Sales Did Not Decline In All Counties

While the market value of agricultural products declined for the Commonwealth as a whole, not all Massachusetts counties saw a decline in the value of agricultural products (Figure 3.3 and Table 3.1).   Plymouth County saw the greatest decline as the value of agricultural products dropped 68 percent. The other counties with significant cranberry production, Bristol County and Barnstable County, had decreases of 37 percent and 35 percent, respectively. Agricultural production declined in value in Essex County as well, by 12 percent. In the Connecticut River Valley, both Hampden (20.5 percent decrease) and Hampshire (4.9 percent decrease) also saw a decline in the value of agriculture. However, Worcester and Middlesex counties had strong increases of 14.5 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively. The greatest increase was in Norfolk County (28 percent). Franklin County (5.4 percent) and Berkshire (1.4 percent) also saw the market values of their agricultural production increase.

As the graph shows (Figure 3.3) the distribution of market value has become more even across the state. In 1997, Plymouth County accounted for 28 percent of the Commonwealth's agricultural production in terms of market value. Plymouth County accounted for $43 million, or about 11 percent of the Commonwealth's value in 2002.   Worcester County, with $68.6 million in market value, was the leading agricultural county in 2002, followed closely by Middlesex County ($65.9 million). These two counties accounted for 17.8 percent and 17.2 percent of the Commonwealth's 2002 total.