Research

Scope and Content Note

This series consists of data sheets and reference county maps generated to provide data for developing a proposed new system of establishing use values for agricultural lands, particularly farms located within established agricultural districts and therefore eligible for real property benefits. While data was generated for all sales of farms in New York State during the years 1983-1985, this series only includes data for 23 counties. Moreover, sales to non-farmers are excluded.

The data sheets contain the following information: farm characteristics (nearest city, development pressure, milk market, farm acreage, farm layout and typography, and acres rented); soils on tillable lands (growing degree days, fertility, topography, drainage, and soil types); residential buildings (house style, square footage, and condition); agricultural buildings (mostly data on dairy facilities and types of buildings and their dimensions); land analysis (acreage and value of each type of land); sale analysis (apportioned value of residence, barns, other buildings and improvements, land).

There is also general information on the exact location of the farm (county, town/ village, SWIS code, tax map code), sale price and date, reason for purchase, and other parcels included in the sale. Accompanying this data are one or more snapshots of the house and farm buildings, a sketch of the location, and a detailed large-scale map of the farm location and boundary lines.