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Hans 1. Mobius
President, Erie County Farm Bureau
716-741-6900
For immediate release....
LOCAL FARM BUREAU LAUDS TOWN OF CLARENCE FOR FARM PROTECTIONS
Erie County Farm Bureau has issued a statement in praise of recent Town of Clarence actions to protect farming. The town recently passed a "right to farm" law, a sort of Bill of Rights for farmers.
"The Clarence Town Board, and Supervisor Kathleen E. Hallock, in particular, have taken a far-sighted and courageous action," says Erie County Farm Bureau president and horse farm operator Hans Mobius, of Clarence. "In the face of incessant pressure for suburban house development and commercial development to produce more 'tax base,' it takes vision to take a stand in favor of open space and the farmers who help keep it that way."
Mobius, whose county Farm Bureau boasts more than 1,100 members and is part of the 31,000-member New York Farm Bureau and six-million-member American Farm Bureau Federation, says farms are an endangered species in New York.
"There were 167,000 family farms in New York in 1946," Mobius says. "By 1970, that number was down to 58,000, and now it's below 36,000.”
A "right to farm law" typically stands as a pledge by the local government to protect day-to day farming practices, but also commonly establishes protections against nuisance complaints by people unfamiliar with farming realities, such as slow-moving tractors or the smell of manure, except in cases where public health or safety might be at risk.
Erie County agriculture is exceptionally diverse. Farms in the county range from dairy farms producing milk for cheese and beverage usage to grapes for juice and wine, to highly modern greenhouse and vegetable production that supplies both supermarket chains and small roadside stands, to a rapidly growing number of horse farms.
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