Farming Magazine - November, 2008

FEATURES

Farming in the Bay State

Photo by Rebekah Fraser. Massachusetts' new commissioner of agriculture, Doug Petersen.

Doug Petersen served the eighth Essex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for 16 years before becoming the commissioner of agriculture. His strong staff of 70 people has helped him to make the transition, and he has put 15,000 miles on his car in the last year driving to farms, farmers’ markets and agricultural fairs around the state in an effort to familiarize himself with the business of agriculture in Massachusetts.

Doug Petersen served the eighth Essex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for 16 years before becoming the commissioner of agriculture. His strong staff of 70 people has helped him to make the transition, and he has put 15,000 miles on his car in the last year driving to farms, farmers’ markets and agricultural fairs around the state in an effort to familiarize himself with the business of agriculture in Massachusetts.

How does Massachusetts agriculture differ from agriculture throughout New England?

“They’re generally fairly similar, except we have one remarkably different commodity that the other states do not possess, making us the second biggest cranberry producer in the U.S. We probably have a larger ag industry than the rest of New England because of our coastline. We do a lot in fish farming in the river. I’d say those are the major differences.”

What differentiates Massachusetts from the top-producing cranberry state?

“Wisconsin has made their own bogs, and they make them rectangular, which makes it easier to harvest and grow different strains. We’re doing some of that now, but the fact that every single bog they’ve got is man-made allows them to design it the way they want.”

Are product-centered organizations like The Cranberry Marketing Board impacting the market?

“I think so. Seventy percent of our department is simply marketing. Every product has a trade association. We try to grow those industries. We gave $1.5 million to the cranberry industry to refurbish their bogs a couple of years ago, which will help them increase their yield and explore new types of cranberries—this is in the face of a higher demand for cranberries worldwide.”

Are there any trends that you have noticed in the marketplace?

“The explosion in farmers’ markets, roadside stands and CSAs has created a new marketplace out there for farm products, combined with the safety issue, buying fresher and more nutritious food. It’s not an accident that Massachusetts has the highest direct marketing of any state in the nation. In five years, farmers’ markets have grown from 90 to 160, and we’re starting 20 to 30 new farmers’ markets each year.”

Have consumer trends changed consumption of commodities?

“Grass-fed beef is becoming very popular and is sold at marketplace. I think there’s an uptake in consumption of fruits and veggies in general. Healthy food is what people are desiring.

“Major factors of safety and freshness are driving that marketplace. People are suspicious of food that comes from outside the borders of the commonwealth. The Oxford dictionary has introduced a new word—locavore—which means buying locally. Consumers are looking for everything local. Organic is big, and in college towns half the market is organic. Even so, the organic movement pales next to ‘buy local.’”

It seems that currently, the majority of wholesalers at the Boston produce market import produce from outside New England. Do you see that changing?

“We still need them; we don’t have the capacity. Sixty-one hundred farms will not feed 6 million people. ‘Buy local’ is going to influence the marketplace in a major way, but I don’t think we’ll ever have the capacity to feed every mouth in Massachusetts just by the work of our local farms. Wholesalers from Boston Market Terminal and New England Produce Center are getting [some] produce from local farmers. Many schools are looking for local produce, so local farmers are working with distributors to market their local produce.”

How has the changing demographics of farming affected Massachusetts agriculture?

“Because our immigrant population has been growing over the past decade or so, we now have farmers that are growing the foods that appeal. We have farmers growing fairly exotic vegetables—Brazilian eggplants, stuff for the Cambodian population. That has become a big market. At the Marblehead market, the Mentor farm recruits immigrants to work the farm and they sell all sorts of different things that you wouldn’t see in a regular supermarket. If you went to Framingham, there would be loads of Brazilian produce.”

What do you see as the future impact on the labor cost or shortage to the market or to the industry?

“Finding reliable labor has been exasperated by the immigration struggle in D.C., and by lack of man power from the federal H-2 Visa program. Many farmers have said to me, ‘If we could just solve the immigration issue we could move on.’

“Our farmers are in their late 50s. In 15 to 20 years from now, if their sons and daughters don’t want to take over the farms, we’ll be in a little crisis. We’re creating programs to expose kids to agriculture. 4-H leases animals to kids so they get a feeling about what animal husbandry is all about. There are six agricultural high schools in the U.S., and we’ve got four of them in Massachusetts.”

Are agribusinesses/conglomerates moving into Massachusetts?

