Massachusetts Has Nearly 5 Farmers Over 65 for Every One Under 35. A Stow Farm Shows What Comes Next

For 45 years, the Mong family has run Applefield Farm in Stow, about 30 miles west of Boston, growing corn, kale, scallions and pumpkins on 25 acres. Now the founders are past retirement age, none of their four children wants to take over, and they are working on a sale to a 29-year-old first-generation farmer, WBUR reported on Monday, Nov. 9.

The Mongs are part of a statewide trend. Massachusetts farmers age 65 and older outnumbered those under 35 by 5,337 to 1,113 in the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture, nearly five to one. “We’re getting too old for this,” Steven Mong, 71, told WBUR. “[This farm] needs … some youngsters.”

Analysis: what the census shows

The Boston Report compared the 2017 and 2022 census tables for Massachusetts producers. The state counted 13,284 producers in 2022, up from 12,778 in 2017, and their average age rose from 57.6 to 58.7.

By our calculation, producers 65 and older grew from 4,315 to 5,337, an increase of about 24%, and those 75 and older grew by about 33%, from 1,307 to 1,732. The under-35 group barely moved, from 1,082 to 1,113, up about 3%. The middle-aged pipeline shrank: producers ages 45 to 54 fell from 2,222 to 1,756, a drop of about 21%. In 2022, about 40% of the state’s producers were 65 or older; about 8% were under 35.

A farm in search of a successor

Steven and Kirsten Mong started Applefield in the 1980s with a small wooden shack, and Steven’s brother Ray joined in 1986, WBUR reported. The farm sells through a farm stand and to wholesalers, restaurants and college kitchens. A state profile of the farm says the Mongs, who had no farming background, were able to buy land they could afford through the state’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction program, which pays owners for development rights in exchange for a permanent farming deed restriction. “We could have easily been out of business, but the APR gave us the permanence to continue the farm,” Steve Mong said in that profile.

The Mongs listed the farm last year. Ray Mong said many potential buyers wanted the “idealistic” side of farming. “A lot of people think that owning a farm, running a farm, would be fun, romantic, great,” he told WBUR. “Until you really get into the nitty gritty, the nuts and bolts. It’s dirty, it’s hard.”

The likely buyer is Tim Offei-Addo, a Ghanaian American who owns 25-acre Abrantie Farm in Boxborough, four miles away, and grows crops such as lemongrass, hibiscus, African eggplant and ginger alongside peppers and tomatoes. “Nobody grows for people of color, nobody grows for people like me, and there’s a whole market that’s out there for this opportunity,” he said. Applefield was recently listed at $650,000, and he plans to apply for loans and fundraise. Both sides hope to close by early 2027, and the Mongs plan to spend a few more years teaching him the business.

The costs facing young farmers

Land is the first barrier. The estimated market value of land and buildings averaged $906,940 per Massachusetts farm in 2022, up from $739,711 in 2017, or about $13,831 an acre, according to the USDA census. By our calculation, that is a 23% rise in five years. Fuel is another: diesel averaged $6.28 a gallon in Massachusetts as of Friday, more than $2 higher than a year earlier, according to AAA Northeast, which WBUR tied to the U.S.-Iran war.

When farms find no successor, land can be lost to development. New England lost about 19 acres of farmland a day between 2001 and 2016, according to an American Farmland Trust report cited by WBUR. The state offers Farm Pass, a free one-year program to help farmers transfer to the next generation, and the nonprofit Land for Good runs a farm succession school. Housing pressure on open land was also on the ballot this month, when voters rejected Question 7 on starter homes. More local stories are in our Boston news section.

Sources

• WBUR: Mass. farmers are aging. One family farm looks to the next generation
• USDA NASS: 2022 Census of Agriculture, Massachusetts State Data (PDF hosted by WBUR)
• Mass.gov: Applefield Farm, Agricultural Preservation Restriction success story