the development rights for less and take the difference 

 as a charitable deduction for federal tax purposes. 



State-Owned Farmland 



1988 marked the eleventh year in which pubUcly- 

 owned land was made available to Massachusetts farmers 

 under the Department's State-Owned Farmland Project. 

 Added to the project's inventory in 1988 were 24 acres of 

 state-owned land in Lancaster and 80 acres of land in the 

 Ware River and Wachusett Reservoir watersheds. 

 Negotiations began with the Department of Pubhc Health 

 to assume leasing responsibility for 243 acres of farmland 

 at Tewksbury Hospital, which will bring the total acres 

 managed by the Project to over 1,000. Unless the use is 

 dictated by special legislation (as in the case of Nor- 

 thampton and Foxborough), the lands are made available 

 to farmers through a public Request for Proposals 

 process. Farmers are selected to use the land based on 

 their management abihty, offered price per acre, and 

 willingness to comply with any special restrictions placed 

 on them by the agency controlling the land. Leases are 

 for 5 years (the maximum allowed under state real 

 property laws) and are sometimes renewable for one 

 additional period of 5 years. 



Farmland Stewardship Program 



An advisory committee was formed in September of 

 1987 to take a broader look at Massachusetts' state-owned 

 farmland and plan for its future use. The Committee 

 includes members from the agricultural community and 

 from human services and economic development agen- 

 cies. The Committee will focus first on the land that was 

 once farmed by the large campus hospitals and schools of 

 the Departments of Mental Health, Public Health and 

 Mental Retardation. These institutions stopped farming 

 in the 1960's and '70's and the land has been kept open 

 through leasing to local farms. 



The large campus institutions are now being asked to 

 plan for their current and future needs and to declare 

 excess land surplus. This Campus Planning process is a 

 joint effort of the Executive Office of Human Services and 

 the Division of Capital Planning and Operations 

 (DCPO) the agency created in 1981 to oversee all state real 

 property matters. The Massachusetts Farmlands 

 Stewardship Committee will develop agricultural plans to 

 dovetail with the Campus Planning process: as lands are 

 declared surplus, the Department of Food and Agricul- 

 ture will ask that the farmland be transferred to its control 

 to implement the Committee's plans. 



Plans will be developed individually for each proper- 

 ty, based on its agricultural capability and farm use in the 

 surrounding area. It is hoped that new-entry farmers can 

 get a start on some of these properties, with 30-50 year 

 leases. Such a project is already being implemented by 



the New England Small Farm Institute on the old Belcher- 

 town State School farmstead. 



Agricultural Land Inventory 



The Bureau of Land Use is developing an inventory 

 of all pubUc lands used for agriculture in Massachusetts. 

 The Bureau has begun a survey of all Massachusetts cities 

 and towns to see how much municipally-owned land is 

 farmed and under what sort of arrangements, i.e., lease 

 or permit, fee simple or percentage of yield, public access 

 permitted or not, etc.) . Agricultural leasing is an effective 

 Open Space management tool which makes good 

 economic sense for both municipalities and for Mas- 

 sachusetts agriculture; and the Bureau would like to fur- 

 ther promote its use. 



Acid Rain Project 



Three years of research on the effects of acid rain on 

 Massachusetts agriculture will be completed in the spring 

 of 1988. Grant money from the state Executive Office of 

 Environmental Affairs was given to the environmental 

 agencies to investigate how acid rain is affecting the 

 quality of Massachusetts' air, water, forests and agricul- 

 tural resources. The Bureau of Land Use is administering 

 a $270,000 three-year grant for research conducted 

 through the University of Massachusetts' Environmen- 

 tal Institute by Dr. Lyle Craker on the Amherst campus 

 and Dr. WiUiam Feder at the Suburban Experiment Sta- 

 tion in Waltham. 



Researchers are finding that crop damage is caused 

 by a complex of pollutants including acid rain, ozone, 

 sulfur and nitrogen oxides and particulates. Damage is 

 not restricted to urban areas where most of these pol- 

 lutants are generated but hits rural areas as well. The U. 

 Mass. researchers are finding that air pollution and acid 

 rain can affect the ability of corn pollen to germinate on 

 corn silk, which can reduce yields of Massachusetts' num- 

 ber one cultivated crop. These pollutants can also interact 

 with common agricultural herbicides and growth hor- 

 mones, causing them to act unpredictably and possibly 

 damage crops. 



Dr. Feder has developed a pollen test for nursery 

 stock which predicts how a plant will react to pollution 

 stress. Nursery stock used to beautify Massachusetts' 

 urban and suburban areas represents a multi-million dol- 

 lar investment and must be able to tolerate polluted 

 conditions. To field-test all species for pollution 

 tolerance would require 50 years, thousands of acres of 

 land and cost milhons. Dr. Feder's pollen test is cheap, 

 accurate, and produces results in 24 hours. 



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