Mission: The organization's mission is "to protect our community's working landscape of farms and forests, connect people to the land, and promote a vibrant future for agriculture in the region. " one way the organization accomplishes this is to conserve productive farmland so that it can continue to be a source of fresh food and milk for generations to come. The organization's service area covers washington and rensselaer counties, with around 1,300 farms contributing approximately $200 million in product sales annually to the local economy.
Programs: Land protection: the organization operates a conservation easement program with a primary focus of farmland conservation. In addition to donated easements, the organization purchases easements from willing landowners and operates purchase of development rights (pdr) programs for washington and rensselaer counties. During this fiscal year, the organization assisted landowners with the conservation of approximately 1,280 acres on four farms and one forested parcel. One of these projects was a donated easement and four were farms that were awarded state farmland protection funding. Baseline documentation reports were completed for all of the properties that were conserved. The organization also advanced another 21 easements totaling 3,633 acres, the majority of which have been awarded state funding.
easement stewardship and management: the organization successfully completed stewardship visits to 111 easements in order to fulfill its ongoing responsibility to uphold the terms of its easements and protect the conservation values of the conserved land. The organization has undertaken a series of initiatives to improve its stewardship program, including purchasing collective easement defense insurance (terrafirma rrg) to protect its organizational assets in case of litigation. The organization responded to several landowner questions and permission requests regarding their easements. The organization continues to improve communication with landowners of easement protected land and actively meets with new owners to establish a relationship and discuss the easement. As part of its continuing efforts to strengthen relationships with owners of conserved lands, it sponsored several landowner workshops this year on topics such as tree felling techniques, chain saw safety and forest management. The organization received land trust accreditation in 2013 and has applied for accreditation renewal in 2018. The organization continues to improve its stewardship program by participating in meetings with land trusts in the region and attends training sessions on stewardship and easement management issues.
education and outreach: educating people about conservation tools and the importance of local farms and the need to protect farmland is an integral part of the organization's mission. The organization holds outreach sessions and regularly talks with service and business associations, schools, municipalities and private landowners about the importance of farmland conservation and ways to keep farmers on the land. The organization continued to provide educational and outreach programs on conserved farms for families and individuals around the value of local farms and food. The organization also continued to develop new partnerships and programs with community organizations and schools for urban communities of the capital district. Recognizing that protecting farmland and fostering farming goes hand in hand, the organization continued to partner with agricultural and educational organizations to provide support to farmers. This included trainings for farmers, farm match services, peer to peer mentoring and implementing a county agricultural and farmland protection plan.
Agricultural Stewardship Association is an accredited land trust. Accreditation means Agricultural Stewardship Association meets national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. Agricultural Stewardship Association has demonstrated to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission its commitment to excellence. Accredited land trusts meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. These land trusts demonstrate their commitment to excellence by adopting Land Trust Standards and Practices, the ethical and technical guidelines for the responsible operation of a land trust, and meeting the accreditation requirements drawn from them. Learn More: http://www.landtrustaccreditation.org/about.
