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Farmers and food advocates push healthy soils, APR and food‑security funds in bond bill
Summary
Farm, land‑trust and food‑access groups asked the committee to earmark $5.5 million annually for the Healthy Soils Program and increase funding for farmland preservation, food hub and farm infrastructure grants in the Mass Ready Act.
Representatives of farming and food system groups told the committee the Mass Ready Act is an opportunity to protect farmland and to invest in soil health, food security infrastructure and climate‑smart agriculture.
Speakers from NOFA Massachusetts, American Farmland Trust, the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative and local community farming nonprofits outlined program needs: a dedicated $5.5 million annual earmark for the Healthy Soils Program, $125 million for the food security infrastructure grant program and additional funding for Agricultural Preservation Restrictions (APR) and a new buy‑protect‑sell authority for the Department of Agricultural Resources.
"Decarbonizing buildings and farms and improving soil health are complementary objectives," said Nathaniel Shay of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations, who supported a separate 0 Carbon Renovation Fund for building retrofits to complement farm‑scale investments.
Farmers testified that Healthy Soils grants — which fund cover crops, reduced tillage, soil testing and on‑farm demonstration — are already producing measurable carbon and resilience benefits and that continuity of funding is essential to maintain momentum.
Speakers also urged the committee to preserve and increase APR capital to stop farmland loss and to create a $20 million dedicated farmland access grant program for beginning and BIPOC farmers. American Farmland Trust asked for continued support for soil‑health technical assistance and for a rapid reauthorization of existing capital programs to fund buy‑protect‑sell activities for APRs.
Committee members thanked the witnesses and asked for written cost estimates and implementation language to consider when reconciling the final bond authorization.
