Plymouth Agricultural Committee

The Plymouth Agricultural Committee:

• Represents the farming community
• Encourages the pursuit of agriculture in Plymouth
• Provides a voice and visibility for farmers and farm businesses
• Map farms and farmland
• Identifies farmers' and the community's needs, issues and concerns
• Serves as an informational clearinghouse and forum for farm-town issues
• Facilitates the technical, educational, business and regulatory assistance needed to farm and live near farms
• Develops trust and a working relationship amoung farmer, residents, town boards, and institutions
• Advocates at local, state and federal levels for support of community-identified agricultural needs
• Facilitates access to conflict resolution services for farmers and the community
• Hosts community agricultural events
• Recomends actions on land use programs that would help agriculture thrive, including chapter 61, tax valuation, APR and other preservation programs and right to farm bylaws
• Fosters profitable agricultural enterprises
• Networks farmers to available resources and farmland
• Matches farmers to available land
• Preserves open space as working farm lands

Local Right to Farm Bylaws:

• Restate farm protections that exist in state laws
• Demonstrate the town's support for agriculture
• Add notification provisions to remind residents that the town is a right to farm community
• Inform farmers of their rights
• Inform residents of farmer's rights accorded by the state (no new rights)
• Inform people moving into town of what to expect from a town that supports agriculture
• Inform any one coming into town (such as developers) who may not read state statutes, about what to expect
• Allow Plymouth's Agricultural Commission to help resolve and head off conflict between farmers and neighbors
• Help reduce nuisance complaints
• Protect farmers who follow good management practices (as recommended by USDA-NRCS, MA Farm Bureau, etc.)
• Not allow poor management practices

• Add points to Plymouth's Commonwealth Capital Score and help the town seek state funding