OCLT has been awarded the State’s first grant through its new Farmland Protection Staff Capacity Grants Pilot Program.
The grant program was first announced during Governor Hochul’s 2025 State of the State. The grants, which are administered by the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, aim to increase capacity within land trusts and other eligible entities to support local agricultural and farmland protection goals.
Jim Delaune, Executive Director of the Orange County Land Trust, said: “We are extremely fortunate to have been one of just six organizations across the entire state to receive this funding. Given the development and economic pressures facing Orange County’s farming community, this grant will allow us to hire an additional staff member specializing in farmland protection so that we can accelerate our efforts to protect our irreplaceable working farms.”
In 2026, OCLT successfully submitted applications for state and federal grant funding to protect two different farms. According to OCLT’s Farmland Protection Project Manager, Shanna Abeles, the Staff Capacity grant will enable them to better address the growing demand for agricultural conservation easement funding from farmers. Abeles said, “There are two outstanding programs that support the protection of working farmland, the State’s Farmland Protection Implementation Grant Program and the USDA-NRCS’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Program – Agricultural Land Easement (ACEP-ALE). This grant allows us to double-down on our efforts and help more farmers, so this is a huge win for agriculture in the County.”
Delaune added, “We thank Governor Hochul and Commissioner Richard Ball of the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets for supporting agriculture and providing us with this exciting opportunity to bolster farmland protection in Orange County. We also wish to recognize our partners at Orange County Government and the Orange County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board.”
The Farmland Protection Staff Capacity award is funded through the New York State Environmental Protection Fund.
