agriculture” workbook as a curriculum. The members will receive a copy of the workbook as part of the training seminar. This will also help the board members to fulfill their training requirements for a new New York State law.

* Create a “farm resource” web page that will bring together all of the contact information for area businesses that support and service farms.

Accomplishments/Milestones

The major accomplishment to date has been the organization and beginning advertisement of the Exploring the Small Farm Dream Course by Cooperative Extension. The Planning for Agriculture workbooks have been ordered and received. I am involved with the discussions for the redesign of the Economic Development web page.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

At this point, the training programs have not yet been held. We expect to complete them by May 1. The County Economic Development web page, which will be hosting the Farm Resources page, is going to be redesigned in the next two months. I expect this to be complete by May 1 also. Therefore at this time there have been no outcomes or impacts.

Collaborators: