For Consumers

You Already Buy Local.

Now, Take the Next Step:

Protect Local Farms Today.

Here's how you can help:

Support your town's effort to permanently preserve farmland with the purcahse of an agricultural preservation restriction (APR) by making a financial donation to the project
Support your town's Community Preservation Act (CPA) Fund, which provides a critical source of funding for the APR program
Become a member of your local land trust or other organizations striving to sustain regional agriculture
Make a donation to the Forever Farmland Initiative
Keep buying local farm products!
Locally Grown Farm Products Guide

The Pioneer Valley region has some of the best farm soil in the United States. Once they are lost, they’re gone forever.
Protecting farmland ensures the land will be kept in active agricultural production to provide food security within the community.
Local food is generally more nutritious, safer, and better tasting than food that is shipped in from other parts of the country or the world.
Protecting farmland compensates farmers for the development value of their land in cash, so they can invest in their farm or divide assets during generational transitions, rather than sell their land for house lots.

The Pioneer Valley has a long, rich agricultural history. Protecting farms preserves the scenic beauty and rural character of the region.

Protecting local farms enhances the local ECONOMY by keeping agricultural businesses alive, and by keeping money cycling within our region.
Protecting farmland with an Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) keeps it affordable for new farmers who want to buy their own land.