Massachusetts' land in farms has also declined

As the number of farms declined in Massachusetts, so to did the land in agriculture. The total amount of land in farms decreased from 577,637 acres in 1997 to 518,570 acres in 2002. This decrease of 10 percent is less than the decline in farm numbers; the farms that Massachusetts lost were predominantly smaller farms. This is reflected in the average farm size in the Commonwealth.

 

 

Traditional farm types hold the most farmland

In terms of farm numbers, the top three types of farming in Massachusetts are: hay farming; horses and other equine production; and greenhouse, nursery and floriculture . But, which types of farming hold the greatest amounts of farmland? Open farmland is an important feature of the Massachusetts landscape. Hay farming is not only the most common type of farming, but it also holds the greatest amount of farmland with 121,100 acres, about 23 percent of the Commonwealth's farmland. Hay farms tend to be large by Massachusetts standards, about 126 acres per farm on average. The average Massachusetts farm is 85 acres in size. Dairy farming checks in at number two with more than 92,000 acres of Massachusetts' farmland, nearly 18 percent of the Commonwealth's total. Dairy farms are the Commonwealth's largest farms, on average; each dairy farm is nearly 330 acres in size. Combined, these two types of farming represent over 41 percent of the state's farmland, and they are probably related. Hay farms likely provide forage for dairy farms as well as the horse farms within the state. Thus, the tenuous state of dairy farming in the Commonwealth has implications for the preservation of farmland and open space in Massachusetts.

Fruit and tree nut farming in Massachusetts maintains more than 72,000 acres of farmland, about 14 percent of the total. These farms are typically just above the state average in size with about 89 acres per farm. A number of farm types (other crop farming; beef cattle; greenhouse, nursery and floriculture; vegetable and melons) represent between 35,000 and 40,000 acres of farmland. Each of these represents between 6.7 and 7.8 percent of the Commonwealth's total farmland. Horse and equine production, despite being one of the most numerous farm types, represent about 6 percent of the Commonwealth's total farmland, around 32,000 acres.