Local measures help spur growth in Mass. farms

The number of Massachusetts farms increased by more than 1,500 over a five-year period ending in 2007, a figure suggesting that state and local efforts to promote retail-oriented farming are succeeding.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the median size of the state’s 7,691 farms in 2007 was 24 acres, well below the national median of 80 acres.

Many Massachusetts farmers sell their produce directly to consumers, and the income from such sales rose from $31 million to $42 million over the five-year period. Revenue generated by “agritourism” – pick-your-own apple orchards and other farms that people can visit – increased nearly tenfold, from $665,000 in 2002 to $5.3 million in 2007.

Officials at the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, the trade association headed by former state Agriculture Commissioner Doug Gillespie, cite the importance of a state program to help close the difference between the value of a property as farmland and what it would be worth to developers.

At the local level, 120 cities and towns have created agricultural commissions, which can help to ensure that farmers’ interests are taken into consideration by planning boards and other local entities. Eighty-five communities have passed “right-to-farm” bylaws, which help enforce protections that exist in state law.

The work of the agricultural commissions also includes resolving disputes between farmers and nearby property-owners, helping to set up local farmers’ markets, creating inventories of farmers and farmland, and directing farm owners  to programs that make available grants, loans, technical assistance and other services.

Cheryl Lekstrom, the Farm Bureau Federation’s director of member relations, said the agricultural commissions “bring a whole host of resources to their communities.”