“Farmers Want Town Board To Reject New Code”
by Scott Webber, Reprinted by permission from the Warwick Valley Dispatch, November 7, 2001

“New York Farmers Win Victory under ‘Right to Farm’ Laws”
-PRFA Bulletin, October 29, 2001
New York’s highest court exempts farm worker housing from local zoning.

See Also

Essential Books
& Publications

Publication Order Form

Additional Resources

Michigan Model Conservation Easement (March 2003)
This model document, which was provided by Rachel Thomas as a form used by the State of Michigan, contains typical clauses demonstrating the danger of conservation easements.

In-Depth Information

“Wild Cities, Suburb Zoos and Rural Outrages—Reflections on My Career in Wildlife Management”-By Nathaniel R. Dickinson, Wildlife Biologist, Tenth Annual National Conference on Private Property Rights (PRFA, Albany, N.Y., October 14, 2006)
To understand the today’s alarming increase in the conflict between different species of wildlife and man, Nate Dickinson recalls his successful effort to restore wildlife management in New York State to the legal mandate to maintain deer in balance with natural food supplies, to create conditions where man and nature can thrive in harmony. To prevent conflicts, there are places where wildlife should not be.

“Property Rights Bills in the New York State Legislature” - By Jeff Williams, Assistant Director of Government Relations, New York Farm Bureau - Speech to the Seventh Annual Conference on Private Property Rights (PRFA, October 18, 2003)
The New York Farm Bureau’s 34,000 grassroots members succeeded in defeating a mislabeled “canned shoot” bill, which had no acreage limitation. Open burning and light pollution (fugitive lighting) bills threaten farmers. Tax exempt reform legislation could relieve undue burdens on property owners.

“Private Property Rights of Farmers: Updates in Takings and Related Case Law” - By Jeff Williams and Leah Hurtgen, New York State Farm Bureau (Sixth Annual Conference on Private Property Rights, PRFA - November 16, 2002)
A broad overview of significant recent cased that have occurred in New York State and in other parts of this country, which affect agriculture and other land-intensive business such as logging and will touch individual property owners: Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (122 S. Ct. 1465 (2002); the victorious Palazzolo v. Rhode Island and related historic cases; Town of Lysander v. Hafner (New York State Court of Appeals, October 18, 2001); the disappointing Long Island Pine Barrens v. Town of Riverhead; the California case Pronsolino v. EPA; and another Ninth Circuit case Borden Ranch v. Army Corps of Engineers.

“Suburbs Surround 80-Year Old Farmer in Guilderland, New York” — By Carol W. LaGrasse (PRFA, May 22, 2002)
William Vojnar’s scruffy 50-year old farm is one of two surviving in this town near the State Capitol of Albany. Officials enforce suburbanites’ distaste for pigs, sheep, odor, and old cars.

William Vojnar
Photo by
Peter J. LaGrasse

“Long Warwick Zoning Battle Ends” — By Carol W. LaGrasse (PRFA, February 2002)
Farmers give a little in dispute with urban emigres. Town drops key parts of farm preservation plan, including “Purchase of Development Rights” and “Open Space” zoning.

“Farmers Have Private Property Rights—What Does This Mean?” - Carol W. LaGrasse, speech sponsored by “Local,” Warwick, N.Y., (PRFA, October 29, 2001)
This speech, at the invitation of local farmers and landowners, addresses the combined threat of zoning farmland as “Open Space” while pressuring farmers to sell conservation easements, or PDR’s (Purchase of Development Rights), to preserve the character of the remaining farmland that suburbanites moving into the area enjoy.

“A Critical Look at Conservation Easements” - By Carol W. LaGrasse (Speech to Tompkins County Farm Bureau, Dryden Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, Dryden, N.Y., October 26, 2000)
Benefits for farmers that are attributed to conservation easements are inaccurate, exaggerated and inequitable. The results of conservation easements are the loss of equity and the rights to use the land.

In-Depth Information