Farmland has been lost in most counties

With a decrease in number of farms across all counties, the majority of Massachusetts Counties also lost farmland from 1997 to 2002. Barnstable was the only county to maintain the same farm acreage in 1997 and 2002. Berkshire, Dukes/Nantucket, and Norfolk actually gained farm acreage from 1997 to 2002. The greatest loss of farmland occurred in Plymouth County where more than 20,000 acres of farmland were lost representing over 25 percent of the 1997 farmland. The cranberry industry was hard hit by falling prices between 1997 and 2002 leading to this dramatic decline in farmland.

The leading counties in terms of land in farms are Worcester, which also has the greatest number of farms, Franklin and Berkshire Counties. Worcester farms account for 20 percent of the Commonwealth's total land in farms. Franklin County and Berkshire County ranked second and third in the amount of land in farms. These two counties, which ranked fourth and eighth, respectively, in numbers of farms, accounted for 14.2 and 13.3 percent of the Commonwealth's land in farms. In these counties, dairy farms hold large amounts of land in farming. On average, Berkshire County farms are the largest in the state at 171 acres per farm followed by Franklin County farms at 127 acres per farm. Plymouth and Hampshire complete the top 5 Massachusetts counties in terms of land in farms. Plymouth farms represent 11.5 percent of the state's land in farms and Hampshire farms account for about 10 percent.