County Executive Romaine signs $15 million farmland preservation bill at Riverhead farm

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine visited a working farm in Riverhead Wednesday to sign legislation appropriating $15 million of new funding this year for farmland preservation.

With Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey at his side, Romaine said he worked with legislators to increase the annual appropriation for the purchase of farmland development rights from $10 million to $15 million because the need to preserve farmland has reached a new level of urgency.  

“We are in a struggle against development,” Romaine said. 

The county executive said he intends to maintain at least that level of funding annually.

“Almost 6% of this county’s land is in farming, and we’re going to keep that number and look to increase it wherever possible,” Romaine said, standing at the edge of a field being prepared for planting at the Garden of Eve Farm on Sound Avenue in Riverhead.  “We want to preserve our farm belt.”

Garden of Eve is an example of the county’s development rights program in action, said Romaine, who represented the North Fork in the County Legislature for 12 years. When the development rights are sold to the county, the land can only be used for farming, he said. 

Farmers Chris and Eve Kaplan-Walbrecht, who hosted Romaine’s press conference and signing ceremony yesterday, sold the development rights on their 67-acre farm to the county early last year.  They grow organic vegetables and flowers, selling directly to consumers through their CSA program and at farmers markets year-round.

The farmland preservation program is a critical investment in the county’s future, Romaine said, because farming is a crucial part of the county’s economy. 

“We stand on the shoulders of giants like John V.N. Klein, who came up with this idea as county executive 50 years ago,” Romaine said. “We want to see farming stay stable, and be part of our history and our future.”

Suffolk’s first-in-the-nation program was conceived by County Executive John Klein in the early 1970s with input from county planners and the farming community. 

In a September 1973 report to the legislature, Klein identified what he called “three major threats to Suffolk County agriculture”:  increased real property tax burdens; mandatory liquidation of farms upon the death of the owners in order to pay federal and state inheritance taxes; and “the spectacular increase in the value of land for non-agricultural purposes.”

Klein’s proposal took aim at the third major threat, proposing to eliminate it “by the only fair and constitutional mention — acquisition of the property itself or of the development rights to that property.”

Klein proposed focusing the county’s efforts on Suffolk’s “prime agricultural lands, principally in Riverhead and on the North Fork.”

The plan, which called for the expenditure of $45 million to $55 million over three years, met with resistance from some legislators, who were divided along lines still familiar to Suffolk residents more than 50 years later: Republican vs. Democrat and West End vs. East End. 

Despite resistance and controversy, the plan was adopted in 1974.  At that point, there were 737 farms in Suffolk comprising 55,737 acres.

The program wasn’t funded by the legislature until 1976 and the first farmland development rights acquisitions took place in 1977, with the purchase of development rights on farms in Baiting Hollow and Aquebogue.

Since Suffolk’s farmland preservation program was adopted 50 years ago, the county has protected approximately 11,000 acres of farmland through the purchase of development rights, according to county data. Another 9,000 acres in Suffolk have been protected through other preservation efforts, including county-town and nonprofit partnerships.

This year’s $15 million allocation for farmland preservation will be funded by bonding authorized by the County Legislature on April 9. 

Yesterday, Romaine also signed a separate bill authorizing the purchase of development rights on a 33-acre tract of farmland in Jamesport owned by Jets 139 LLC for $2.475 million.  Funding for that acquisition came from the allocation of $10 million for farmland preservation in 2022.

Suffolk County Commissioner of Planning and Economic Development Sarah Lansdale said the county is set to close on another 60 acres in Riverhead by June.

Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard thanked Romaine and the other county officials for their efforts. 

“As the county executive said, we have preserved more land in Riverhead than all the East End towns combined. That’s a great thing, the more we can save, the more we can preserve, the more we can keep the farmers in business,” Hubbard said. “There are still approximately 7,000 acres of farmland in Riverhead that could be preserved,” he noted. 

“We have to do everything we can to make that happen. No farmers, no food,” Hubbard said, adding, “And if you look at me, I like food.” 

County Legislator Catherine Stark said the county must continue its efforts in order to ensure there remain contiguous farms in the county’s farm belt. 

“It’s very important,” she said. “Farmers support each other, lend each other equipment, and lend each other help. Having those contiguous farms is very, very important.”

Long Island Farm Bureau Director Rob Carpenter said local farmers play a crucial role in guaranteeing the food supply for Long Island’s 3 million residents.

“We hope that we can continue to preserve the next 10,000 acres to get that critical mass that’s so important to have,” Carpenter said.