Ulster County presenters outline draft agricultural plan to protect farms, expand markets and build climate resilience

Speaker 1 introduced a draft Ulster County agricultural plan, saying the document compiles data and community input not available elsewhere and that "estamos definitivamente necesitábamos un plan de agricultura" to guide county decisions and preserve farmland.

The plan, presenters said, responds to long-term change in production, demographics and land use and is organized in four chapters: economic viability, agricultural lands and land use, resilience and sustainability, and supporting infrastructure such as processing and housing. Speaker 3 summarized the plan’s approach as three phases — assessing current conditions, defining a vision and goals, and identifying actions — and said the third phase offers a toolbox of potential strategies the county can pursue.

Presenters cited the U.S. 2022 Census of Agriculture data used in the plan: 486 farms in the county, roughly 73,000 acres of agricultural land (about 10% of county acreage) and about $105.5 million in agricultural…