With the help of a $268,400 state grant, three regional planning agencies are joining forces to help towns preserve farmland and support farmers.
The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) awarded the grant through its Farmland Partnership Program, designed to help towns and regions join the effort of implementing the state’s Farmland Action Plan. The state plan outlines strategies and steps to “ensure that farmland and farming are available and viable for current and future generations in Massachusetts,” according to its website.
“Over the last two years, our MDAR team and partner organizations have made significant progress in implementing the Farmland Action Plan through their existing programming, framework and funding,” MDAR Commissioner Ashley Randle said in a statement. “Now, we are thrilled to be able to provide this additional assistance through the new Farmland Partnership Program to catalyze further success.”
Together, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) and Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) will work with the state to create “Farmland Protection Plans,” or templates of steps that towns can take and issues the regional planning agencies recommend prioritizing to preserve farmland and ensure that farming remains a key part of their cultures and economies.
Tamsin Flanders, the senior land use and natural resources planner at FRCOG, and C.J. Hoss, the community planning and development program manager at BRPC, said the effort aims to preserve farmland at a time when a growing number of farmers are reaching old age and nearing retirement.
“MDAR created this program because they’re really interested in innovating new types of partnerships that accelerates the speed of land protection,” Flanders noted.
The templates will be based on data relating to farmland protection, such as Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping to identify unprotected parcels.
The planning agencies will each work with two towns to pilot the templates, helping them connect with the right tools to make informed decisions that support farmers and preserve agricultural land, including paths forward for farmers wishing to retire, such as opportunities for them to exercise their right of first refusal to ensure land remains undeveloped. The three organizations plan on reaching out to towns over the next month to gauge their interest.
Hoss said the three planning agencies will not only introduce towns to state resources and funding opportunities, but also encourage relationships between those serving on municipal boards and committees and active farmers, as well as farmers hoping to retire and younger farmers seeking land. Hoss described this dialogue within communities as a key factor in uplifting and protecting farming communities.
“It will allow us to be in a position to really bring these groups together and facilitate discussions where they might not be happening already,” Hoss said. “We’re one of the few regional government entities that can really step in and help bring communities together.”
Hoss, Flanders and Becky Basch, a principal planner at PVPC, said the Farmland Protection Plans will also support the local food system and economy. By listening and responding to active farmers’ needs and helping them continue their work, the templates will help ensure residents can pick from a variety of food products at the store and buy locally grown food.
“Knowing where your food comes from is something that’s really important in today’s world,” Hoss said.
Basch added that supporting local farmers also helps individuals enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to access healthy foods at affordable costs, a cause Basch has prioritized in her work at PVPC.
“There’s multiple prongs to this of why this is really important work,” Hoss explained.
Hoss stressed that FRCOG, BRPC and PVPC will help municipalities craft the plans and bring them to fruition.
“We are here to serve our communities, so with all of our planning work, we don’t want to just help them with the actual planning; we want to help them make actual, tangible change so that they’re accomplishing their goals,” Hoss said.
“We just want to help make farmland protection easy when it is what the farmer wants,” Flanders said.
Although the timeline is uncertain, Hoss anticipates the agencies will work with towns for about a year. As the agencies work with the pilot group of six total towns, they will fine-tune the template into a “road map” for other towns to replicate across the state.
In working with Franklin County towns on comprehensive plans, Flanders said farmland protection has constantly surfaced as a cause residents care about.
“It’s part of our landscape and traditions here in the Berkshires and western Massachusetts— farming has always been a big part of it,” Hoss said, “and keeping that going is really important to us.”