How Farms Make Money

Abstract

One of the challenges confronting Massachusetts is how to feed its population with local resources. It takes a lot of food to feed these people and a lot of this food is coming from out of state. This means that the state's food supply requires fossil fuels for transport and this contributes to the state's carbon footprint and climate change. Numerous studies have recommended that food should be eaten and produced in the same area to increase sustainability and resilience and reduce its environmental impacts. So, the question is how to promote local agriculture? To do this we need to turn to Massachusetts farmers and see what they are actually doing to survive in a global agricultural marketplace. Lots of farmers are struggling to compete with grocery store chains despite their superior product. If these farms fail then the state is left with less local food and communities suffer for it. Here lies the question: what are Massachusetts farmers doing to make money and how can they improve on their existing business practices? In this study we examine the business practices of farmers through statistics, personal stories and interviews to see what is working and what is not in an effort to promote the sustainability and resilience of Massachusetts farmers