Molinaro signs the law. Watching are Agricultural and Farmland Protection
Board Chairman Harry Baldwin, left, and
County Legislator Gregg Pulver
POUGHKEEPSIE – The Dutchess County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan is now law as County Executive Marcus Molinaro signed it into law on Thursday at McEnroe Organic Farm in Millerton.
The county legislature approved the plan earlier this month.
The plan outlines activities, programs and strategies to promote the economic success of the agricultural industry supporting its land use by identifying land or area proposed to be protected.
The county’s original plan was adopted in 1998 in response to the financial struggles that were being faced by local farms and the increased pressure to convert farms into residential and commercial properties.
The new plan reveals the county’s agricultural industry is growing with excellent prospects for a continuing and vital agricultural economy, based on new markets, growing interest in local agricultural products, and opportunities for continued land preservation for the next generation of farmers.
The plan is “proof that the agricultural economy in our county is continuing to grow, expand and adopt to change in our region,” said Molinaro.
“Dutchess County’s heritage is rooted in agriculture,” said Ag and Farmland Protection Board Chairman Harry Baldwin. “The changes we have seen in the past 15 years have been dramatic and it was important to put together a new plan with strategies to meet the needs of our current and future farmers and to encourage continued growth and prosperity of agriculture in Dutchess County.”
