The Town of Eden now has legal protection for its agricultural industry, under a new state law.
Eden has a formal farmland protection plan, part of its continuing efforts to ensure farming and agriculture thrive, especially in this era of the local food movement.
Eden Supervisor Glenn Nellis says farms are thriving. Half the town surface is being farmed. New generations of farming families are moving into leadership positions.
"We think it's important, not only to Eden as a rural community but we believe it's also important to this metropolitan area," Nellis said.
"Having a good food base locally as opposed to relying upon grapes from Chile or from China and so forth seems to us to show it's a healthy local economy."
Legislation signed by Governor Cuomo allows land to be restricted to farming for many years.
Albany has also helped Eden Valley Growers, the co-op which handles food sales for many of the largest of the truck farmers in the town. The co-op has added a $400,000 cooler that is the size of a football field.