Marilyn DeMeyer says her childhood town was engulfed by development over just a few decades.
Now sheâs worried the same could happen to her 300-acre farm in Monroe County, New York, not far from Rochester and the shore of Lake Ontario.
Fortunately for her, a number of government programs exist to preserve the stateâs farmland.
Agriculture is the No. 1 industry in New York state, and yet our prime farmland is being lost to poorly planned development at a frightening pace,â said DeMeyer, who farms with her son, Richard. âWe really have to be proactive if weâre going to feed our growing population, not push viable farms out of business and farming to marginal lands.â