About Us

Mission and Vision

Mission

The New York Agricultural Land Trust is a non-profit organization, founded in 2006, with the mission to conserve working farmland and promote a greater appreciation for the agricultural and forested lands and their associated natural resources that enrich our communities and connect future generations to the land, locally and statewide.

VISION

NYALT works with landowners, at their request, to protect the working landscapes important to Upstate New York’s rural agricultural economy and quality of life. NYALT’s conservation projects conserve high-quality farmland and supporting woodlands, with projects ranging from dairy farms to diversified farming operations. In all cases, the farmers and landowners want to conserve their land for the next generation. They know that once good land is lost to development, it will never come back into agriculture. These farmers are creating a legacy, ensuring that their land will be available for agriculture in the future.

NYALT works in partnership with the farmland protection boards of local towns and counties to identify priority farmland in the local communities. We are currently working with municipalities and farmers in Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Seneca Counties. For more information about Land Conservation Options, visit our Land Protection page.

Values

!

Service to the Entire Farming Community

We are dedicated to protecting farmland with farmers and for farmers – forever.
!

Healthy Systems that Sustain Communities and Strengthen Economies

We recognize that our local economy thrives when land resources are embraced and managed with care.
!

Building Relevance and Trust as much as Awareness

It is our responsibility to listen, learn, and engage with the community to build awareness, relevance and trust and ensure that farmland conservation is honored in perpetuity.

!

Collaborative Leadership

We are grateful for, and honor, the work of many other organizations, agencies, municipalities and individuals in Central New York that dedicate themselves to farmland conservation.
!

Future Generations

We accept responsibility as caretakers of the easements we hold for current inhabitants and future generations.

Board of Directors and Staff

NYALT’s Board of Directors understands agriculture and the challenges farmers face because they are farmers themselves, or work with the farming community.

Board

Nancy Hourigan

Board Chair

Hourigan Dairy Farms

Kenneth Holden

Vice Chair

Retired; Hancock Estabrook, LLP

Amanda Barber

Secretary

Cortland County Soil & Water Conservation District

Mike Barry

Board Member

Ag Models, LLC

Dan Welch

Board Member

Cayuga County Cornell Cooperative Extension

Ed Mills

Board Member

Retired, Cornell University Department of Natural Resources

Staff

Brandy Colebrook

Brandy Colebrook

Executive Director

Brandy has 10+ years of working in the agriculture field. She previously worked for the Syracuse Refugee Agricultural Program as their Agricultural Programs Director and even organized agricultural programs for rural women in Benin, West Africa where she was a Peace Corps Volunteer for two years. She is from southern Indiana where both sets of grandparents were farmers and owned farmland, so she spent many days helping out at the farms. She attended Purdue University and graduated with a degree from the School of Agriculture. She also enjoys gardening, raising chickens, and managing the Strathmore Buyers Club that helps bring local food to her neighborhood.

Brandy looks forward to meeting farmers and landowners to help them decide if they want to put their farmland in a conservation easement, forever preserving much needed farmland and protecting it from urban sprawl. Please don’t hesitate to contact Brandy with any questions at info@nyalt.org

Contact Us

Please sumbit all relevant conservation easement documents and written inquiries to New York Agricultural Land Trust. Additionally, feel free to email our Board of Directors individually if you have questions.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Nancy Hourigan

Board Chair

e-mail

info@nyalt.org

!

Address

New York Agricultural Land Trust
PO Box 216
Elbridge, NY 13060