STATE-OWNED FARMLANDS 



As well as administering the Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program, 

 the Bureau of Land Use is also involved with issues concerning state-owned agri- 

 cultural land. Of the estimated 7,600 acres of open state-owned farmland, 

 approximately 3,300 acres are part of state conservation lands: forests, 

 watersheds, and wildlife management areas. The other 4,300 acres are associated 

 with the state's public health, mental health, correctional, and reformatory 

 institutions and are not afforded the same protection as the conservation lands. 

 Presently, the Department of Corrections is the only state agency committed to 

 an expanding farming program and one Mental Health farm remains active. The 

 rest of the institutional farmland is leased on a short-term basis to local far- 

 mers, is idle, or is being disposed of by the state, generally for municipal 

 development projects. The Bureau is completing an inventory of the institu- 

 tional farmlands which will form the basis of a policy for the protection and 

 optimum agricultural management of these lands. Legislation has also been filed 

 which would transfer the management of these lands directly to the Department of 

 Food and Agriculture and would place an APR on them in the event of their sale 

 out of state ownership. 



In the past year, the Land Use staff worked to save 35 acres of farmland 

 once part of Worcester State Hospital. This land will be made available for 

 community gardening, a farmers' market, and use by local growers. The Bureau is 

 part of the Task Force planning the reuse of Boston State Hospital in Mattapan. 

 The Bureau is working to protect the community gardens there, and is advocating 

 for the creative integration of other urban agricultural activities in plans for 

 the rest of the site (e.g. landscaping with fruit trees, greenhouse operations, 

 commercial composting, etc.) 



MEPA REVIEW 



The Land Use staff also participates in the Massachusetts Environmental 

 Policy Act review process. The staff reviews the Environmental Notification 

 Forms of development projects which will impact farmland and makes recommen- 

 dations accordingly. 



THE COMMUNITY GARDENING PROGRAM 



The statewide inventory of community gardens has been expanded to include 

 information on garden coordinators, locations, sizes, and numbers of gardens; 

 availability of water and other services on site, plot fees, special restric- 

 tions; and other descriptive information. This fall the Bureau will be con- 

 ducting a survey of the community gardens to update the inventory and identify 

 areas that need attention. 



THE MASS SEED PROGRAM 



The MassSeed Program provides free vegetable seeds for low-income gar- 

 deners, and seeds at wholesale cost for community (and other groups of) gar- 

 deners. Participation in the program and seeds at wholesale has been 

 essentially frozen over the past few years, and the size of each seed kit has 

 been diminished from 12 to 5 packets. This year, however, the program can 

 again accept new participants, and increase the number of varieties in each kit 

 to 10, thanks to an increased allocation in the FY 1984 budget. The program is 

 currently funded at $10,000. and the value of food which will be produced from 

 this investment is estimated to be well over $1,000,000. 



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