In the US state of Massachusetts, protected farmland can now be utilised for growing cannabis.
Massachusetts’ Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) Program, established in the 1970’s, is a voluntary program that pays owners of farmland the difference between the “fair market value” and the “agricultural value” of their land in exchange for a permanent deed restriction protecting it for future agricultural use. This prevents it from being built on by development companies for non-agricultural purposes.
Landowners with at least five acres of land with suitable soils that have been in agricultural production for the last two years can apply for the program – and there are restrictions as to what can be grown on the land from the point of being accepted.