Genesee County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan

Genesee County: Agricultural Development Plan
suggested that the County negotiate a set rate with a professional agricultural grant writer
to perform these services for farmers and agribusinesses.
Priority Level 2: Begin program in year 2 or 3.
Cost Considerations: Program would use limited in-house resources to negotiate grant
writing rates and approximately $500 to advertise services.
Responsibility: Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Recommendation 6: Provide Individual Counseling
Most farmers felt that the industry could benefit from access to qualified business
planning and consulting resources. While most of the required private professional
resources exist in Genesee, access to a different level of services may benefit those
farmers who can not articulate their need for or even afford professional services.
Therefore, peer mentors, SCORE, and SBDC counselors should be specifically trained to
provide business development services and professional service network access to the
agricultural industry. Such a program should be jointly directed by Cornell Cooperative
Extension (CCE) and the IDA.
Priority Level 2: Begin program in year 2 or 3.
Cost Considerations: This recommendation would require moderate levels of in-house
staffing and should be within the current budget.
Responsibility: CCE and IDA.
PLANNING AND POLICY
Ten-Year Objective
Genesee County, towns, and incorporated municipalities should coordinate all policy and
planning efforts to support the County’s number one industry, agriculture. These efforts
should be formally adopted in all relevant County plans. Furthermore, the County
recognizes that policies set outside of its boundaries, whether at the regional or state
level, can have profound impacts within the County. Therefore, the County should
support stronger regional planning efforts.
Five-Year Action Plan
Recommendation 1: Integrate County Plans, Policies, and Programs
Genesee County and numerous towns have recently engaged in or are preparing to
engage in planning efforts. It is critical for the success of any county level
programs that these policies be integrated or at least compatible in the foremost.
This will require that County Planning actively educate and re-educate key policy
makers and periodically cross reference planning documents. This policy should
extend to economic development programming, infrastructure planning, zoning
Copyright©, 2001: Agricultural & Community Development Services, Inc, Columbia, MD 19