SPARTA — A $25,000 grant could develop a plan to help farmers in Sparta sell produce in New York City and other major cities and change zoning lows to allow more than one home on a farm.

The term "agricultural tourism" could be real if some of the ideas come to fruition that began on Nov. 14 at a public meeting.

The Town of Sparta received a grant of $25,000 from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets earlier this year to develop a plan.



Hunt Engineers, Elan Planning, Design and Landscape Architects and George Frantz are working with town board on the Town of Sparta Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan.

The consultant team met up with townspeople and Livingston County Development at the Sparta Community Center with a goal to outline a way to preserve the farmland and balance economic growth for the future.

Nicolette Wagoner and George Frantz gave a presentation of the plan at the meeting.

“We have been working on this since August,” Wagoner said. “We look at the state of the agriculture in the town, and develop a strategy to preserve it. We take snapshots of the conditions, and look at the zones. We ask what are the strengths and weaknesses of the farmland.”

There are many different varieties of farming in the town. Some are dairy, fruits and vegetables, sheep, and cattle.

“We did interviews with farmers who have been here a long time and an Amish farm,” Wagoner said.

Frantz has been working on these farmland protection plans since the early 1990s.

“Sparta is a pleasant surprise. We drive by it on the Interstate 390, and all you see is hills. Once you are on top you see this outstanding farmland,” he said. “This soil is great for farming. The farmers are really creative here.”

The plan hasn’t been developed yet, and Frantz said that the next step is putting it together with everyone's ideas in mind.

“We are talking about two centuries of agricultural heritage in Sparta,” Frantz said. “The shipping routes on Genesee River attracted settlers to this land.”

Things have changed since the 1990s as Frantz said that agriculture is making a comeback.

“There is a growing public awareness in the food system,” he said. “We have very large farms, organic, special ones, and a high influence of the Amish.”

There is close to 8,800 acres of farmland in Sparta being used. Out of these; 83 farms are general use, two are sheep, two dairy, 23 field crops, and 21 are residential use.

“The importance and significance of this is that Sparta is 85 percent prime soil for farming,” Frantz said. “There needs to be a commitment to agriculture in a farming community ... There is potential out there.

“Sparta is about five to six hours away from major potential customers, such as New York City, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh,” he continued. “There is a huge farmers market in New York City each farm can send a couple people up there to sell product.”

Out of the five farmers interviewed for this plan; three own and rent land and two are specialists. Out of those one farmer does all their selling online, and one is a four generation farm.

Some of the issues that were brought up in those interviews were; an increase in competition for land where people are taking land from farmers and not using it to farm, which in turn takes that land out of production; farmland gets abandoned and turns to brush; there is a rise in taxes; and unfairly taxing the Amish.

“The Amish don’t have plumbing and electric,” Frantz said. “They lack the basic things that modern Americans have. They have trouble getting the accessor to understand the value of an Amish farm.”

Some of the strengths that were brought up in those interviews were: good quality soils and climate, good neighbors, strong agricultural support, and a good network of farmers.

There are potential opportunities in Sparta; agricultural-tourism, wind energy, small-scale farm crafts, and organic produce.

“There is nothing to complain about in the town government,” Frantz said. “Those we interviewed said the town is very supportive of agriculture.”

The only thing that needed to be addressed was the zoning when it comes to farmland.

“We were looking for setbacks on farming buildings,” Frantz said. “I consider the zone definition to be the most important part of the code. There are some issues in zoning.”

The hoops that farmers need to jump through to get certain things accomplished is very expensive and time consuming, Frantz said.

“The town needs to take farm laws out of the special permit category,” he said. “Larger farms have about 30 employees and they need housing. A lot of these laws only allow one dwelling on the property.”

“Farms are not allowed to practice agricultural-tourism,” Frantz continued. “The town needs to consider allowing this as a new way to make money on the farm.”

There are plenty of ideas wrapped around the concept of getting all the farmers — large and small — to have more access to revenue.

Livingston County Planning Development member Miranda Reid said these farms need to prove that they are being used for agriculture and are protected.

“We are seeing this across the county,” she said. “Some of these agricultural parcels are exempt. Not all of them are in the program.”

Reid added the one thing that is very noticeable is that there is too much restriction on the amount of land someone can own, and this eats up the land real quick.

“The one thing we are seeing is that there are not enough mechanics and techs at the farms,” she said. “The county sees how many families are encouraging their children to go to a four year college rather than a two year college. They raise the issue that there are not enough who want to invest in this.”

Frantz said there are about 15 Amish farms coming into Sparta and they are able to take abandoned farmland and bring it back to life.

“The one issue they bring is that they are a multi-generational house, and they will need more than one dwelling on the farm,” Frantz said.

Frantz added they will start working on the plan and come back to the town board sometime in January to adopt it.

Residents of the Town of Sparta can comment or bring questions to Frantz through his email at geoplan57@gmail.com.