The Plainfield Agricultural Commission was created to support and further agriculture in our town which is totally zoned as agricultural. To that end, we passed a Right-to-Farm Bylaw to support “responsible” farming in the community in 2005. A few years later, the town passed a by-law encouraging pollinator friendly practices throughout the town, including private yards as well as farms and roadways. These by-laws are not legally binding but they do serve to remind people of the town’s intentions to care for the larger ecology which supports healthy farms. For several years we have written articles about environmental issues for the local newspaper, spearheaded the town applications to opt-out of the state’s mosquito spraying, and worked with the Plainfield Tree Alliance to plant native street trees and to encourage their residential use.
A specific duty of the Ag. Comm. is to moderate disputes involving agriculture. We have worked on neighborhood wide issues involving public meetings; others have been resolved through face-to-face discussions.
Plainfield’s whole history has involved agriculture to which our many stonewalls attest. Along with its forests which provided wood for a thriving potash business and numerous streams providing power for a number of mills, Plainfield’s landscape has supported the town with food if necessary. Today the town is less self-sufficient. But we are fortunate to have large agricultural fields still open, many under protection, many containing good to prime soils. As environmental conditions caused by climate change could result in disruptions in our modern sources of food, both regional and national, the Ag. Comm. is concentrating on our town’s future food resilience. We have embarked on a series of workshops, beginning with saving seeds and starting seedlings to grow one’s own food, followed by demonstrations of various ways of growing mushrooms using local species of tree logs as well as other growing mediums. We have a representative on the committee to develop a Master Plan for the town’s next 10 years, focusing on saving and using our farmland and creating conditions in town to attract new farmers. This involves reviewing zoning laws and creating affordable housing while maintaining the picturesque agricultural nature of the town.
The Ag. Comm. meets on the first Thursday of every month from September through May and sometimes June. We take a 2-3 month hiatus in the summer so our members can pursue their own agricultural projects.
Meetings
1st Thursday of the month at 7:00 pm
Location: Town Hall