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FRCOG presents draft Whately Farm Plan as committee discusses farmland loss and town options
Summary
An FRCOG planner presented a draft Whately Farm Plan and outlined state concerns — including high farm land loss and an aging farmer population — and suggested local actions such as a Chapter 61A watch list, mapping and succession planning.
Tamsin Flanders, land use and natural resource planner with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, presented a draft Whately Farm Plan to the Agricultural Committee on April 22 and outlined how the plan’s agriculture chapter would connect to land use and economic development.
Flanders summarized findings and statewide context from the Mass Farmland Action Plan, saying Massachusetts is losing farmland at a rapid rate and that the average age of farmers is in the 60s, which creates concern about intergenerational turnover. She outlined several town-level projects the committee could pursue, including creating a watch list of lands that fall under Chapter 61A for Select Board monitoring, mapping farmland, conducting farm surveys, assisting with succession planning, helping farms understand 61A, Community Preservation Committee (CPC) funds and Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) programs, and considering fee purchase and lease-back options to keep land in production.
Committee members provided local input on current crops and database content to inform the draft plan. Flanders offered to draft a vision statement and collect written comments by email (Tflanders@frcog.org) and said the farm plan topic will return to the committee agenda in the later half of 2025.
The presentation was advisory; the committee did not adopt the draft at this meeting but provided feedback to shape future revisions.
