BOSTON — The Senate unanimously passed a sweeping bill Wednesday aimed at stabilizing agriculture, expanding food access and modernizing how Massachusetts defines farming.
The legislation reflects years of study and arrives as lawmakers warn that farms face mounting economic and policy pressures, while a separate constitutional amendment effort remains a work in progress.
Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, said the bill draws heavily from multiple industry reports compiled in recent years.
“This omnibus bill has gotten bigger and bigger over these years,” Comerford said. “That’s one of the most meaningful things about this bill, right? Is that we’re scooping up so many of the key recommendations … that are going to help farms stay farming.”
In one of its key provisions, the bill exempts agritourism from local zoning, which builds on tax policy designed to keep farms financially viable through the Chapter 61A program. Chapter 61A allows farmland to be taxed based on agricultural value rather than market value.
Those tax benefits can dramatically reduce costs for farmers. Data from fiscal year 2017 shows 24 acres of land in Southwick could see a tax bill drop from $1,640 to roughly $37 when classified as farmland under Chapter 61A, according to Springfield- and Northampton-based legal and tax advisors Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin.
Lawmakers expanded that framework in a 2024 law by allowing farms to process and sell goods made from their own products — such as turning strawberries into jam or milk into ice cream — while retaining farmland tax status.
The new bill (S.3029) builds on those advances, going a step further into exempting agritourism from local zoning oversight, as it has become a growing sector that many farms rely on to stay afloat.
“You can grow apples, you can make apple wine, you can sell apple wine and you can have an apple wine tasting,” Comerford said. “You can grow corn, you can make corn pudding or corn fritters … and you can have a corn maze. It extends what farmers are able to call farming.”
The shift reflects a broader reality: many farms operate on slim or negative margins and depend on diversified revenue streams.
At the same time, Comerford is pushing a longer-term change that would go further than the statute — amending the state Constitution to redefine farmland itself.
Current constitutional language requires at least 5 contiguous acres to qualify for agricultural tax benefits, a threshold she said no longer reflects modern land use.
“So right now, the Constitution says that ag land is 5 acres or more. Now that’s bananas, right? In 2025,” Comerford said.
In a state with shrinking open land, she argued, 5 acres can be out of reach, especially for urban and smaller-scale farms.
“I mean, think about it, right? Back then,” she said, about the timing of when the state Constitution was ratified in 1780, “5 acres seemed like nothing … but now it seems like everything.”
Comerford was clear that the proposed amendment will not advance this session.
“We’re going to be back at it next session to change the Constitution,” she said.