Farmland Protection

Overview

The Farmland Protection program buys conservation easements on the State’s most productive farmland. The program is completely voluntary, and the seller retains title to the land and can continue farming the property.

However, the land will have permanent restrictions on commercial, residential and industrial uses in perpetuity.

Genesee Valley Conservancy partners with Livingston, Wyoming, and Genesee counties to access grant funding from NYS for this program. Interested farms must attend a workshop to learn about the program and then apply to their respective county for priority ranking.

If you miss the pre-application deadline, please contact us and we will add you to our notification list for the next application round.

Please Note:

If you missed the recent workshops in 2026 and are interested in learning more, please contact us ASAP to set up a meeting before June 12, 2026.

Otherwise, the next round of Farmland Protection Workshops is tentatively slated for spring of 2028, contingent on the continuation of the state program.

Pre-Application

Important:

All Pre-Applications are due to Genesee Valley Conservancy by Friday, July 17 at 5:00PM. Applications can be dropped off at the Conservancy office (1 Main St, Geneseo) or emailed to Taylor Wilkie at taylor@geneseevalleyconservancy.org

Select your county’s application below: