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Family Preserves Madison County Farm
 On a chilly October morning Matthew and Juanita Critz welcomed community and state leaders to their Cazenovia farm, while the fields thronged with schoolchildren picking pumpkins. Cups of hot cider were lifted in celebration of the permanent protection of this farm with a grant for the purchase of development rights from New York’s Farmland Protection Program. “This is a positive for the local economy,” said Matthew Critz, who’s farm employs over 50 people and recently built a new barn. “We have immediately invested back into the community by buying local products from the hardware store, the lumberyard and equipment dealers.”
We joined the Film Society of the Lincoln Center to screen Fresh, a provocative documentary on the present and future of food production that highlights groundbreaking sustainable farming practices while encouraging debate and action. The screening was followed by a discussion with director Ana Sophia Joanes, AFT's David Haight, Hudson Valley farmer Cheryl Rogowski, and Jacqui Berger of Just Food with Jen Small of American Farmland Trust and Flying Pigs Farm moderating.
Tomatoes, pumpkins, bread, wine, pesto, flowers! The Elmwood-Bidwell Farmer’s Market in Buffalo has them all. We teamed up with the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Erie County to lead workshops on preserving the harvest and protecting the land. Participants learned how to freeze a variety of fresh, in-season vegetables to retain their flavor and nutritional value. They also learned how support of local farmers helps keep land in western New York available for farming. We can’t have local food without local farmland!
Green Valley Farms, LLC, is located in the heart of farmland protection activity in Cayuga County and will become the latest in the region to be protected. The 760-acre soybean and corn operation has within it an enterprise that roasts, grinds and sells soybeans to nearby dairies for feed, creating a nucleus of cooperative farms. GVF’s goal is to work in conjunction with neighboring farms to strengthen the viability of local farming. The Du Monds: Eric, Marjorie, and son Todd feel that protecting their land is a natural progression in the growth of their business and the agricultural area.
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