Spoke out against Putnam Legislature decision
A Philipstown farmer who spoke out against the Putnam County Legislature’s decision not to add five farms to a special district has been removed from the Agriculture & Farmland Protection Board.
Jocelyn Apicello, who had been a board member since 2019 and its chair since 2022, was notified of her removal in a Dec. 31 memo from Paul Jonke, a legislator from Southeast who chaired the Legislature last year, to Neal Tomann, a Philipstown resident who is interim manager for the Soil & Water Conservation District.
Jonke did not give a reason for the removal and did not respond to a request for comment, but said in the memo, “I believe this to be in the best interest of Putnam County.” He cited a section of state law that gives county legislative chairs the power to appoint volunteer Ag Board members, but it does not specifically address their removal.
Apicello said on Sunday (Jan. 5) that the decision surprised her. “I didn’t expect it,” she said. “I don’t think it will solve the problem.”
The applicants had been recommended in a 9-2 vote by the Ag Board, which consists of six farmers and representatives from the Legislature; the Department of Planning, Development and Public Transportation; Real Property Tax Services Agency; Soil and Water Conservation District; and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Putnam County. The benefit of being in the Agricultural District include protecting farms from “unreasonable” local restrictions under a 1971 state law designed to preserve agriculture.
Despite the board approval, the applicants — all livestock or horse farms — failed to meet one or more of eight factors that the county determined in 2007 “shall be considered” for inclusion, Tomann told legislators in July.
Those factors include an on-site assessment by the board, the absence of local, state or federal violations and adherence to best practices. Tomann said that none of the properties met another factor, despite not growing crops — that each must contain at least 50 percent of “prime farmland and/or statewide important soils” in one of the first six of the state’s 10 classifications for soils.
During a public hearing before the Legislature’s vote, Apicello noted that the application to be included in the Agricultural District does not mention soil types as a criteria, and that the 2007 resolution only directed that the board “consider” the eight factors.
In addition to “arbitrarily and capriciously” interpreting those criteria, she said the Ag Board received pushback from the Legislature in 2022 when members proposed creating a one-page information sheet on the Agricultural District that could be distributed to the public and municipal officials. Since then, the board “has been shut out from any sorts of decision-making,” she said.
Members of the board were not notified about nor involved in crafting a proposal to require more information from applications, including site and stormwater protection plans and a soil analysis, Apicello said. She said she supports updating the application but not “rushing it through” without input.
“There’s clearly an anti-farming stance among some of the Ag Board members who happen to not be the farmers,” she said.
Although approved on Dec. 16 by the three legislators on the Physical Services Committee, the proposal was not on the agenda for the Legislature’s year-end meeting on Dec. 19. The day of the committee vote, one of the farmers rejected for inclusion, Daniel Honovich of Ridge Ranch in Patterson, sued the county and the Legislature in state court.
Honovich’s lawsuit alleges that the Legislature relied on a “blatantly incorrect” interpretation of state agricultural law when it rejected the applications.
A veterinarian, Honovich runs Ridge Ranch with his wife, Arielle, who has a degree in animal science and teaches special education for the Mahopac school district. The couple raises and breeds Scottish Highland, Brahman Gyr and Zebu cows for sale, along with chickens, goats, mini donkeys and rabbits. They also host tours, birthday parties, goat yoga and other activities.
“Making soil type a standalone disqualifying factor may have some merit when applied to a farm raising food crops,” but “is completely irrational when applied to a livestock farm,” Honovich said. He noted that many farms in the Agricultural District fail to meet the soil-type requirement.
Thank you for this coverage. I just want to clarify a statement for which I was quoted. While one member of the Ag Board voted against including any of the parcels in the Agricultural District, I do not think any other “non-farmer” members of the Ag Board are “anti-farming.” In fact, the “non-farmers” (but the one) voted in favor of inclusion on the farms they trusted were viable agricultural operations, and all the farmers on the Ag Board voted not to include at least one of the parcels.
This balance on the Ag Board is invaluable to its functioning and allows for the Agricultural District inclusion process to be democratic and transparent. It is the majority of the Legislature that has taken the anti-farming stance, voting in August against the Ag Board’s recommendations.
I was disappointed to read that Jocelyn Apicello was removed from the Putnam County Agriculture & Farmland Protection Board by Legislator Paul Jonke. This will be a keenly felt loss for Putnam farmers. Having known Jocelyn for many years, I have seen her dedication to preserving and supporting agriculture in Putnam. Putnam County was founded by farmers and, without support from our leaders, we are bound to continue to lose that heritage. Jocelyn knows how important farms are and is resolute in her commitment to preserving what little agricultural activity we have left.
Jonke seems unable to grasp the importance of farmers and the vital role they play in supporting not only our food systems but also our environment. He also seems to have a problem with strong, smart, assertive women, as evidenced by his chronic insults directed at our legislator, Nancy Montgomery. The fact that he could not sit down and discuss his issue with Jocelyn says a lot about how he conducts himself.
Putnam County has lost a dedicated, smart and forceful voice for farmers. Nice work, Mr. Jonke.
Jocelyn Apicello is an extremely informed and impactful member of our community. It is sad that her expertise and experience as a farmer and innovator of community driven agricultural initiatives will not be part of the Ag. board. Thanks, Jocelyn, for all you do.
Thankfully, Jonke will not be seeking reelection in November. Good riddance! Our best wishes to Jocelyn Apicello, you are appreciated.
This situation is similar to Legislator Jonke’s retaliatory legislation in which he tried to remove the county attorney for filing an ethics complaint against a legislator whose son-in-law wanted to buy county property. He doesn’t like it when someone advocates for the taxpayer, or the farmer, in this case, so he removes them.
Jocelyn Apicello is an invaluable resource for farmers, landowners and municipalities regarding any agricultural concerns. Her removal is another example of how out of touch Jonke and most legislators are with the people of Putnam. We like our small farms and need leaders like Apicello to help us advocate for them.
Montgomery represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley on the Putnam County Legislature.
God forbid the Legislature would permit someone who has farming experience to continue on the Ag Board. [via Instagram]
Why wouldn’t the Legislature want a “one-page information sheet on the Agricultural District that could be distributed to the public”? This sounds like small-town politics, where people in power are more interested in business as usual than in progressive thinking, accessibility and transparency, and in silencing the voices of people who aren’t afraid to advocate positive change.
On the bright side, I suspect Jocelyn won’t let her absence from the Ag Board stop her from continuing to do the good work she has done for decades. [via Instagram]
Jocelyn Apicello embodies leadership with the deepest integrity and highest commitment to create trust and health for us and our neighbors in the Hudson Valley. Her recent experience on the Putnam County Agriculture & Farmland Protection Board is extremely disturbing. No one deserves such disrespectful, abusive and hurtful treatment — least of all her.
I wish to thank Jocelyn for her many years of dedicated work to build a positive, responsible, flourishing community. With extraordinary leaders like Jocelyn working on our behalf, we all benefit. With the loss of smart, grounded leaders such as Jocelyn, we are impoverished.