Earlier this year, Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, who serves on the New York State Assembly’s Agriculture Committee, introduced a bill that calls for a moratorium on the annexation of farmland for industrial use in New York State. That legislation has made its way to the New York State Senate as Senator James Skoufis of Woodbury, New York, has now introduced the bill. “This bill will allow time for further consideration of proposals like this in our state, especially in the rural areas of upstate New York where we have seen communities like the Town of Mohawk robbed of some of the richest farmland in the Eastern United States,” Santabarbara said. “We are seeing increased interest in this legislation as more communities are concerned with losing more farmland and forest areas to industrial uses that can cause damage to the environment and put natural resources at risk.”