Geography of Massachusetts Farms

Where are the farms in Massachusetts? While the Commonwealth's farms are spread across the state, Worcester County had 18 percent of the farms in 2002 (up slightly from 17.5 percent in 1997). Plymouth County has 13 percent of the state's farms while Middlesex (9.5 percent) and Bristol (10.3 percent) each have about 10 percent of the state's total. In the Connecticut River Valley, the three counties of Hampden (7.5 percent), Hampshire (8.9 percent) and Franklin (9.7 percent) account for just over 26 percent of all Massachusetts farms. These seven counties account for 77 percent of the Commonwealth's farms.

Are there counties in Massachusetts that did not lose farms between 1997 and 2002? Farm numbers declined in all Massachusetts counties between 1997 and 2002. Worcester continues to lead the state in terms of farm numbers with 1,094 farms in 2002, down by 14.4% from the 1,278 farms in 1997. Plymouth County, with 794 farms is second, but saw a decline of more than 20%. Such a decline makes sense as cranberry prices dropped sharply following the 1997 season. A number of counties saw their farm numbers decline by 20% or more including Berkshire, Essex, and Hampshire. The greatest decline was in Essex County where 24% of the farms were lost. These losses in farm numbers beg the question: Why did these farms exit the industry? There are a number of possible answers, falling farm prices, rising farm costs and rising opportunity costs. Considering how alternative uses for farmland have changed in Massachusetts might be one way to capture the latter. For example, one alternative use of farmland is for house lots. Rising house lot prices makes the alternative to farming more attractive and puts pressure on farmers to sell land for development. Limited state funds for agricultural land preservation make it more difficult to protect agricultural land from development pressure. [Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) Program]