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Every year, America loses 1.2 million acres of farmland - an area twice the size of Rhode Island - much of it our best and most productive farmland near where most Americans live. In Massachusetts and across the nation, AFT is a vital link between farmers, conservationists and policymakers, working to protect the best farmland , direct growth away from agricultural resources, provide healthy local food to all citizens, and help communities sustain local farms and farming.
What's New
 Legislation recently enacted in Rhode Island gives the Rhode Island Attorney General new authority to enforce conservation easements, making Rhode Island the eighth state in the country to give its attorney general explicit enforcement power. The statute also permits courts to award attorney’s fees in easement enforcement proceedings, providing a potential avenue for the state and land trusts to recoup legal costs incurred while defending conservation easements against violations. Initiated by the Rhode Island Land Trust Council, the statute is expected to deter violations of easements, which can be an expensive enforcement problem for land trusts and other entities that hold easements.
Initiatives underway in Vermont and New Hampshire are quantifying the economic impact of their states' farm and food sectors and identifying opportunities for future growth. Vermont's Farm to Plate initiative has drafted "20 Big Goals for 2020" based on months of public input and data collection; the 10-year strategic plan will be finalized by the end of the year. Home Grown, a soon to be released report from the University of New Hampshire, estimates the economic impact from NH's local food system and explores how an expansion of the system could spur job creation and economic growth.
To help determine what land is and is not being protected through the Massachusetts Agricultural Preservation Restriction program, we teamed up with the Massachusetts Farm Bureau to survey Farm Bureau members. More than 90% of the respondents had not applied for the program in the past five years. Land ineligibility; concern over program changes or possible constraints on the land once enrolled; and a sense that the program is unable to pay what the restriction is worth were among the top reasons farmers shied away from the farmland preservation program. These and other research findings will be presented to the state Agricultural Lands Preservation Committee in late November.
 Find More on MA's APR Program at our MA Farmland Protection Tools page.
Changes to Vermont’s "Current Use" Program—which helps promote the use of land for agriculture and forestry are likely to be considered early in the 2010 legislative session. In response to a challenge by the legislature to find ways to produce $1.6 million in savings or revenues through the program in FY2011, seven statewide farm and conservation organizations developed recommendations that are likely to form the basis for legislation debated this year. Recommendations include increasing the program’s dwelling exclusion for certain landowners, which would raise the needed state revenues.
Massachusetts Policy Update
We recently joined legislators and other organizations to testify in support of changes to the Community Preservation Act, the Commonwealth’s program that supports community-level land protection, affordable housing and historic preservation efforts. The proposed legislation would ensure that participating communities receive at least 75 percent of what they raise locally in state matching funds. The Community Preservation Act has been a critical source of supplemental funding for farmland protection projects in Massachusetts by helping communities raise the money needed to protect more than 38 farmland parcels through the state’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction program.
FOcus on Massachusetts
A Northeast grocery chain has become the first retailer to join forces with the New England Dairy Promotion Board and New England Family Dairy Farms Cooperative to bring the concept of “fair trade” milk to consumers. Hannaford's 71 stores will promote the benefits of local dairy farms—including stewardship of the region’s farmland—and offer shoppers an opportunity to directly support dairy farmers through the “Keep Local Farms” dairy campaign. Cris Coffin, American Farmland Trust’s New England Director, is excited by the Hannaford announcement: “Educating shoppers about the value of our region’s dairy farmers will hopefully encourage them to donate to the campaign and help farmers receive a better price for their milk.”
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Massachusetts’ Community Preservation Act Needs a Boost 
