sure changes, so does the agricultural land policy package. Typically, in 

 state-wide areas, several programs and methods must interact together to 

 accomplish the goal of farmland retention. 



Land Trust Assistance 



The Massachusetts APR Program works in many ways. In cases where landowners 

 wish to sell only their development rights, the Commonwealth acts alone; 

 however, if landowners want to sell all their real estate the assistance of 

 a local or regional land trust can be employed. A trust can purchase the 

 whole farm and enter into a purchase agreement in a short time period. 

 Typically, once the development rights have been appraised according to state 

 guidelines, they are approved and purchased by the Department of Food and 

 Agriculture. The residual agricultural value of the land and buildings can then 

 be sold to a farmer. In areas of high land values, some part of the farm 

 offered for sale may lend itself to limited development. This option helps 

 lower the cost of the development rights and still retains the most productive 

 farmland. The assistance of land trusts to the Commonwealth's APR Program has 

 proved to be very worthwhile. 



Status of APR Program 



In May 1980, the Commonwealth's first agricultural preservation restriction 

 was recorded. The recording of the first restriction meant that the total 

 selection and acquisition process worked and that all state agencies and 

 procedures necessary to complete such acquisitions had been identified and met. 

 The so-called selection/acquisition pipeline had been defined and was fully 

 operational (Table 1) . The average time period for completing an acquisition 

 is 12 months. 



A summary of agricultural restriction acquisitions by fiscal year is in 

 Table 2. Over the three year period, a total of 42 properties with 3,650 acres 

 have been restricted. The total acquisition cost was $6,800,575 or $1863 per 

 acre. Municipalities and private groups contributed 5 percent of the acquisition 

 monies. The statute enables municipalities to be co-holders of the deed 

 restriction with the Department of Food and Agriculture if they provide assistance 

 that is acceptable to the Agricultural Lands Preservation Committee. Contributions 

 are particularly encouraged in cities and towns where land values are high and 

 where farmland possesses only local importance. 



Applications for the program have been received by the Department since 

 January, 1979. Since that time 266 applications have been received. They are 

 located in 12 counties and 134 municipalities. A total of 26,730 acres of 

 land are under application and the owners' asking prices exceed $65 million 

 {Table 3). New applications are continually being received. 



The general status of all applications received as of June 30, 1982 is 

 categorized in Table 4. One of six status categories is available. Status A 

 are those applications that have received payment and the property has been 

 restricted. Payment is pending for Status B applications until a title search 

 has been completed and cooperating state agencies provide their approval. 



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