State Agriculture Preservation Improvement Program Hits 100th Farm Milestone in 2021
BOSTON – The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources
today announced that its Agricultural Preservation Restriction Improvement
Program (AIP) has achieved a major milestone by partnering with its 100th farm
within the Commonwealth. AIP began in 2010, with participating farms receiving
business planning, technical assistance, and infrastructure grants to support
their farm’s viability.
“Farmers that
participate in AIP report improved operational efficiency, continue to invest
in needed infrastructure on their farms, and show a significant increase in
gross income in subsequent years,” said MDAR Commissioner John Lebeaux. “These
results are consistent with the purpose of AIP, which is to help improve the
productivity and profitability of participating farms, and to enhance the
significance of APR farm operations and their contribution to the state's
agricultural industry.”
The APR
Improvement Program enables commercial farms with land that has already been
protected through MDAR’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) Program to
participate in the improvement program with the goal to assist farmers with
issues of financial viability, resource conservation, family succession,
modernization of infrastructure, and other issues that may enhance the long term
continued use of the agricultural resource.
Since the
program first began, AIP has provided $7 million in total grants and a total of
$560,000 in technical assistance services to the 100 Massachusetts farms. For
more information about AIP, please visit the MDAR program website. AIP is one of several programs within
DAR’s Division of Agricultural Conservation and Technical Assistance (DACTA),
whose mission is to advance the conservation and utilization of agricultural
resources through preservation, environmental stewardship, technology,
technical assistance and education in order to enhance the viability of
agricultural enterprises and safeguard natural resources.
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