By Chinanu Okoli
Boston University News Service
Applications are rolling in for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources’ new Farm Transfer Planning Assistance initiative that connects aging farmers and their successors with experienced planners to set retirement goals and figure out how management and assets will be transferred.
The year-long process ends in comprehensive written plans that can serve as a launchpad for farm transfers. Eleven farm owners have already applied to what’s commonly known as Farm-Pass, with more applications expected before the April 15 deadline.
“The impetus for it is this growing recognition that farm-transfer planning is difficult to discuss, it’s difficult to start,” said Laura Barley, an MDAR farm viability planner. “There’s a real demographic challenge facing not only Massachusetts farmers, but the nation’s farmers.”
Barley said that when farmers reach retirement age, they often struggle to find younger people who can take over the farms. Aging farmers make up a significant portion of the workforce — 37.6% of all Franklin County farm producers are 65 years old or older, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2022 census. Nationally, that figure is 39%.
“We want to help as many people as we can with this and we really want to make sure people are ready to take that next step,” Barley said. “Whatever that looks like to them is really just people saying who they want to work with, who they want their successors to be and what their goals are.”
The funding for the program comes from the $11.9 million allocated to MDAR under Gov. Maura Healey’s fiscal year 2025 budget. That gives the agency enough funding to work with 15 farms this fiscal year.
To apply, owners must plan to retire or transfer their farms within the next 10 years. They must also identify who their successor will be — it does not have to be a family member, but they must be identified on the application. Planners do not provide legal or tax advice, but they will identify when it is necessary for an applicant to seek it.
Claire Morenon, communications manager at the South Deerfield-based nonprofit Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), said high land values and high demand for land in Franklin County — and the rest of the state — exacerbate the issues for farmers and their successors.
“The biggest overarching challenge with farm succession is that farming is a relatively small-margin, big capital expense business,” she said. “There’s a lot of financial value tied up in assets of the farm and people don’t make a huge amount of money farming, so for somebody to come in and take on a huge amount of debt in order to buy out a farm … there can be a real financial mismatch between what they’re able to offer and what the outgoing farmer needs.”
Morenon said that while the program doesn’t seem like it will address every challenge inherent to farm succession, she thinks some Massachusetts farms will benefit from the assistance.
“Any resources that can be made available to help with planning [are] really important,” Morenon said. “It seems like a very promising start.”
Sarah Gardner, environmental studies professor at Williams College and co-chair of the Williamstown Agricultural Commission, said programs like Farm-Pass are desperately needed to ensure farms live on.
“Most of the farms go out of business when farmers get too old, or they’re injured, or they die,” she said. “It is the most important thing we can do right now.”
But Gardner thinks the program can go further. She wants the state to implement a multi-pronged approach that trains and encourages more young people to farm.
“We need farmers that are ready to go,” she said. “And we need young farmers that are ready to go.”
While Farm-Pass is not designed to assist aging farmers in finding successors or training young farmers, Barley said Massachusetts has resources, such as Land For Good’s Farm Seekers program, that can help. She doesn’t want people to procrastinate or hesitate to reach out.
“It’s a very easy thing to procrastinate on,” Barley said. “Getting started is probably the hardest part of all of this.”
Those who are interested in applying to Farm-Pass can visit mass.gov/info-details/agricultural-business-assistance.
This story originally appeared in the Greenfield Recorder.
