Today, with help from @masseea , local, state, and federal officials, and @ecgreenbelt , we celebrated the historic milestone of having protected over 1000 farm properties through the Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) program at the site of our very first APR farm: @bartlettfarmstand in Salisbury. They’re about to close on their last parcel of land under the APR program which will make the entirety of their land an APR farm, making it a full-circle moment!
To mark this occasion, we interviewed Donna Bartlett and two other nearby farms on what the APR program has meant to them. Thanks to Donna, Mark Parlee of @parleefarms and Brittany and Kevin Overshiner of @upswingfarm for their perspectives!
With flowers and gardening still at the top of mind for most of our green thumb enthusiasts out there, our next Massachusetts woman farmer spotlight feature is Cindy Bertrand who owns @farmersdaughterauburn
Cindy was born on a dairy farm and is the third generation of her family to take up farming. Her love of animals started at a young age when her grandfather gave her a bottle baby lamb that she named Daisy and even took her to kindergarten!
Over the years, her family farm transitioned from dairy to beef. When they decided to diversify and open a retail establishment in 1982, it was named The Farmer’s Daughter, selling fresh farm grown produce and Christmas trees. Today, the Farmer’s Daughter sells an extensive variety of annuals, perennials, and vegetable plants along with garden and holiday decor, and giftware. They continue to sell their own beef and pork, born and raised on their farm!
She loves to see the fruits of her labor, watching plants grow and bloom to seeing a new calf being born and enjoys networking with fellow growers to learn from them as well as impart her knowledge for a stronger farming community.
Excited to start planting your garden as the growing season ramps up? Why not plant a few extra of your favorite fruits and vegetables to enter into contests at your local agricultural fair this summer?
Fair competitions are a fun way to show off your gardening skills, support your fair, and help teach your community about local agriculture!
Most fairs provide an opportunity to showcase your veggies, fruits, flowers, and handicrafts, and they’re open to anyone. You might even bring home a blue ribbon!
Your local fair has more information about how to enter competitions. Find a list with contact information at the link on agricultural fairs in our bio.
Attention Beekeepers and Bee Enthusiasts!!
Public voting is now LIVE for MDAR’s first-ever “Fat Queen” Honey Bee Bracket Challenge! 👑🐝
Massachusetts beekeepers submitted photos of their fattest queens, and 8 queens have officially entered the inaugural bracket competition. Now it’s time for the public to decide who advances through each round and ultimately takes the crown as the Queen of Queens!
Why all the buzz about queens?
🐝 The queen is the only bee in the colony capable of laying fertilized eggs - WHOA!
🥚 Healthy queens can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day - WOW!
🍯 Strong queens help support healthy, productive colonies - YASSS Queen!
🗳️ Cast your vote at the link in our bio
Limit one vote per person. May the fattest queens advance to the next round to fight for the crown! 👑
We are back with our women farmer spotlights in observance of this year’s International Year of the Woman Farmer!
Next up is Natalie Ferjulian who owns and operates @ferjulians , a multi-generational family farm that’s dedicated to growing high quality flowers, fruits and vegetables.
Natalie has loved flowers since her father handed her a dahlia catalogue as a child and let her pick new tuber varieties to trial. For her, working in agriculture means having the opportunity to do meaningful work that is physically demanding and requires business savvy and creativity but is tangibly rewarding.
In 2019 she started a Cut Flower Garden and is continually fascinated and challenged by the many hats required of a flower farmer. Seeing the joy that picking flowers brings to visitors is her favorite part of working at her farm!
MDAR team members and the Ag Youth Council traveled to Fairhaven today to visit Blue Stream Shellfish and learn more about aquaculture production. We got to travel on the state’s first electric skiff to see oysters being produced across the 42 acres that they own and manage, as well as see their processing facility. Thank you to Dale Leavitt and Travis Hess for hosting us and sharing their knowledge about the state’s fasting growing agricultural sector, aquaculture.
Did you know that MDAR has under its care and control over 1200 acres of state-owned land across Massachusetts that it leases out to farmers?
The State-Owned Farmland Licensing Program has allowed mostly beginning farmers and growers who otherwise would not have access through traditional means to farmland the ability to grow fresh crops and produce that in turn are sold at local farmers markets and to wholesale distributors that ultimately contributes to a stronger local food system by increasing the amount of food grown in state.
It’s a big part of our commitment to making farmland not just available but more accessible to emerging farmers who represent the future of our agricultural sector which is important since the average age of a farmer in Massachusetts is nearly 60.
As part of that commitment, we’ve also partnered with UMass Extension to provide soil heath testing on our state-owned land so growers know that the land they’re farming on has optimal nutrients for their crops to flourish.
