POUGHKEEPSIE – Mid Hudson News Network is reporting that the regional environmental organization Scenic Hudson has received a $60,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to develop strategies to increase funding for its agricultural land preservation efforts, with the organization's president, Ned Sullivan, saying he will work with partner organizations to protect 25,000 agricultural acres in Dutchess and Columbia counties.

“Hudson Valley has a thriving agricultural economy worth $530 million a year and it supplies fresh produce to the region and also to New York City, but those farms are being lost,” he said. “Before the economic downturn, some 50 acres a day were being lost to sprawling development.”

Sullivan said state funding for farm preservation has virtually dried up because of the economy, but he hopes to work with Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo next year to develop preservation strategies.