David McKay Wilson explains why he wrote about the battle over farming policy in Putnam

The Putnam County Tourism office’s motto used to be “Where the Country Begins.”

When you think country, you think quiet rural roads, state parks for hiking, perhaps even farms that still produce vegetables or raise livestock for meat and diary products.

That motto has since been replaced by “Discover Putnam,” but the country aspect of Putnam remains one of the county’s lasting appeals. A Putnam Tourism promotional video still includes a drone shot of a county farm. And the tourism office’s website lists farmers markets in Carmel and Brewster.

But the Putnam County Legislature, I discovered during my research for my cover story this week on farming in the county, has taken a strong stand against farming for the past several years.

One of the county’s strongest tools to support local farms is its Agricultural District. Inclusion in the district removes farms, to large extent, from oversight from local building inspectors, so as not to impede the business of farming, some of which takes place in residential zoning districts.

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However, the county Legislature last accepted a farm into the district in 2020, and since then has rejected every farm recommended by the county’s Agricultural and Farmland Projection Board.

Some farmers approached me to write a story about the controversy last fall. I met them at a county Legislature meeting in mid-December, after one of the farmers had filed a lawsuit against the Legislature for its actions.

It seemed odd. Putnam County had a law to protect farms. But the Legislature insisted that the farms did not qualify for protection because they failed to have the proper proportion of prime farm soils on their lands.

The Legislature depended on testimony from the county’s interim manager of its Soil and Water District, who insisted that the soil criteria was required by New York state. My research found that the state has no such requirement.

To report on the story, I ventured out on a crisp January morning to visit Ridge Ranch in Patterson and Lobster Hill Farm in Southeast to see the farms in action. At Ridge Ranch, the Scottish Highlands cattle chowed down on a fresh bale of hay while floppy-eared Brahmin donkeys huddled together in another enclosure.

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At Lobster Hill, two burly Tamworth pigs rooted for food in one pasture while a Great Pyrenees dog stood guard in a pen filled with goats, and free-range chickens skittered about the farm compound.

This was country, for sure. But with all the opposition to farming, would it last?

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David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Why lohud.com covered farming feud in Putnam County NY