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Challenges in obesity, diet related diseases, hunger, rising energy costs, a growing population, dwindling water supplies and a changing climate require our attention, and it is our responsibility to lead the way for an advanced 21st century food supply."

— California Department of Food & Agriculture
 
Growing Local
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Sustaining Farms and Farmland for the Future

Sustaining local farms and farmland is a sound community investment, as it ensures the public will continue to receive the multiple benefits of agriculture. This involves protecting a strategic land base, providing property tax relief for farmland owners, supporting the business of farming and investing in agricultural and community economic development.

Urban Sprwal on FarmlandSustaining Agriculture in Urbanizing Counties
Led by Dick Esseks at the University of Nebraska, we conducted a study that identified what it takes to create viable agriculture in areas facing substantial development pressures.  The report features detailed county case studies that include chapters on farmland protection, marketing, production inputs and the outlook for the future.


Boy on FarmFarms for the Future
In 2008 we released Farms for the Future: Massachusetts’ Investments in Farmland Conservation.  The report includes a review of state programs that are saving farmland, protecting the environment and helping improve farm viability. It recommends a number of actions to improve and complement these programs.  The report provided the basis for a Statewide Farmland Protection Forum where over 60 farmers, legislators, representatives from farm and conservation organizations and state agency officials discussed new land protection and conservation finance tools.

Cost of Community Services

Demonstrating Fiscal Benefits of Farmland
Farmland and open space are positive contributors to local government budgets. We developed the Cost of Community Services (COCS) method to determine the fiscal contribution of existing community land uses. More than 130 COCS studies conducted by American Farmland Trust and others nationwide provide compelling evidence that farm, forest and open lands generate more local tax revenues than they require back in public services.


Arrow   Cost of Community Services Studies: Making the Case for Conservation




Massachusettes Farm in Springtime Keeping New England Farmland in Farming
The New England Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission has issued a report recommending ways to ensure the future of the region’s agriculture.  We will be working with the Commission and the six state Departments of Agriculture to move these valuable recommendations forward.


 
American Farmland Trust