General Information
Location
175 Arsenal St # 3
Watertown,
NY
13601

Jefferson County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan

Jefferson County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan

The Jefferson County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board, with the assistance of Community Planning and Environmental Associates, has updated the 2002 Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan.

The 2016 Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan provides the County:
• A long-term vision and direction to guide policies and programs that can enhance agriculture;
• Strategies to maintain agriculture as a critical land use and economic driver;
• A framework for organization and collaboration to promote existing and new farm operations;
• Identification of potential project partners and sources of funding; and
• Data, maps, and other information that can be used to support agricultural economic development, public relations, marketing, grant writing, and other programs related to agriculture.

A variety of approaches were used to learn what farmers, agri-businesses, and agencies involved with supporting agriculture think are issues and opportunities to be addressed in this Plan. Public outreach and farmer input was gathered through a comprehensive process that included:

• Workshop for Farmers;
• Roundtable discussion with the Jefferson County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board;
• Discussion with the Jefferson County Agricultural Round Table;
• A farmer’s survey;
• Focus group meetings to learn about CAFO Farms, dairy processing, land trusts and farmland protection in the County, agri-businesses, ag-tourism, and ag-economic development; and
• Interviews with several farms.

The public input received from these efforts was organized into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to agriculture. From this, the vision and goals were developed along with a list of issues to be addressed and new strategies to implement.

Call the Jefferson County Department of Planning and ask for Michael Bourcy if you have any questions, (315) 785-3144.

2016 Jefferson County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan

Executive Summary
Part 1 - Main Document
Part 2 - The State of Agriculture in Jefferson County
Part 3 - Background Information