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In February 2009, the USDA released data from its 2007 Census of Agriculture. The data for Massachusetts reveals the progress we've been making as well as the challenges that we face in the years ahead. Here is a quick synopsis of the Massachusetts report:
- Massachusetts has a total of 7,691 farms, which cover 517,879 acres and generated sales of $489.8 million in 2007 an increase of 27 percent.
- The number of farms in Massachusetts increased by 27 percent with 1,616 more farms since 2002, and farmland has finally stabilized with only 1/7 of 1 percent of farmland acres lost.
- 2,348 of Mass. farms were very small and had sales of less than $1,000 in 2007.
- The average market value (gross sales) of agriculture products sold per farm was $118,782.50 (after removing farms that considered themselves hobby or retirement farms).
- In Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties, there are a total of 1,960 farms stewarding 169,062 acres; in contrast to the rest of the state, total acreage in farmland in these three counties grew 4 percent between 2002 and 2007.
- Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden county farms sold $8,945,000 of agricultural products directly to consumers in 2007, double from the $4,467,000 in 2002.
- Massachusetts ranks #2 in the nation for average per farm sales of agricultural products directly to consumers.
Click here to view the complete Massachusetts profile [pdf]. A county by county breakdown of the data is can be found at the USDA's National Agricultral Statstics Service (NASS) website or by clicking the county names below.