Protecting New York's farmland reduces demand for community services.
Communities pay a high price for unplanned growth.
Scattered development frequently causes traffic congestion, air and water pollution, loss of open space and increased demand for costly public services. The result is a set of ratios that compare the annual income to the annual expenditures for different land uses. While it is true that an acre of land with a new house generates more total revenue than an acre of hay or corn, farm and forestland require much less in public infrastructure and few community services. Thus, farm and forestland actually provide tax savings for local communities.