The Department’s mission is to cultivate a robust and equitable agricultural economy, promote a safe and resilient food system, and preserve a healthy environment for Massachusetts farmers, animals, and consumers.
The grant focuses on supporting a wide array of urban agriculture activities including outdoor and greenhouse cultivation, hydroponics, aquaponics, beekeeping, and egg-producing poultry among others. It looks to fund long-term capital investments like infrastructure improvements, building upgrades, software and systems purchases, land procurement, and farm equipment buying. Priorities include soil management, land acquisition for urban food production, purchase of equipment and green infrastructure to scale up urban farming, and initiatives to address climate change and water conservation. The program also supports innovative growing technologies, community urban farming projects for non-commercial purposes, marketing, distribution, and transportation improvements to facilitate the movement of locally grown products from farm to urban consumers. These projects aim to foster youth development, small business growth, and job training in commercial urban farming, primarily benefiting low-moderate income neighborhoods.