ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — State lawmakers convened on Tuesday to assess government aid programs for new farmers entering New York’s agricultural industry. The Assembly Agriculture Committee hearing found that, while state investments have sparked demand, these emerging farmers still can’t easily secure land, capital, or skilled labor.

Such farmers, often between ages 18 and 35, include those who are completely new to the trade and those transitioning into farm ownership. The average farmer age is about 57 in New York, where 60% of nearly 60,000 farmers are above 54 years old.

Democratic Committee Chair Donna Lupardo and ranking Republican Assemblymember Chris Tague led the discussion scrutinizing the effectiveness of programs funded in the 2025 to 2026 state budget. Tague, a former dairy farmer, argued that the state’s regulatory burdens tilt the playing field against its producers.

Over 90% of senior farmers—managing about 2 million acres of land—have no successor, so the land will change hands in the next decade. And the state lost over 363,000 acres of farmland—over 5%—between 2017 and 2022. According to witness testimony from Julian Mangano, that’s three times the acreage the state has permanently protected since 1996.

How to attract new farmers while preserving land for food production? Mangano and other witnesses identified consistent challenges like competition from solar developers for farmland and the difficulty of navigating government systems. But concerns about overall costs and poor return on investments were repeated the most.

Witnesses repeatedly called for state support to subsidize or provide financial consulting and assistance for completing complex paperwork for grant applications and estate planning.

Quade Kirk, a farmer and Columbia County Farm Bureau Young Farmer chairperson, explained that high costs aren’t tied to any one aspect of the industry. Every aspect of farming requires lots of startup capital for land, equipment, livestock, and infrastructure. Kirk said that today’s young farmers may not grow up on a farm and often lack financial literacy and need legal guidance to transition ownership. They often struggle to pay consultation fees that can be up to $400 an hour.

Christian Lewis, a first-generation farmer, said that navigating a transfer ownership requires “three lawyers, two financial planners, a priest and a bartender.” He reported working about 63 hours a week operating heavy equipment off the farm to afford living expenses while running his beef processing facility. He and others recommended that legislators work on programs or guidelines to offset startup costs or give better financial advice.

Holly Rippon-Butler, a farmer and policy advocate, explained that farmers usually have to secure lots of external financing—sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars—to cover costs before the state reimburses them, a risk for a business with tight margins. She added that farmers who didn’t go to school in New York or don’t farm full-time can’t take advantage of student loan forgiveness.

Allyson Jones-Brimmer, executive director of the Northeast Dairy Producers Association, argued that the state should support farm transition with more tax incentives. The NEDPA supports making the state’s Investment Tax Credit—expiring in 2027—permanently refundable to encourage farmers to invest in their operation.

Older farmers face pressure to sell or lease to developers and solar energy companies offering guaranteed income. Some, particularly retirees, prefer solar for stability, but that means the state loses productive farmland.

And that’s also why, near cities, farmland values driven up by development and solar can exceed $10,000 per acre. Richard De Meyer, a third-generation farmer, said he got a one-time payment of about $4,750 per acre to permanently preserve his property. Meanwhile, leasing for solar earns from $1,500 to $2,000 per acre every year for the length of the contract, all without losing land ownership.

Democratic Assemblymember Marianne Buttenschon, a small family farm owner, agreed that better financial backing lets solar companies offer much more for land rights or access than small local farmers can compete with. Indeed, Lewis and De Meyer said they couldn’t fault a farmer for opting into better profits through solar arrays.

That per-acre guarantee represents a safer bet for a retiring farmer than “risking trying to transition your way into a younger farmer.” Buttenschon added that solar or electrification can render productive farmland unworkable for decades.

Workforce development and labor concerns also came up repeatedly. According to Rippon-Butler, the state needs grant programs to specifically address the high cost of housing and infrastructure improvements for farmers buying affordable properties.

Ian Calder-Piedmonte, an East Hampton farmer, described the lack of affordable housing as one of the greatest threats to agriculture where he lives on Long Island. “Farms cannot operate without a reliable workforce,” he said, so the state should standardize housing plans for farmworkers and allow for quicker permitting and approval. Currently, farmers sometimes can’t access grant funds designed to build farmworker housing.

