Massachusetts farmers who own or operate farmland placed under an Agricultural Preservation Restriction (“APR”) held by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources who wish to participate in the Stewardship Assistance and Restoration on APRs Program (“SARA”) to improve the overall utilization of APR land resources for commercial agriculture.
Funds must be used for activities related to restoring inactive farmland for active commercial agricultural use or project implementation costs associated with resource restoration for increased agricultural production on existing farmland.
SARA will help fund approved stewardship activities on an APR that will enhance the continued use of the agricultural resource, such as: clearing field edges of brush; invasive vegetation removal; stabilizing soil loss; and reactivating pasture or cropland use that has been negatively impacted by erosion, flooding, natural disasters, or inactivity. These lands must have been in agricultural use at the time of APR closing and inactivity must not have been caused by the current owner.