Agriculture Commission Hears Ways to Adapt to Climate Change for State's Farms

By Sarah Betancourt

A state commission tasked with investigating climate challenges and solutions for the agricultural sector got a glimpse at how different groups are responding to natural disasters, and how other states are shoring up funds for climate preparations.

Massachusetts is home to more than 7,000 farms that contribute $475 million to the state economy each year, according to the commission. But as the climate changes, those farms are encountering major challenges.

State Rep. Kate Hogan, co-chair of the state's 21st Century Agriculture Commission, noted that the May frost and July floods of 2023 caused significant crop loss. Legislators and the Healey administration allocated about $20 million to farms impacted by those events.

“But we can do more to help and do more to prepare and adapt to these conditions,” Hogan said.

Policy initiatives like tax relief to impacted farmers and flood funds, as well as pushing for cover crops and improved soil health, are all on the table. The commission will eventually submit a final report and recommendations to the Legislature by the end of the year.

“Farmers are on the front line of fighting climate change, already learning, planning, innovating to stay viable within a changing climate,” said state Sen. Jo Comerford, who co-chairs the commission. “Even as the Legislature and the administration do our best to respond, our farmers are grappling with changing growing seasons, new conditions for fighting molds or blights, more frequent and extreme weather events.”

Phil Korman, executive director at Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture in Deerfield, has worked with the Franklin County Community Development Corporation to administer a flood relief fund since Hurricane Irene in 2011. He said that the $20 million Massachusetts sent out to almost 350 farms last year was the “envy of other states,” but still only covered half of crop losses. He said more funding is needed he said, with a focus on resiliency.

“I've had farmers come in my office and basically say that their 45 years of farming has left them with no knowledge about what to do in the coming year,” he said. “They don't know what to plant, they don't know where to plant it. They don't know how much to plant because there's no predictability based on their experience about what the climate will be and what it will bring.

“We feel like farms are gonna need many kinds of support when you have these emergencies,” he added. “Maybe it’s loan forgiveness, maybe it’s heightened marketing to sell the remaining harvest, maybe it’s pulling in the community for connection and support.”