New York’s livestock and dairy providers said their young farmers have unique obstacles. De Meyer said the common saying in dairy is “Go big or go home” because profitability depends on economies of scale by diluting fixed costs. Jones-Brimmer reported that while the state ranks No. 1 for new investments in dairy capacity, farms need ongoing support to meet future demand.

Tague called for New York to level the regulatory playing field, especially in meat processing, where a lack of capacity costs jobs and market share. Lewis said that wait times for processing a steer can be eight months or more, making planning difficult for direct-to-consumer businesses.

Tague and others also stressed the need for country-of-origin labeling. “I’ll be raising cattle until I’m 85 years old. But I want to know that when I’m raising cattle and when my kids go into it, that they’re going to have a market for it,” Lewis said. “I put blood, sweat, and tears in the cows that are on that land that we run, and I want Americans to know that it was American beef.”

Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is trying to fill some labor shortfalls through research and educational programs. Representatives from Cornell and the State University of New York agricultural school testified about efforts to attract and equip the next generation of farmers, underlining a need for more sustained funding.

Cornell Small Farms Program director Dr. Anu Rangarajan reported that online courses and specialized initiatives for military veterans through the Farm Ops project and Latino farmers through the Equitable Farm Futures are in high demand. And she reported that reported that they’re researching new crop approaches to build resilience, specifically mentioning mushroom production and agroforestry.

Katie Carpenter, director of Cornell’s New York Agriculture in the Classroom, said New York has experienced a 76% increase in agriculture education programs since 2010. But she qualified that by talking up programs like the Future Farmers of America and 4-H because they introduce students to the industry and can lead to careers. She also highlighted Supervised Agricultural Experiences, work-based learning that lets high schoolers manage projects, budgets, and products, helping to build a classroom to career in agriculture pipeline.

Julie Suarez, Associate Dean at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said that funding for SUNY’s land grant mission has been flat since 2008, strained by over $110 million in canceled federal contracts since January.

Karl Czymmek, Pro-Dairy Program associate director at Cornell, highlighted the Dairy Advancement Program that awards grants of $2,000 to $3,000 on a cost-share basis for business planning, including hiring consultants or lawyers for transition planning. He said farmers like the program because there’s minimal bureaucracy.

The state already supports new farmers through programs like the Beginner Farmers Grant program and the Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Farmers Grant program. Altogether, according to Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball, these two grants have issued $11 million for farmers starting or expanding a business. But the overwhelming demand for these programs reveals the need for more support.

The BFGP, administered by the New York Farm Viability Institute, got almost 300 applications requesting over $22 million. But only $850,000 was available in the first-round funding this year, split among just 19 successful applicants.

Meanwhile, the FBGP, managed by the American Farmland Trust, connected 211 farmers to over 10,600 acres of land since 2018. But Mangano, the New York policy manager for that organization, said the grants were oversubscribed, with a $234,000 gap in application requests versus available funds.

Members and advocates also cited and theorized several bills and proposals to help the agriculture industry like a beginning farmer tax credit modeled after a Minnesota law to incentivize older farmers to lease to new farmers. Another option would be enhanced development rights or affirmative easements on preserved farmland to keep it actively farmed and affordably priced in the future.

Democratic Assemblymember Didi Barrett referred to her own legislation that would expand eligibility for the Excelsior Jobs Program to include the agricultural and tourism industries. A9063 would include companies that produce and sell wine, cheese, or other products on-site.

Tague called for fully funding Cornell and SUNY to equip the next generation with the tools they need to succeed. He called attention to his bill, A3638, mandating agricultural coursework from first grade through ninth grade. He said it would encourage young people to pursue farm careers and grow the labor pipeline.

Buttenschon also stressed the need for accountability on spending, saying the hearing served as a reminder to lawmakers that “rural voices deserve a seat at every table.” To address workforce housing, her bill, S23/A297, would expand tax credits for farmers to include coverage for expenses related to workforce housing construction.

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