Our mission is to promote New York State agriculture and its high-quality and diverse products, foster agricultural environmental stewardship, and safeguard the state’s food supply, land, and livestock to ensure the viability and growth of New York’s agriculture industries.

Working together, our Divisions:

• promote New York’s agricultural producers and products and the state’s food and beverage companies;
• connect the New York's farmers to new markets to grow the agricultural economy;
• improve access to fresh, local foods to consumers across New York through farmers’ markets and farm-to-school programs;
• protect and enhance New York State’s natural resources and working landscapes;
• maintain plant health by detecting and preventing the spread of diseases and harmful invasive species, promoting integrated pest management, regulating the sale of seed and fertilizers, and ensuring the health of honey bees;
• promote sustainable animal production agriculture;
• protect the safety of the animal origin food supply;
• inspect companion animal shelters;
• protect the safety of the food supply in New York State from the producer to the consumer through inspection and testing; and
• assure measurement accuracy of scales and gas pumps, as well as thousands of different packaged commodities for a fair and equitable commercial marketplace.

Contact the Department: (518) 457-2771 | [email protected]