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 an annual report to the governor and the legislature regarding such initiative.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3168
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 30, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Agriculture
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 a consistent demand of products and services from farmers who are black,
14 indigenous, and people of color and re-establish opportunities for farm
15 ownership for such farmers. A report shall be provided annually to the
16 governor and the legislature detailing information including, but not
17 limited to, the type of initiatives undertaken, the funding distributed
18 by region, the percentage of farms owned by farmers who are black,
19 indigenous, and people of color by region, and the various products
20 distributed to and 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.
LBD08165-01-3