To learn more about the State-Owned Farmland Licensing Program, click on the link in our bio
Between 1997 and 2022, Massachusetts has lost 113,000 acres of farmland. That’s nearly four times the size of Boston or nearly two times the size of Martha’s Vineyard.
In response to this alarming statistic, and along with our land protection partner organizations, we developed the Massachusetts Farmland Action Plan which was unveiled in December of 2023. This long-range strategic initiative is intended to guide and inform our actions to ensure that farmland and farming are available and remain viable for the current and future generations in Massachusetts.
Since its announcement, our team has been working with partners to implement the tasks identified in the Plan. In 2025, MDAR launched the Massachusetts Farmland Partnership Program, a new grant program that builds networks of partners to collaborate and coordinate with the shared goal of protecting farmland, enhancing farm viability, and ensuring access to farmland.
This year, 19 partner organizations started working on 29 projects in this Program to implement a wide range of tasks from the Plan. Some projects are strengthening existing work being done by partners and others are working on issues that have not been notably addressed in the past. For more information, click on the link in our bio!
This Earth Week, we’ll be spotlighting some of our programs and initiatives that help protect and preserve farmland in Massachusetts.
Why is that important? The more farmland we have, the greater the ability we have to grow our own food which is more fresh and nutritious and tastes better.
The more food we can grow and produce, the less we have to rely on outside sources which in turn creates a more resilient local food system that is good for our economy and environment!
The farms depicted in this video are all participants in MDAR’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) Program which for over 40 years has helped our farmers preserve their farmland so that they and future generations of Massachusetts farmers have the peace of mind that their land will always remain in farming and not be developed for non-agricultural purposes.
The APR Program is our signature farmland protection program and was the first of its kind in the nation when it was launched. Other states have since followed our lead with similar programs. In May, we will be celebrating a historic milestone for the program so stay tuned for more!
This morning, Commissioner Randle (who ran the race in 2025!) was joined by MDAR staff along with members from @masseea to help beautify Back Bay by planting and placing locally grown daffodils along Newbury Street (courtesy of @olsonsgreenhouses and owner Matt Piscitelli!)
Since 2014, @bostonmarathondaffodils has led this initiative to cover the Boston Marathon course and its surrounding areas with these signature flowers that personify the hope and resilience of the athletes and global community coming together to achieve greatness.
It’s an annual volunteer tradition that we’ve come to cherish as athletes from around the world arrive in Boston to run the most iconic Marathon in the world!
On this National Ag Day, we look to our youth who represent the future of agriculture and hear from them on their hopes and wishes for the next generation of our farming community.
At this year’s Agriculture Day at the State House, students Molly Quinn, Mary Riley, and Jackson Ahr representing @mass4hfoundation and @massffa , gave incredible speeches about their passion for agriculture.
Molly, a student at Bristol Agricultural High School, shared her experience being involved in both youth organizations saying, “I can say with confidence 4-H has made me and so many youth across the country the people who we are today. Confidence is something you build brick by brick, from the smallest club meeting to the national stage. In FFA I have found that I am both a student and a mentor—continually learning from my peers while teaching younger and even older members the ropes of what I know. From majoring in livestock management to serving as a student ambassador, every milestone is informed by the grit I first learned in a 4-H show ring.”
Mary credits her involvement in 4-H to giving her the confidence to advocate on behalf of farmers saying in part, “It felt crazy to me that I could have a hand in shaping farm and agricultural legislation and actually help to educate lawmakers on what farm life is really like. We must remember that only 1% of Americans work in an agriculturally connected career. All of us have a shared responsibility to speak up and use what we’ve learned to be the voice for farmers and the many issues that arise when a tiny percentage of the population is tasked with feeding the world.”
Jackson, who serves as the current Massachusetts FFA State President, found his love for agriculture through his involvement in FFA state and national competitions. He says, “Programs like FFA and 4-H give young people opportunities to grow, develop skills, and discover passions they might have never known they had. My main focus in FFA was the leadership development that it grants its members. Through competitions, conferences, and the people I met along the way, FFA shaped me into a leader and a better person.”
As part of Maple Month, Commissioner Randle and MDAR staff were out in Western Mass this morning visiting Blue Heron Farm in Charlemont, Mt. Massaemet Sugarhouse in Shelburne Falls, and Cranston’s Tree Farm in Ashfield.
Thanks to @mass_maple for arranging these tours for us to learn more about each operation and their history. Did you know that it takes 40 gallons of maple sap to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup? Thanks to grant support through MDAR, Massachusetts maple sugar producers employ the latest in energy-saving and environmentally-friendly technology that allows them to boil sap that makes the syrup we all love to enjoy 🍁!
