New York State's recently passed budget cut appropriations for farmland protection by 51 percent to $10.75 million. And now it looks like this year's actual state cash allocation for the Farmland Protection Program may be as little as $5 million, American Farmland Trust reported.

Some 1,800 New York farms may go out of business if the state continues to significantly delay payments.According to a recent report from the Office of the Comptroller on the Environmental Protection Fund, which funds the Farmland Protection Program, delays in the expenditure of money in the fund have resulted in an accumulation of unspent money in the fund that the state has "swept" into the state's General Fund to be used for other purposes. A total of $854 million, or 39 percent, has been swept into the state's general fund. To date only $347 million of this has been paid back.

As a result of the sweeps there is not currently enough cash available in the Environmental Protection Fund, to make good on the $71.5 million that is owed to farm families for the purchase of development rights on their farms, let alone make new grants to the many farm families who are interested in working with the state to protect their farmland. Check out this Times Union story on this important issue.

Gov. David Paterson has said there is only enough cash available to provide $5 million this year to honor these state commitments from between one and five years ago. At this rate, it would take 15 years for the state to honor its commitments to these families alone and no new farms could be protected.

To help close this gap, NYLCV and the American Farmland Trust support the sale of Wine in Grocery Stores and are urging lawmakers to consider amending the current proposal by dedicating 5% ($12.5M) of the projected $250M that will be generated in franchise fees to the Farmland Protection category of the Environmental Protection Fund. New York State could leverage this new investment to help meet the approximate $70 million of commitments made through the Farmland Protection Program that have been delayed due to previous cuts and sweeps to the Environmental Protection Fund.