Massachusetts - STATE PROGRAM (Town of Hadley information illustrates local planning patterns.)
State Program - Formed in 1977 - researched by Andy Andrews

OVERVIEW - The Massachusetts Agricultural Preservation Restriction program is one of the oldest easement programs in the nation. It is directly operated by state government, which acquires and holds easements on its own, with little local government involvement. Some town governments, including Hadley, cost share with the state to purchase easements in their areas and co-hold the easements with the state. To avoid acquiring easements in high growth areas where farming faces a dim future, acquisition costs are capped at $10,000 an acre. Easements are selected through discretionary, not quantitative, factors. Several Massachusetts town governments have enacted transfer of development rights (TDR) ordinances for protecting agricultural and resource lands, but few transactions have occurred to date.

EASEMENT ACTIVITY - 52,800 agricultural acres on 603 farms, averaging 91 acres per easement. Protected farms grow a wide variety of crops.
Goals: No specific program goals.
Focus on Hadley: The leading town in the state in easement activity, with 1,713 acres in 42 farms. Diverse commodities-vegetables, corn, pasture, dairies, nurseries.
Other Easement Programs: Local, regional and national land trusts are active in the farmland easement arena in Massachusetts, either in assisting the state to acquire easements or holding their own easements. A complementary program-also operated by the state Department of Food and Agriculture and initiated in 1996-is the Farm Viability Program. Landowners receive technical and financial assistance for business development purposes in return for covenants that restrict development for five or 10 years periods. Sixty-two farms representing 7,800 acres in 12 counties were participating as of 2000.

FUNDING
Acquisition Spending to Date: $135 million on state-held agricultural easements.
Revenues: Ninety percent from state, the remainder from federal funds and from local sources including town government contributions, bargain sales and land trust contributions. State funds for the program have come from a series of bond issues authorized by the legislature, some focused on farmland protection and others for multiple open space purposes. Although the 2000 Community Preservation Act allows towns to levy a dedicated property tax for farmland protection, open space, historic and landscape preservation, and affordable housing, few towns have done so.

GOVERNANCE - The program is housed in the Department of Food and Agriculture. The eight-member Agricultural Lands Preservation Committee oversees the program. Members include four state officials: Commissioner of Food and Agriculture, Secretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Secretary of Community and Development and Chairman of the Board of Food and Agriculture; and four public members appointed by the Governor.

STAFF AND OPERATING BUDGET - Five full-time staff. Annual operating budget of $300,000.

ORIGINS - In response to extensive farmland loss in the three decades after World War II, the state established in 1973 property taxation for farmland on a use value basis. Because the resulting tax benefits were not sufficient to prevent continuing urban conversion, the state in 1977 legislated the easement program to provide stronger landowner incentives. Part of the inspiration for this move came from the experience of Suffolk County, New York, in forming the nation's first agricultural easement program in 1974. The 1977 legislation was accompanied by an initial $5 million bond established as a pilot measure to test the feasibility of the technique.

ACQUISITION PROCESS AND STRATEGY - The state Preservation Committee approves specific easement purchases. A portion of each landowner's application is submitted to the appropriate town Conservation Commission for review prior to final state action. Reviews at both state and local levels are discretionary. In a form of geographical targeting, field representatives of the state program actively seek landowner applications in the most productive agricultural areas.
Rating of Parcels: Not quantitative, see below.
Other Criteria: Minimum requirements are five acre or larger parcels, two-year active farming history and minimum gross sales. Discretionary criteria are agricultural productivity, threat to continued farming, proximity to other protected lands, and town funding and legal support.

CONNECTIONS TO LOCAL PLANNING AND LAND USE POLICIES - Town governments in Massachusetts are responsible for planning and land use regulation. Towns in rural areas generally lack growth management policies or growth boundaries and allow scattered residential development.
Zoning: Although agricultural zoning is possible, rural areas are typically covered by agricultural/residential zoning in which farming is a permitted use and the common residential density is in the range of one unit to ½ to two acres.
Hadley: Planning and land use policies show little support for farmland protection and limited connection to the agricultural easement technique. A seldom-used TDR program requires commercial developers to increase parking spaces by purchasing agricultural easements.
TDR Arrangements: At least four Massachusetts towns have TDR programs on their books, but they are seldom applied. Generally, sending areas are agricultural, forestry and other natural resource lands while receiving areas are zoned residential.

DEMOGRAPHICS
2000 Population: 6,349,097
1990-2000 Population Change: +332,672; +5 percent

AGRICULTURAL LAND
518,299 acres; 50 percent cropland
Conversion to Urban Use: 27,200 acres from 1992-1997. (National Resources Inventory data)

OTHER AGRICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
1997 Market Value: $494 million Number of Farms: 5,574
Principal Commodities: Dairy products, poultry, cattle

MAP NARRATIVE - EASEMENT GEOGRAPHY (PROGRAM MAP)
Easements are widely distributed around the state, with 135 of 351 towns and cities having at least one protected farm each, although the emphasis is on locating easements in the Connecticut River Valley.

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