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Every minute, America has been losing more than an acre per minute - much of it our best and most productive farmland near where most Americans live. In Rhode Island and across the nation, American Farmland Trust 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.
Another year has come to pass and with it a list of successes—and challenges—impacting farms and food across New England. 2011 was marked by unusual weather, underscoring the need for effective policies and programs to keep farms thriving despite the inherent risks and to help support strong local food systems.
This year, we worked with a wide variety of partners throughout New England to promote the critical importance of farms and farmland to New England’s economy, environment, public health, community character and livability. Here are a few highlights from our work across the region. Read more about our accomplishments from the past year in New England and see a snapshot of what lies ahead.
 We recently welcomed Leah Mayor to our New England Office, where she will serve as the Working Lands Alliance Project Director and New England Project Manager. Mayor brings an extensive background in education and community leadership, as well as experience with sustainability initiatives focused on food and agricultural systems. Her work has focused on leveraging enthusiasm of a growing local foods movement to protect farmland, natural heritage and artisanal traditions. Mayor is also the founder and principal of Taking Root, an ecotourism initiative devoted to stimulating local economies, building community viability, and celebrating our connections to food and culinary history. Please join us in welcoming Leah!
 Before lawmakers adjourned for the year, the Rhode Island General Assembly took the first steps to implement A Vision for Rhode Island Agriculture: Five Year Strategic Plan. House Resolution 6287 directs the state’s Department of Environmental Management to work with other governmental and non-governmental entities to review current laws and policy innovations from other states. They will then develop a suite of policy recommendations that expand Rhode Island food production and agricultural operations. House Bill 5707, approved by the state legislature and awaiting final approval by the governor, addresses an issue identified in the Strategic Plan—limits on agriculture imposed by local zoning ordinances—by allowing plant agriculture in all zones by right.
 Last winter, we were hired by the Rhode Island Agricultural Partnership—a collaborative of farmers, food producers, farm agencies, commodity organizations, agricultural non-profits, and state and local agencies in Rhode Island—to facilitate the development of a five-year Strategic Plan for the state’s agricultural sector.
At Rhode Island's Agriculture Day on May 12, we helped to present A Vision for Rhode Island Agriculture: Five Year Strategic Plan to Governor Lincoln Chaffee and state lawmakers. Thanks to the leadership of the Rhode Island Agricultural Partnership and the van Beuren Charitable Foundation, Rhode Islanders now have a plan that lays out how consumers, communities, lawmakers and state agencies can build a stronger and more resilient food system and agricultural economy. We are pleased to have been part of this process, and look forward to working with our Rhode Island partners and members in the months and years ahead on implementing its strategies, helping to make their vision a reality.
Read more about A Vision for Rhode Island Agriculture.
 USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, U.S. Senator Jack Reed and Governor Donald Carcieri headlined a September 10th ceremony in Tiverton, RI to celebrate the protection of the 179-acre Ferolbink Farm in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Owned by the Peckham family, the farm markets all-local “RI Royal” potatoes and was protected with a combination of state and federal funds and private fundraising efforts by The Nature Conservancy, Champlin Foundations, Tiverton Land Trust, and Little Compton Agricultural Conservancy Trust. Citing the loss of 14 million acres of prime farmland to development between 1983 and 2007—a loss of about 4 percent of all prime farmland in the U.S., or an area almost as large as West Virginia—Deputy Merrigan spoke about the importance of the federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program and its cooperative approach to land conservation.
The Rhode Island Agricultural Partnership [PDF] is a new collaborative of farmers, food producers, farm agencies, commodity organizations, agricultural non-profits, and state and local agencies in Rhode Island formed to build on recent success to help sustain and grow the state's agriculture sector and local food system. The partnership is dedicated to addressing the lack of a cohesive, integrated support system which has resulted in a fragmented infrastructure for Rhode Island farmers and food producers.
The partnership has hired AFT to facilitate the drafting of a five-year strategic plan to provide a vision for the future, identify needs and recommend a path of action for agriculture in the state. As part of our Growing Local campaign, AFT is working across the country to help create the vision, road map and policies needed so local agriculture can grow to meet increasing public demands for local food, energy and ecosystem services.
 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.
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.”
FACT: New England has approximately 1,880 dairy farms; dairy farmers are currently receiving about .97 cents per gallon of milk while it costs about $1.80 a gallon to produce.
Thirty-six conservation groups, farm organizations, local governments and others across the Northeast have joined together requesting that Congress and the Obama administration take quick action to address the crisis facing dairy farmers. Dairy farmers in the Northeast and around the country are facing severe and prolonged low milk prices—prices that are well below the farmers’ costs of production. This sustained price slump has caused the loss of some dairy farms already and threatens the future of thousands more in the Northeast.
FederAl Farm Policy and The farm bill
What’s in the farm bill and why is it important? Find out what’s next for the farm bill and how we can make sure the legislation's promises are turned into programs on the ground.
Contact Us
New England Field Office
Cris Coffin, New England States Director
1 Short Street, Suite 2
Northampton, MA 01060-3952
(p)413-586-9330 ext. 29
(f)413-586-9332
ccoffin@farmland.org
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