25. 



as it was ultimately determined by D.P.W. that highway funds could 

 not be used for this project. 



What is interesting to note here is the fact that many 

 people living in the core of cities like Boston are trying to make 

 good use of vacant lots and other locations for things like growing 

 some of their own food in order to lower their food bill. 



This division will continue to work with groups such as 

 R.A.P. in order to assist with locating parcels of land, providing 

 educational materials, helping to form community groups, and doing 

 vdiatever else is necessary to grow more of their own food here in 

 Massachusetts. 



May : 



While there have been problems in obtaining land through 

 the combined efforts of Warren Shepard and Warren Colby, the division 

 was able to set up community gardens at seven locations across the 

 state. All seven were located on state institutions and hospitals 

 including the following: Ra3niham, Northampton, Gardner, Waltham, 

 Mattapan, Westboro, and Framingham. (See attached list for details.) 

 A total of 30 acres were planted at the eight locations with approx- 

 imately 685 garden plots. 



The commercial farming program should be mentioned here 

 as it is the other major program at the present time in the division. 

 The primary goal of this phase of our work is to make large parcels 

 of land available to farmers v^o need the additional land to increase 

 production or reach what is called an economy of scale operation. 

 At the present time acreage is limited to 100 acres or less on land 

 that has been previously used for farming. The environmental impact 

 process is the main reason for limiting us to 100 acres at this time. 



Even though only a limited number of farmers will need 

 additional land, there are several across the state who could use 

 more land in order to increase production. 



Many state institutions have land that a few years ago 

 was active farmland, but today lies idle and should be put back 

 into food production. 



While no land was made available for commercial farming 

 during this fiscal year, plans were being made to use about 100 acres 

 of land at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Bridgewater. 

 Several of the correctional facilities at one time had active farms 

 v^ich produced most if not all of the food and milk needed by the 

 inmates. Today almost all of the state farms are not being used 

 and the land lies idle. The farming phase of our program makes 

 available portions of this farmland to needy farmers operating 

 farms closeby to the institutions. 



