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Every dollar counts when running a farm.
Andrew Thornhill, owner of Silverbrook Farm in Dartmouth, said the prices of his materials have surged over the past year.
The cost of his fertilizer has increased by 50%. Last year, he spent about $20 for a can of diesel; now he pays almost $40. A cardboard cabbage box once cost him $1; now they’re a little over $3. “Everything is so much more expensive,” he said. “It’s crazy, absolutely crazy.”
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Thornhill is among the farmers across the state who are struggling financially as they grapple with the rising costs of doing business. According to a recent legislative report on agriculture, two-thirds of Massachusetts farmers operate at a loss and must rely on other sources of income to stay in business.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill on April 1 to address these challenges. The FARM Bill seeks to strengthen the agriculture and aquaculture economy, maintain nutrition programs, support local producers and plan for the future of farming.
The House will now consider the Senate’s bill and compare it with its own version. Three New Bedford lawmakers told The Light they support the bill, but hope to add amendments to the final draft.
South Coast farmers, including Thornhill, said the bill is a welcome measure. But a local oyster farmer and a lawmaker said it falls short of addressing aquaculture needs.
Combating food insecurity while supporting local producers
Several sections of the Senate bill aim to enlist local farmers to provide nutritious meals to people facing food insecurity.
The bill would require annual reporting on how much local produce and seafood is distributed through food banks, universal school meals, Meals on Wheels and other state-funded food assistance programs. The reports would include recommendations on how to increase local food distribution while balancing affordability for food banks and consumers with fair pricing for producers.
Making local food affordable and accessible comes with many challenges, said Abigail Hevey, co-founder and co-executive director of Coastal Foodshed in New Bedford. The organization connects local growers with customers and focuses on creating equitable access to fresh produce. The price of locally grown and caught food often reflects factors such as high lease or mortgage payments, labor costs and the costs of using environmentally friendly techniques, she said.
According to the Senate press release, the new data about food distribution will also help assess the “damage from detrimental federal actions.” The Senate pointed to the Trump administration’s elimination of a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that provided grants for the state to purchase food from local farmers and fishers and distribute it for free to people facing food insecurity.
The Senate bill would permanently codify two state programs: the Healthy Incentives Program, which provides farmers with matching reimbursements when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients purchase their produce, and the Farm to School program, a grant-based program that enables local farmers and fishermen to sell their products to schools.
Chris English, owner of Groundwork Farm in Westport, said codifying HIP would be “such an important move” for farms like his that participate in farmers markets.
Aquaculture producers will see fewer benefits because HIP only applies to fruits and vegetables, said Dale Leavitt, co-owner of West Island Oysters in Fairhaven.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of growers donated shucked oysters to food pantries. This effort was not feasible to sustain long-term, because they had to ship the oysters to Gloucester to have them shucked.
“My primary market is the raw bar market … but there’s a whole bunch of oysters that we produce that do not meet the level of quality that I need to sell,” Leavitt said. “If I had an opportunity to sell oysters as a shucked product [to food assistance programs], that would be where my wonkies would go.”
Daniel Georgianna, a fisheries resource economist and chancellor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, said most seafood has an international market.
“When you talk about fisheries in Massachusetts or people buying fish at a supermarket or a fish market, a lot of that is imported, and a lot of the fish that we catch is exported,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s the way of the world.”
Georgianna added that selling products locally is often not financially feasible for aquaculture producers or fishermen.
Growing the agricultural economy
The bill aims to make farming more affordable — a necessary effort, according to English of Groundwork Farm.
“It’s a narrow-margin business to begin with,” he said. “If we want local agriculture, it needs support not just from consumers, but from the government as well.”
To give producers another source of revenue, the bill clarifies that local zoning bylaws cannot prohibit agritourism on land used primarily for commercial agriculture, aquaculture, or similar activities. This would allow producers to offer tours, farm stands, and recreational activities such as corn mazes.
English, who is building a farm stand, and Leavitt, who is considering offering tours of his oyster farm, both said they support this measure. Thornhill, however, said the bill should focus on production rather than agritourism.
“I don’t cater to agritourism at all,” Thornhill said. “I think if people want to come out to see agriculture, it should not be a glorified zoo. It should be coming out here to pick cherries or coming out here to pick beets.”
The bill would also permanently codify the Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program, which provides funding to agriculture and aquaculture producers for equipment and infrastructure.
“The commonwealth invests very little money in supporting aquaculture development, certainly not anywhere near what they invest in cranberries or some of the other agricultural commodities.”
— Dale Leavitt, co-owner of West Island Oysters
Thornhill and English listed several ways they would use the money if awarded a grant.
Thornhill said he would finish fencing the farm to prevent deer from eating his crops and buy an upgraded tractor and automated transplanter. English is in the market for a small tractor, as he currently moves materials by hand. He would also purchase a heater, circulation fans and metal propagation tables for his greenhouse.
The bill includes additional measures to support the future of farming, including developing a public agricultural map, prioritizing local food in emergencies, focusing on renewable energy, converting vacant lots into urban farms and gardens, and training the next generation of farmers.
It would also add to the oversight of the University of Massachusetts Extension, the state’s agricultural and horticultural outreach program. Leavitt said he was “disappointed” to see that aquaculture would not be represented on the board.
“We sort of have been left out of that effort, and there is a pretty dire need for extension-type support for aquaculture in the region,” Leavitt said. “The commonwealth invests very little money in supporting aquaculture development, certainly not anywhere near what they invest in cranberries or some of the other agricultural commodities.”
What comes next?
Three New Bedford lawmakers hope to add amendments to the bill in the House.
Rep. Christopher Markey, D-Dartmouth, said he hopes to incorporate his sewer overflow bill, which would establish a special legislative commission to fund wastewater infrastructure improvements on the South Coast.
Water quality is one of the biggest challenges facing shellfish beds in the area, Leavitt said, since storms repeatedly cause stormwater and sewage to spill into Buzzards Bay.
The Senate’s bill would also allow cranberry growers to transfer Water Management Act permits to other registered permit-holders — “easing the transition when they retire bogs or seek to transfer their operation,” the Senate press release explained.
The cranberry measure originated in a bill that Rep. Mark Sylvia, D-Fairhaven, filed last year. An identical bill was filed in the Senate.
Sylvia said he may also look to incorporate an amendment to use “unproductive agricultural land for renewable energy.”
Rep. Christopher Hendricks, D-New Bedford, said he would like to incorporate his bill preemptively banning commercial octopus farming into the FARM Bill.
He said octopus farming would “wreck” the wild-caught octopus market and have serious environmental consequences. Raising octopuses requires large amounts of feed, which he said could lead to overfishing. Octopuses also excrete ammonia, requiring an “unbelievable” amount of water to flush the tanks continuously.
“Since I have been reading up on [the FARM Bill], I did notice there wasn’t much about fishing,” Hendricks said. “We’re probably going to be taking a look to see if anything needs to be done on that level, and we’re reaching out to our partners to have some discussions before this bill comes up.”
Sen. Mark Montigny and Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral, D-New Bedford, did not respond to a request for comment. Rep. Steven Ouellette, D-Westport, did not grant an interview request.
Jamie Perkins is a graduate student in journalism covering state government for The Light as part of the Boston University Statehouse Program. Email them at jperkins@newbedfordlight.org.
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