Bill aims to preserve small horse farms

Dianne Soja's Medford horse farm doesn't specialize in breeding or boarding, and it covers only a handful of acres.

As a result, it's ineligible for Suffolk's farmland preservation program, in which the county acquires a rural property's development rights to help it survive undeveloped.

But if a county lawmaker is successful, Soja's Whispering Pines Farm and others like it may soon be better equipped to resist economic pressures to sell to builders.

Legis. Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue) has proposed a resolution to expand Suffolk's Farmland Development Rights Acquisition Program to include smaller horse farms that primarily provide riding lessons and horse training.

"It would be fabulous," said Soja, who has operated her farm for 25 years and coaches Patchogue-Medford High School's equestrian team. "With the economy the way it is, it's a struggle to stay in business -- but do we really need more houses out here, or another mall built?"

Last year, Calarco chaired a county Equestrian Task Force for his then-boss, ex-Legis. Jack Eddington (I-Medford). He said he learned that increasing horse farm operation costs and ineligibility for government preservation programs were threatening their livelihood.

Suffolk has more than 6,000 horses, the fourth-highest population of any New York county, according to a 2005 state agricultural survey.

"You're talking about a big part of our county's history," Calarco said. "But like everyone else, they're leaving the Island, moving to Virginia, North Carolina, and we're losing a part of our culture."

State legislators recently redefined equine activities eligible for lower agricultural assessment rates, to include farms over 7 acres that provide horse training, trail riding and riding lessons. Under Calarco's proposal, horse farms would be eligible for preservation if they are at least 7 acres in size and have average annual gross sales of at least $10,000.

Denise Speizio, president of the Nassau-Suffolk Horsemen's Association, said those kinds of horse farms -- the ones that don't breed or board large numbers of animals -- are now being "squeezed out for space."

"I want to see that way of life preserved here," she said.