Massachusetts Farm Bureau - Working Lands: A Conservation Approach Used by Land Trusts

January 30, 2026

The Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) is a statewide organization that represents farmers and agricultural landowners across the Commonwealth, but it is also a land steward. MFBF holds Conservation Restrictions and Agricultural Preservation Restrictions on farmland in Massachusetts and works within the same land-protection frameworks relied upon by municipalities and land trusts.

The Bean Farm is a member of our organization, as are farms of many sizes and types throughout the state. We are not a party to the ongoing litigation concerning land at 665 Clapboardtree Street. Our purpose here is to provide broader context on how land trusts and conservation organizations across Massachusetts use agriculture as a stewardship tool, rather than to address the legal merits of any local dispute.

Across the Commonwealth, many land trusts explicitly incorporate agriculture into their conservation strategies. This approach is often described as “working lands” conservation: land is permanently protected from development while carefully managed agricultural use helps maintain open space, habitat, soil health, and landscape character. This model is well established and widely used.

In southeastern Massachusetts, the Buzzards Bay Coalition has protected farmland under intense development pressure and routinely leases conserved land to farmers so it remains actively farmed while permanently protected. The Coalition has been clear that agriculture can support conservation objectives, including water quality protection, climate resilience, and the preservation of open landscapes.

In Plymouth County, Wildlands Trust has similarly protected farmland and works with farmers to keep appropriate parcels in agricultural use. Haying, grazing, and crop production are used as stewardship tools to maintain open fields, prevent subdivision, and sustain historic agricultural landscapes.

Major conservation organizations also use agriculture directly as part of habitat management. In Dartmouth, Mass Audubon manages certain grassland parcels through partnerships that include managed grazing and haying by neighboring farms. These practices are used intentionally to maintain grassland conditions and support species that depend on open, actively managed landscapes.

Municipal land trusts and towns follow similar models. In Falmouth, farmland owned by the Town and stewarded with the involvement of The 300 Committee remains actively farmed on permanently protected open space. There, agriculture is not viewed as inconsistent with conservation, but as one of the reasons the land has remained open, visible, and protected.

These examples reflect a shared understanding within the land-trust community: conservation is often an active process. Meadows and open fields do not persist on their own. Without mowing, grazing, or farming, they transition to shrubs and forest, changing habitat composition and landscape character. Many land trusts therefore choose management approaches that include agriculture because they align with long-term conservation goals.

Across Massachusetts, the long-term loss of farmland has also prompted many land trusts to rethink how conserved land is stewarded. Increasingly, organizations are protecting land permanently while also working to keep it in agricultural use, recognizing that viable farming can be an important part of long-term conservation.

Concerns about wetlands, water quality, and habitat are legitimate and are routinely addressed through stewardship plans, buffers, setbacks, and management standards. In working-lands conservation, the question is not whether land is used, but how it is used and monitored over time.

From a statewide perspective, the discussion in Westwood reflects a broader question facing many communities: whether conservation is understood as passive preservation or as active stewardship. Across Massachusetts, land trusts have repeatedly demonstrated that agriculture, when properly managed, can be an effective conservation tool.

As communities consider how best to steward conserved land, it may be helpful to look to the practices already in use by land trusts throughout the Commonwealth. These models show that permanently protecting land and working with agriculture are not competing goals, but complementary ones.

Sincerely,

Karen Schwalbe
Executive Director
Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation