AFT has been working since the 1980's to support agriculture and protect farmland in Massachusetts.
Agriculture is important to Massachusetts' economy and culture.
It is also a valuable source of fresh food, open space and a productive way of life for thousands of Massachusetts farm families. To encourage farming and the many benefits that it provides the people of Massachusetts, the American Farmland Trust is working hard to increase public support for programs that protect farmland and support agriculture. In the French King Gorge, which lies along the Connecticut River Valley in western Massachusetts, AFT engineered a complicated land transaction that saved prime farmland once slated for a power plant. Strengthening Pioneer Valley Agriculture AFT staff have been working with a broad-based consortium of organizations to protect farmland in a section of the fertile Connecticut River Valley known colloquially as the Pioneer Valley. One of the project's outcomes is the Pioneer Valley Strategic Plan for Agriculture, a blueprint for protecting farmland in the valley that integrates agricultural economic development, farmland retention and land use planning.