New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF-Sag Harbor) today announced that $500,000 is available to aid farmland protection efforts across New York State. Municipalities can apply for grants of up to $15,000 under this new Request for Applications to amend local laws to better protect farmland from being converted to non-agricultural use. Funding is available through the New York State Environmental Protection Fund and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

This Request for Applications is a non-competitive grant opportunity exclusively for municipalities to either amend local laws to remove unreasonable restrictions on farm operations and agricultural land, or establish implementation-ready Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) programs to protect farmland from conversion to non-farm use. TDR relies on a conservation easement to protect farmland from development while also enabling the community to transfer and utilize elsewhere the development rights that will never be exercised on the farm.

This is the first such application being released by New York State in several years. Another more traditional Request for Proposals (RFP) for other types of farmland protection projects will be released in 2014. The RFP is also available to counties, not-for-profit conservation organizations (referred to as “land trusts”), and soil and water conservation districts.

Application materials and important webinar information for the Round 13 Farmland Protection Implementation Grants Request for Applications are available for download on the Department of Agriculture and Markets website at www.agriculture.ny.gov/RFPS.html. Application materials are also available by calling the department directly at 1-800-554-4501.