Requires the department of agriculture and markets to facilitate and expand an initiative to promote opportunities for farm ownership to farmers who are black, indigenous and people of color; requires the department to submit a triennial report to the governor and the legislature regarding such initiative.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3578--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 28, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Agriculture -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to requir-
ing the department of agriculture and markets to facilitate and expand
an initiative to promote opportunities for farm ownership to farmers
who are black, indigenous and people of color
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative intent and findings. The legislature finds that
2 black, indigenous and people of color farmers make up approximately 2.1%
3 of all farmers in New York state. Using data from the 2017 census, that
4 means that only 1,228 out of 57,865 farmers were black, indigenous, and
5 people of color. It is the intent of the legislature to diversify the
6 profession of farming within the state and to encourage black, indige-
7 nous, and people of color to pursue farm ownership.
8 § 2. Section 16 of the agriculture and markets law is amended by
9 adding a new subdivision 53 to read as follows:
10 53. Facilitate and expand, with financial and technical support, an
11 initiative to promote opportunities for farm ownership to farmers who
12 are black, indigenous and people of color. The department shall promote
13 products and services from farmers who are black, indigenous, and people
14 of color and establish opportunities for farm ownership for such farm-
15 ers. A report shall be provided triennially to the governor and the
16 legislature detailing information including, but not limited to, the
17 type of initiatives undertaken, the funding distributed by region, the
18 percentage of farms owned by farmers who are black, indigenous, and
19 people of color by region, and the various products distributed to and
20 from each region.
21 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
22 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08105-02-5
