Beginning Farmer Advisory Board

The Beginning Farmer Advisory Board on Agriculture (the Board) will help identify challenges affecting beginner farmers across New York State and provide recommendations to the Department on state priorities, policies, and programs to promote the next generation of farmers. The Board was established in Section 309-a of the agriculture and markets law.

The Board is convened by the Commissioners of Agriculture and Markets, Economic Development, and Labor or the Commissioner’s designees, and 25 members. The Board meets twice annually and is required to prepare and submit a report to the Governor and Legislature biennially.

The Beginning Farmer Advisory Board on Agriculture aims to:

• Communicate with the public, federal and state governments on the importance of beginning farmers to agriculture;
• Identify issues related to beginning farmers and provide relevant timely advice to the commissioner, the governor and relevant state agencies with regard to the promotion of agriculture as a career path and economic development; and
• Support beginning farmers through recommendations including policies and programs.

Members of the Beginning Farmer Advisory Board on Agriculture will be comprised of diverse members of the agriculture industry. These include, but are not limited to, an organic farmer, a veteran farmer, a farmer considered to be underrepresented in farm ownership, an urban farmer, a representative from Empire State Development, a representative of the FFA, a representative from Department of Labor, a representative of the New York Farm Bureau, a representative from Cornell Small Farms Program, a representative from the United States Department of Agriculture, a representative of the Young Farmers Coalition, and additional appointees.