46 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 387 



D. Communities with a high or fair proportion of good land, but with declining 



agricultural land utilization due primarily to high land values caused by 

 more intensive land uses, present or expected. 



This group of towns is concentrated largely in the eastern densely settled 

 section of the State or in proximit\' to the coast where recreational land uses are 

 an important factor. At one time a considerable amount of profitable farming 

 was carried on in these towns in relation to the amount of land of suitable quality. 

 With the growth of large industrial centers and especially of the Boston Met- 

 ropolitan Area, there has been an increasing demand for land for residential 

 purposes in the nearby rural towns. This demand has been greatly accelerated 

 with the construction of new roads and the perfecting of automotive traffic. 

 While much of the land in these towns has alread}' been developed for residential 

 or recreational purposes, a considerable amount is being held as a potential area 

 for more intensive uses. Some of this land is still in farming, but a great deal 

 has gone out of farming and is now under predominantly wooded cover. As a 

 result of all this, whatever farming remains in these communities is under constant 

 pressure from high land values, high taxes, and the additional disadvantage of 

 the high cost of local labor. Much farming in these areas is waging a losing 

 battle against all these odds. It is true that these high-priced agricultural land 

 areas have some advantages. For onelhing, the market is near at hand, with 

 possibilities of higher prices and lower costs of transportation. But to take full 

 advantage of his location the producer must sell his output at retail. The most 

 logical and almost imperative channels for sale are routes of regular customers, 

 roadside stands, or similar direct approaches to the consumer. If advantage of 

 these possibilities is not taken or can not well be taken, the results are mostly 

 disastrous to the producer. It means that additional commer,,ial farming units 

 will be compelled to go out of business and former agricultural areas will either 

 be employed in more intensive types of land utilization or added to already large 

 sections of woodland. In general, fundamental econoniic and social forces are 

 working definitely against the feasibility of continuing commercial farming in 

 these areas. If agriculture here is preserved and continued it will be largely 

 on a part-time farming basis. 



In the meantime, some of these towns face very difficult problems in agricultural 

 land use adjustments. Measures must be taken at once to alleviate the critical 

 position of the producers and at the same time to prevent waste in the utiliza- 

 tion of local natural resourcea. It is questionable in many cases whether the good 

 land withdrawn from agriculture and allowed to grow into brush will ever be 

 used for the more intensive purposes for which it is ordinarily held. A partial 

 solution of the problems in agricultural land utilization for these areas could be 

 achieved by a judicious classification of land, whereby the land actually used for 

 agriculture would have the benefit of lower assessment and taxation. This 

 would be an important step in alleviating the condition of local farmers and would 

 enable them to keep the land in agricultural production. 



E. Communities with a fairly balanced system of land utilization, where decline 



in agricultural land use has been accompanied by the development of 

 other land uses with favorable effects on local farming. 



This type of community is found in various sections of the State and represents 

 a combination of agriculture with one or several other uses of land, such as recrea- 

 tional, part-time farming, industrial, and residential. As distinguished from the 

 preceding group, the more intensive use of land in these communities has pro- 