“There’s not enough land. The average acreage of a farm in Massachusetts is 80 acres. I don’t think any agribusiness is going to make enough money off of that. We’re one of the last bastions of the family farms. Eighty percent of our farms are family farms, and these go back generations.”

How have genetically modified foods/seeds affected Massachusetts agricultural practices?

“Not a whole lot except for the [Roundup ready] corn grown mostly for feed; sweet corn, I guess. It’s cutting the amount of and cost of pesticides needed. There have been some complaints by the organic community that wind is taking this stuff over and affecting their corn and other vegetables. I don’t know how much is true or conjecture. We are 13th in the nation in terms of producing organic produce, so there has been some tension between the organic boys and the other boys.” 

Will your office mediate?

“At this point, department of agriculture does not need to step in. If it reached the point that our organic produce was tainted and could not be certified, we would have to step in. We have not heard any complaints of that nature. Our farms are relatively small, relatively spread apart. The GMO corn growers are generally not near the other producers. My guess is that if there is any drift, it’s fairly minimal.”

Have there been, or do you foresee, any issues arising in Massachusetts agriculture from agribusiness attempts to protect seeds as intellectual property?

“Seeds are already protected as intellectual property. It’s fairly common practice to have to go back and buy new seeds every year, as opposed to getting seeds from the plant. That’s an agreement farmers sign with whoever sells them their plant. I don’t know if it’s the case with organics as well. I’m assuming it’s the same practice. Otherwise, seed companies would be out of business. They’d sell you the seed one year and never have your business again.

Are the Departments of Agriculture around the nation competitive?

“We’re tight! The National Association of State Directors of Agriculture (NASDA) has two to three meetings a year. The Northeast Association of State Directors of Agriculture (NEASDA) includes New England, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and meets twice a year.

“It’s all collaborative. We compare notes, attend the same lectures. We make joint policy decisions, weighed in on the farm bill in a joint way. We chided the USDA in the same way—I wrote the letter. USDA wanted to cut a certain type of funding for farms less than 20 acres, because they are ‘hobby farms.’ I told him, ‘You do realize that one-third of the farms in New England are “hobby farms” and they do this for a living.’

“I visited a young couple in their 20s, two little towhead kids running in the fields. They have a 12-acre farm; farm 8 of it. They made well over $100,000 last year farming 8 acres, just veggies. That’s all these people do here, farm.”

Did your action have an effect?

“Congress eventually lowered the limit to 10 acres in the farm bill. Still, 10 acres or less is a huge greenhouse operation. Two of the biggest greenhouse operations on the East Coast are Bartlett and Calviccio in Sudbury—one does 9 acres, the other does over 8 acres. They cannot get funding. The federal government considers these people ‘hobby farmers.’ It’s ridiculous. The secretary is coming to the BIG-E this weekend, and I’ve invited him to see the ‘hobby farms.’”

What types of lectures do you attend at the NASDA and NEASDA conferences?

“Global warming (New England will become the new breadbasket, thanks to global warming, by the way), disease stuff, animal health stuff. The lectures are given by both universities and private companies. With NEASDA, we visited Monsanto’s corn research area in Connecticut. They’re trying to make new, different kinds of corn, like water-resistant and drought-resistant corn.”

What are the biggest challenges facing Massachusetts farmers today?

“Cost of inputs, feed, pesticide, electricity, fuel, land values … We’re third highest in value per acre of farmland at approximately $9,000 per acre. Regulatory issues, also, because we lack strong county governments. We’re having a lot of push back from boards of health wanting to shut down or modify certain operations of a farm. Some towns don’t like their farming operations and are harassing them.”

How does the Department of Agriculture support farmers?

“We are essentially one-stop shopping for farmers. Although we have regulatory functions, we see ourselves as the farmers’ agency. We are marching down the streets with them, advocating for agriculture in Massachusetts, marketing with them, growing farmers’ markets; you name it, we do it.”

According to Petersen, the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture operates a variety of grant programs, covering everything from the development and funding of agricultural commissions that advocate for the agricultural community within their specific towns to helping farms become more energy-efficient and sustainable. An APR program gives up to $2 million to farmers who commit to keeping their land in agriculture in perpetuity, and can be used to purchase farmland. A viability program helps both successful and struggling farmers develop business plans. Consultants help the farmer develop the plan to improve the operation or develop the viability of a new operation. Massachusetts leases state surplus land to 15 to 20 farmers. An integrated pest management program educates farmers how to use as little pesticide as possible.

“We have 36 programs here,” he says. “Soup to nuts, representing every aspect of the ag industry.”

The author is a new contributor to Farming based in Massachusets.