East of Hudson Whole Farm Planning
Whole Farm Planning is a collaborative effort between EOH staff and participants to address water quality issues and support agricultural operations. A Whole Farm Plan (WFP) identifies and mitigates environmental resource concerns to protect the New York City watershed without negatively impacting the economic viability of the agriculture enterprise by integrating farm operations into the decision-making process.

A Whole Farm Plan is developed by EOH’s conservation planners in partnership with the participating landowners and producers using the NYS Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) process to identify resource concerns including nutrients, parasites, agrichemicals and sediment. Conservation practices or Best Management Practices (BMPs) are developed to address water quality issues identified on the farm.

EOH’s planning staff conduct an Annual Status Review (ASR) with all participants to review conservation practices, identify additional resource concerns, develop further BMPs and ensure the WFP is addressing all water quality issues.

EOH Whole Farm Plan Implementation
EOH’s planning and engineering staff work with participants to develop and implement Best Management Practices (BMPs) to address water quality concerns identified through the planning process. Planning, design and implementation of EOH conservation practices is based on USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service’s standards and specifications for BMPs. EOH engineers work closely with participants to ensure BMPs address water quality concerns and improve farm operations. The EOH program provides funding for BMP implementation based on the environmental resource concerns identified in the AEM process and the number of animal units on the farm. Implementation of projects is based on EOH’s farm ranking, project prioritization and identified water quality concerns.

For more information contact the Director of Operations, Amy Faulkner ([email protected]) at (607) 865-7790 ext. 102.