Senate bill seeks to aid farmers with land-use amendment

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) – The Senate’s economic development bill has amendments spanning dozens of lines of work, including one that would loosen land-use regulations for certain farmers.

Last week, the Massachusetts State Senate passed their version of a several billion dollar economic bond bill, which includes an amendment that looks to help farmers close their revenue gaps in western Massachusetts and across the state.

According to the amendment’s main sponsor, Senator Jo Comerford, farmers make just 94 cents to every dollar of their expenses. Additionally, Massachusetts lost 7% of its farmland between 2018 and 2022, which makes farming an increasingly difficult economic position.

Her amendment looks to reduce barriers to allow more micro businesses on land subject to agricultural preservation restriction, or APR. Senator Comerford gave 22News an example of what qualifies as a microbusiness, and explained how their taxes could change, “If you’re a strawberry farmer, and your land farming strawberries is taxed as agricultural land, if you make strawberry jam from those strawberries and if you sell that strawberry jam, on your farm, that also should be land that is taxed as agriculture land.”

This also applies to agricultural tourism, a maze on a farm that typically sells corn, would be taxed as agricultural land as well, which is cheaper than being taxed as commercial land.

This bill is now in conference committee, so the APR amendment may not make it into the version signed into law, but Senator Comerford has high hopes.

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Olivia Ray is a State House reporter who has been a part of the 22News team since April 2024. Follow Olivia on X @OliviaRayMedia and view her bio to see more of her work.

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