To provide working capital to enable farm operations to become more finan- 

 cially stable; 



To address other personal ownership problems such as age, health, and 

 retirement and; 



To develop a positive attitude among farmers, agri businessmen, landowners 

 and urbanites that agriculture in Massachusetts is here to stay and that state 

 government recognizes and supports agriculture's important contributions to the 

 state's economy and rural character. 



The Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program is the only means for 

 farmland owners to realize the cash equity in their land and at the same time 

 ensure it will remain open and undeveloped. The value of the Agricultural 

 Preservation Restriction (or development rights) is the difference between the 

 full market value of the land and the land's agricultural value. In return for 

 paying for the APR, the Commonwealth receives a deed restriction, in perpetuity, 

 prohibiting any and all activities detrimental to the land's present or future 

 agricultural potential. This cash payment is an investment in the state's agri- 

 cultural land resource, which will be repaid time and again through the opera- 

 tion of a viable agricultural economy. 



The Selection & Decision-making Process 



Decisions on properties selected by the APR Program are made by a nine 

 member Agricultural Land Preservation Committee including officials from the 

 state, federal and private sectors, two of whom must be farmers. The program is 

 administered by a staff of two who are responsible for field work, evaluation of 

 application, making appraisal assignments and guiding the application through 

 the bureaucratic process. 



Four major criteria established under the enabling legislation guide the 

 staff and Committee in decision making. In order of significance they are: 1. 

 quality of the soils for agricultural production; 2. degree of threat of 

 development; 3. significance of the farm to the State's agriculture; 4. 

 environmental and community planning objectives. 



The APR program is very competitive, with more applications on hand than 

 current funding permits. Therefore, emphasis is on protecting the farms that are 

 in the most immediate jeopardy of passing out of farm ownership, most often into 

 residential development. 



Assessing the degree of threat facing a farm's conversion to non- 

 agricultural uses is-a task requiring careful judgement. The degree of threat 

 has two aspects: 1. personal circumstances surrounding ownership, such as 

 financial stress, age and health of owner, family problems and so on; and 2. 

 physical characteristics of the land in terms of development potential, such as 

 amount of road frontage, suitability of soils to support on-site sewage disposal 

 systems, availability of water, sewer and utilities, building demand for the 

 area, and local attitudes towards development. 



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