I don't think that statement about the price of cropland in NY state is accurate. If you go to https://acretrader.com/resources/farmland-values/farmland-pr... you'll find it's not very expensive compared to, say, Illinois, California, or (!) New Jersey. It's well below the average for the country as a whole, in fact.

A good deal of the farmland in the NY county where I live, Tompkins County, has gone back to forest since the beginning of the 20th century (although not to the extent in, say, Massachusetts). This suggests to me that just holding farmland here cannot be much of a moneymaker, since if it were we'd be seeing this land brought back.

https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/200430940...