Announced in 2025, the Massachusetts Farmland Partnership Program (MFPP) is a new grant program to help implement the Massachusetts Farmland Action Plan (MFAP) at the local, regional and statewide level.
The goal of the program is to build networks of Partners who work together collaboratively and in coordination to protect farmland, enhance farm viability, and ensure access to farmland.
This will be achieved by providing funding to eligible partners to work with farmers, farmland owners, agricultural service providers, municipalities and others to protect farmland, enhance farm viability, and ensure access to farmland, as well as coordinate and collaborate between partners as a cohort.
Farmland Partnership Projects
In December 2025 MDAR announced the awarding of $1.9 million in Massachusetts Farmland Partnership Program Grants to seven groups of organizations across the Commonwealth. The grants, which are funded by MDAR, seek to implement 29 projects that align with tasks of the Massachusetts Farmland Action Plan (MFAP). The 12/18 Press Release shares more about the grant awards.
There are three types of projects, aligning with the three goals of the MFAP:
Program Overview and Project Factsheets
On 1/15/2026 MDAR hosted a webinar that included an overview of the Farmland Partnership Program and the projects which can be viewed via the video recording and the powerpoint presentation.
MDAR has created a brief summary of the recent grant awards which include a Project Factsheet for each of the 29 projects. The factsheets will grow as the projects are implemented and resources related to those projects are published. Announcements will also be made in the MFAP newsletter for notable updates.
The Program Overview and Project Factsheets were last updated on 3/25/2026.
An interactive map is available that shows which areas each project serves and includes a search function to find projects by keywords - interactive map (last updated 3/24/2026). A video guide to the interactive map will be available soon.
A searchable table of all awarded projects with key information is also available – searchable spreadsheet and PDF (last updated 12/15/2025).
More details about each of the projects is available on the project webpages, where projects are divided by what goal they are implementing - farmland protection, farmland access and farm viability. These webpages will be updated with additional resources and links as they become available.
Meetings and Events
On 1/15/2026 MDAR hosted a webinar that included an overview of Farmland Partnership Program and the newly funded projects which can be accessed via the video recording and the powerpoint presentation. This webinar was oriented towards all partners, potential partners and people who are interested in the implementation of the MFAP.
In the coming months other events and meetings related to Farmland Partnership Program projects will be posted here. Sign up for the Farmland Action Plan newsletter for notifications.
Cohort meetings
Partners funded through the Farmland Partnership Program gather together four times a year. This supports the goal of the Program to build networks of partners who work together collaboratively and in coordination to protect farmland, enhance farm viability, and ensure access to farmland.
The first meeting was held in February 2026. Each group presented on their projects funded for 2026-2027. View the powerpoint presentation.
Sign up for updates
The Farmland Partnership Program is one element of implementation of the Farmland Action Plan. Click here to sign up for the Farmland Action Plan newsletter for updates related to projects from the Farmland Partnership Program, as well as other related work. Previous MFAP newsletters are posted on the MFAP webpage.
Applying for Farmland Partnership Grants
The following is information about Round 1 of Farmland Partnership Grants. The deadline for applications was May 19, 2025. Information about the awards is found above.
The following information was shared during the FY2026 RFR Round and is published for information only.
The Request for Response (RFR) provides a comprehensive summary of grant evaluation criteria, review timelines, award recipient expectations, eligible uses of grant funds, and examples of projects.
- View the RFR in COMMBUYS which includes 4 file attachments.
All proposed activities must be clearly tied to a specific task(s) in the Farmland Action Plan Implementation Matrix. The proposed activity cannot just be inspired by a strategy or action – it must be aligned with a specific task, which includes following the intent of the specific action and strategy under which the task is listed.
The following documents are important to review alongside the RFR:
There were two webinars which covered different content.
- Webinar 1 – Presentation slides, video, Q&A responses (see below)
- Webinar 2 – Presentation slides, video, Q&A responses (see below)
There were two rounds of questions for potential applicants:
- Round 1 Questions and Answers Document - Published 3/27/2025
- Round 2.1 Questions and Answers Document - Published 3/28/2025
- Round 2.2 Questions and Answers Document - Published 4/25/2025