Acres – Counties

Massachusetts Agricultural Census 2017

Farmland Lost in All But One County

All Massachusetts counties but one saw losses in farmland from 2012 to 2017. Barnstable County saw a 40 percent increase in farmland. The greatest loss of farmland occurred in Essex County where 39.3 percent, or more than 5,000 acres of farmland were lost, in contrast to the gain of 1,888 acres in Barnstable County.

The leading counties in terms of land in farms are Worcester, which also has the greatest number of farms, Franklin, Plymouth and Berkshire Counties. Worcester farms account for more than 19.4 percent of the Commonwealth’s total land in farms. Franklin County and Plymouth County ranked second and third respectively in the amount of land in farms. These two counties, which also ranked second and third respectively in terms of farm numbers, accounted for 18 and 12.2 percent of the Commonwealth’s land in farms. Berkshire County, ranked eighth in terms of farm numbers, accounted for 11.9 percent of the Commonwealth’s land in farms.  Hampshire County completes the list of top five Massachusetts counties in terms of land in farms, with 10.3 percent of the Commonwealth's farmland.

On average, Berkshire County farms are the largest in the state, with 123 acres per farm, Franklin County farms are the second largest in the state, with an average of 106 acres per farm, followed by Plymouth County, with an average of 80 acres per farm.