The ALPC is chaired by the Commissioner of Agriculture and is comprised of the state officials and farmers listed below. APR applications are accepted by MDAR APR staff anytime and are batched quarterly. Per Regulation 330 CMR 22.00, upon the completion of the APR staff evaluation and a recommendation, the Department shall:
(a) Place the Project on the agenda of the next available ALPC meeting for consideration, if it determines that the Project continues to meet all Program eligibility requirements; or
(b) Notify the Applicant in writing that the Project fails to meet Program eligibility requirements or funding availability.
The ALPC shall consider the Project at its next available meeting and may, after consideration:
(a) Cast a Vote of Interest;
(b) Cast a vote of no interest; or
(c) Take any other just and appropriate action consistent with the goals and purposes of the APR Program, together with an explanation of its reasons.
Per Regulations, in evaluating a Project, the ALPC shall consider the following as priority criteria to best fulfill the purposes of the APR Program, as established by St. 1977, c. 780:
(a) The degree to which the Project would serve to preserve and enhance the agricultural resource base of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts;
(b) The suitability of land as to soil classification and other criteria for agricultural use; and
(c) The Fair Market Value of such land and the Fair Market Value of such land when used for agricultural purposes as determined by the independent appraisal obtained by the Department pursuant to 330 CMR 22.06(2)(e).
In addition, the ALPC may consider additional criteria including, but not limited to, the following:
(a) Contribution of the Project in the development of a continuing program of acquiring multiple APRs within a defined geographical area or areas;
(b) Degree to which a Municipality where a Project is located is prepared to provide assistance to the Commonwealth for purchase of an APR by providing funds, legal, and enforcement services or other assistance satisfactory to the ALPC, pursuant to M.G.L. c. 20, § 23;
(c) Opportunities for individual and family farm ownership and for employment through farm related processing, storage, transportation, and marketing of farm products; and
(d) Degree of threat from any cause to the continuation of Agriculture on the Project
APR staff make their recommendation based on their professional assessment and the APR project scoresheet
The chief executive officer of the Municipality may provide the following information to the Department with a copy to Applicant Failure of a Municipality to supply such additional information shall not be construed as preventing the ALPC's consideration of such Project:
(a) Comments or recommendations from, but not limited to, the following agencies and officials as may be appropriate: Agricultural Commission, Conservation Commission, Planning Board, the chief executive officer, and chief administrative officer. The comments may include the compatibility of the Project with zoning by-laws, open space plans, natural resource inventories, and other relevant considerations; and
(b) A statement signed by the chief executive officer of the Municipality expressing the interest of the Municipality, or lack thereof, in providing funds or other assistance if the Project is approved by the Department.
Title to agricultural preservation restrictions shall be held in the name of the commonwealth; provided, however, that a city or town in which such land is located which provides assistance satisfactory to the committee including, but not limited to, providing funds or portions thereof toward the purchase of such restriction, providing legal services and the enforcement of the preservation restriction shall hold title to such land jointly with the commonwealth.
Following the ALPC action:
(a) The Department shall notify Applicant in writing within 30 days of the ALPC action; and
(b) If the Applicant is dissatisfied with the action of the ALPC, the Applicant may, within 30 days of receipt of notice, request in writing a meeting in order to present supplementary information to the ALPC. After due notice to all parties concerned, the ALPC shall hold a meeting within 120 days of its receipt of request and shall reconsider the Project in the light of such relevant and supplementary information as may be presented to it.
The amount paid for the APR shall be the amount presented to the Applicant in a letter offering to purchase an APR on the Project. Upon the Applicant accepting an offer to purchase an APR, the Project shall be placed on the agenda of the next available ALPC meeting for consideration of a Final Vote.
Upon a Final Vote of the ALPC, the Applicant shall be responsible for the following activities, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Department and the Applicant:
(a) Clearing all title defects and encumbrances identified by the Department, at the Applicant's expense, and approving a metes and bounds description of the APR Parcel and any excluded parcels based upon a survey. The Applicant shall confirm in writing that the boundary description of the APR Parcel, the survey, and any excluded parcels, have been examined and have been found to be free of error;
(b) Paying 50% of the cost of the survey The Department shall retain a surveyor to perform the survey according to EOEEA and Partner Agency, if applicable, specifications;
(c) Cooperate in the preparation, review, and signing of a baseline report documenting the present conditions of the APR Parcel, and other documents as may be required by the Department or Partner Agency to acquire the APR; and
(d) Participate in a conference with the Department to discuss, and for the Department to explain, the terms and conditions of the APR.
Upon completion of all these actions including preparation of all legal instruments and the securing of all necessary funding for the transaction, including all documents required for obtaining funding from Partner Agency, if applicable, the Department will schedule a closing on the Project at or prior to which all legal instruments and documents shall be executed and final arrangements for payment of funds, adjustments, and recording of documents shall be made by the Department.
The committee will submit an annual report indicating the number and geographic distribution of applications accepted and rejected, and the acreage and cost of the acquisitions.
- See Chapter 184, §31-32; Chapter 20, §20-26; Chapter 61A, §10
The committee was established as a result of Chapter 20, § 23, which establishes the APR for the acquisition of agricultural preservation restrictions for land actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural uses and pays the agricultural land owner to put a permanent deed restriction on the farmland. A town may participate in the funding of a restriction and is then considered a co-holder, along with the Commonwealth. Land under an agricultural preservation restriction shall be assessed at values no greater than those determined by the methods and provision of Chapter 61A, §10.
The Committee consists of the Commissioner of Agricultural Resources, who serves as the chair; the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs; the Director of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities; an appointee from the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; the Chair of the Board of Agriculture or their respective designees and 6 persons who are appointed by the governor, 4 of whom are owners and operators of farms within the commonwealth, a representative of a farm advocacy organization and a representative of a land trust organization.
Committee Members
Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources
- Chair & Member: Ashley Randle, Commissioner
Board of Food and Agriculture
- Member: Frederick “Skip” Vadnais
Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs
- Member: Rebecca L. Tepper, Secretary
- Designee: Kurt Gaertner
Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities
- Member: Edward M. Augustus Jr., Secretary
- Designee: Phillip DeMartino
UMass Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment
- Member: Clem Clay
Land Trust Representative/ Sheffield Land Trust
- Member: Kathy Orlando
Farm Advocacy Organization/ Massachusetts Farm Bureau
- Member: Karen Schwalbe
Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Member: Dan Wright
- Designee: Rita Thibodeau
Farmer Representatives:
- Member: John Kinchla
- Member: Brittany Overshiner
- Member: Frederick Dabney, Jr.
- Member: Warren Shaw, Jr.