Family farms need protection

Dear Editor,

As the climate changes, we can expect more weather shifts such as more rain in the winter, drier springs and summers with more variable winds. This is in spite of the fact that the Northeast, with its abundant rainfall and projected longer growing season, is in an excellent geographic location for our small family farms. 

I would submit that it is the family farm that identifies Tioga County’s hamlets and villages. It is the open farm land north and south of Spencer, the farm lands to the west of Candor and the working farm landscape that separates Nichols, Tioga Center, Barton and the Village of Waverly. These working farms are not only valuable to the farmers but, to the greater community, as they maintain Tioga County’s attractiveness for the tourism industry and help reduce flooding via their protection of fields and forest, in addition to supplying our food.

In recreational and tourism terms Tioga County is considered the entrance to the Finger Lakes, to water sports and vineyards and continued picturesque landscapes. To our north the Town of Ithaca has protected two farms while Tompkins County has spent over three million dollars to protect five farms and over 2,242 acres

Lying to Tioga County’s south is Bradford County, Pa. Since 2001 the Bradford County Agricultural Land Preservation Program has allocated over $3 million dollars for the protection of the County’s Agricultural future. The Bradford County Conservation District has facilitated easements on 14 farms totaling over 3,700 acres.

I believe that Tioga County’s family farms should be protected wherever a willing farmer has quality land that should be protected for future generations. I would further suggest that to help fund the occasional State program, Tioga County, New York increase its mortgage tax from 3/4 to 1 percent and that those funds be designated to protect our best farmland and critical open spaces.

Most respectfully,

Marty Borko

Waverly, N.Y.