In 2018 agricultural networks identified climate change as one of the most critical factors impacting the long term viability of farmers and fishermen as well as the security of the Commonwealth’s food supply. We came to understand that efforts to respond to climate change operated mostly in isolation and as a result, no systemic, multi-sector […]
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Decades of farmland conversion has resulted in a patchwork of noncontiguous farmland and former farmland parcels that are less than five acres in size. Over this time farming in Massachusetts has changed dramatically, underscoring significant shifts in farming technology and know-how, in opportunities for and interest in direct-to-consumer sales, and in our food system overall. […]
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Access to farmland was one of the key issues brought forward in the Plan. In 2020 farmers, land organizations, municipal agencies, and farm support organizations identified access to and protection of farmland as the most important issue facing both established and beginning farmers. Some 45.5% or 409,000 acres of farmland in MA has been lost […]
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