Warning: getimagesize() [function.getimagesize]: Read error! in /var/www/html/includes/leaderBoard.php on line 44
More News Headlines
Reader Comments
Email this page
Print-friendly version
Essay: Toward a Martha's Vineyard agricultural commission
Last Saturday, a group of Vineyard farmers, selectmen, county commissioners, and other Islanders interested in farming heard about the advantages of setting up an agricultural commission from a delegation of representatives involved in AgComs elsewhere in the Commonwealth. The Vineyarders attending this workshop felt that there was enough merit in the idea to put together a proposal for how this could be done on the Vineyard.
We discussed the challenges of preserving agriculture in the face of skyrocketing real estate prices, and how an AgCom can help. An agricultural commission is an officially recognized voice for the agricultural community, which can offer a whole range of advocacy, educational, and dispute resolution and mediation services to the community. It is purely advisory to town boards, with no regulatory or permitting authority.
AgComs across the state have taken on a wide range of specific actions. For many, the first priority was to pass a right-to-farm bylaw at town meeting. The passage of such a by-law reaffirms what is already in state law and to voice the town's support for preserving and maintaining farming in the community. Other efforts involved working for farm friendly zoning regulations and running awareness campaigns about the importance of farming and what it means to live near a farm.
Dick Ward, a member of the Carver AgCom and also a selectman, described how farmers reacting to the meltdown of the cranberry industry created that AgCom. Susan Guiducci, chairman of the Dartmouth AgCom, said that her commission was created as a result of a comprehensive planning effort. Scott Soares, former acting commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) , indicated that the presence of an AgCom can help move a region or town up the priority list for the Commonwealth's fund to help purchase agricultural preservation restrictions (APR).
There are now 106 AgComs throughout Massachusetts, most set up in the past few years. In most of these communities, there had been no organization working to protect farming interests.
In contrast, the Vineyard is fortunate to already have several organizations that work directly or indirectly to promote agriculture. The Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society runs the fair and other events throughout the year, hosts a variety of agricultural competitions, and has an agricultural grant program. The West Tisbury Farmers Market allows dozens of farmers to directly market to thousands of Vineyarders each week. The Dukes County commission has a representative to the USDA. The Island Grown Initiative(IGI) is promoting Island grown foods and has just set up a mobile poultry processing unit. MV Slow Foods encourages people to savor the pleasures of local foods. An inventory prepared by the Martha's Vineyard Commission (MVC), the Agricultural Society, and IGI indicates that there are now 26 food-producing farms and 30 other farms of five acres or more on the Island, to say nothing of a large number of smaller, backyard farms.
Though there are already many pro-farming efforts on the Island, there was a sense at the workshop that setting up an Island-wide agricultural commission could be beneficial to the Island, in order to help coordinate the current efforts and to take on those currently lacking. There were several responsibilities that the participants felt were particularly relevant for the Vineyard.
It could offer a forum to allow the existing groups to coordinate their efforts.
It could provide towns and farmers a link to state and federal agricultural agencies, professional staff, and funding sources.
It could advise towns on zoning regulations that promote farming, and it could articulate the agricultural community's perspective on upcoming development projects.
It could offer conflict resolution on agricultural issues, such as dealing with the presence of farm animals within residential neighborhoods.
Other AgComs within the Commonwealth were set up on a town-by-town basis. However, the feeling at last Saturday's meeting was that the Island would be best served by having a single AgCom, with members appointed by each board of selectmen, to include representatives of the Agricultural Society and other organizations. A small group was asked to put together a proposal to discuss with the Island's selectmen. Irene Winkler, coordinator for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and Pete Westover, consultant to MDAR offered their assistance in getting our AgCom off the ground.
A videotape of this workshop will be running on MVTV. It was sponsored by the Martha's Vineyard Commission, the Dukes County Commission, the Agricultural Society, MDAR, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. For more information, contact Christine Flynn at the MVC or go to www.mass.gov/agr/AgCom.
Bob Woodruff is a farmer in West Tisbury. Mark London is executive director of the Martha's Vineyard Commission.
