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Today Cape Cod has few active farms left and those that remain are small. When one of these farms is sold for development, you may think, “It’s only a few acres.” But of the nearly 47,000 acres of rich, productive farmland on Cape Cod at the turn of the 20th century, only about 4,800 acres remain in production. Farming is a vital part of our cultural heritage, but if we fail to act now, Cape Cod’s farming tradition will be lost forever.
APCC has recently undertaken a Cape-wide agricultural study to better understand the challenges facing our farms, to identify strategies to preserve the Cape’s remaining farmland and to encourage more agricultural uses throughout the region. Right now, APCC is promoting innovative ideas to protect the Cape’s farmland, including efforts to:
- Adopt low-density agricultural resource protection zoning in areas where agriculture is a desired land use.
- Increase the frequency of effective cluster or open space residential design development to preserve more land for open space and farming.
- Utilize Land Bank/Community Preservation Act funds and encourage private land trusts to acquire farmland or place agricultural restrictions on farm properties.
We need your help to keep the Cape’s farms alive and thriving for our community and economy. Please assist our efforts to preserve the tradition of farming on Cape Cod through a gift to APCC. Your contribution will enable us to continue our work to protect the Cape’s agricultural resources, which are an integral part of the landscape and character of our region.