CHARLTON — Work has started on a state-funded plan to study things the town can do to support farming and preserve farmland and open space.

A new agriculture task force held its first meeting recently with Behan Planning Associates of Saratoga Springs, the firm hired to write the town’s first farmland protection plan. The work is expected to take about a year.

The goal is to preserve land even as the local agricultural scene changes and open land continues to be under development pressure.

“We want to make our zoning ordinance more agriculture friendly,” said town Supervisor Alan R. Grattidge.

Charlton has managed to retain a number of farms despite its location in high-growth southern Saratoga County. A comprehensive land-use plan adopted last year says preserving agriculture should be a top town planning priority.

The town in February received a $25,000 grant from the state Department of Agriculture and Markets to write a farmland protection plan, becoming the first town in the county to get funding under a new state grant program.

In the future, the plan could qualify Charlton for additional state and county funding to buy the development rights to their land from farmers willing to sell them.

“We hope to see a protection plan come out of this, with recommen and planning abilities.”

The task force overseeing preparation of the study is being chaired by David Wood, a local dairy farmer.

Other members are farmers Richard Smith, Guy Mitchell and Bruce Hodgkins, and Dawn Szurek, a member of the town Planning Board who has an agricultural background. Monthly meetings are planned, including a public meeting for farmers and agricultural businesses in August.

The Department of Agricultural and Markets would like the plan to recommend a list of top parcels the town believes need protection.

While farming remains a strong presence throughout the town, the local agricultural landscape has seen an evolution in recent years away from dairy farming, task force members noted at their first meeting. There are now only six dairy farms left in Charlton.

Some of the former dairy land has been taken over by horse farms, including the thoroughbred farm developed last year at a former dairy farm on Route 67 in West Charlton.

There has also been a big increase recently in “hobby farms.” They are owned by people who have other jobs but want to raise or keep alpacas, goats, pumpkins or other specialty livestock or crops.

Grattidge said the town wants to support any of those businesses, as long as they are agricultural.

The town zoning law already includes measures often recommended to support farmers, like a right-to-farm provision, allowing retail sales at farm stands and encouraging cluster subdivisions. But the law could probably be improved, Grattidge said.

“In terms of economic viability, the town really can’t control that, but we certainly don’t want farms being pushed out by things like rampant development,” Grattidge said.