Three Franklin County farms have been awarded $101,875 in land stewardship grants from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) to aid in maintenance efforts that will ensure the land remains farmable for future generations.

Bloody Brook Farm in South Deerfield, Porter Family Farm in Ashfield and Meadowsweet Farm in Hawley have been selected for MDAR’s 2025 Stewardship Assistance and Restoration on APRs (SARA) Program, which awarded a total of $573,817 to 19 farms across the state to support projects that restore land for commercial agriculture.

“Our commonwealth must continue to invest in farms and farmers who contribute to the state’s economy, food security, and who keep our valuable farmland in use as farmland,” state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, said in a statement. “I am grateful that the Healey-Driscoll administration is investing in the expansion and success of the commonwealth’s agricultural sector and I will continue working with my colleagues in the Legislature to prioritize this work.”

Meadowsweet Farm in Hawley has been awarded $35,000 for the cleanup of the remaining foundation and debris from an old potato warehouse. Co-owner Kyra Tafel said the area will be converted back into an open field to give the farm’s cows more pasture to graze.

“We’re working right now to excavate the foundation of an old potato warehouse on the property. It’s where they stored, washed and shipped potatoes, and all those old buildings are gone now,” Tafel said. “All that’s left is the foundation.”

The land is no longer used to grow large quantities of potatoes. Meadowsweet Farm is a dairy farm that also sells certified organic, 100% grass-fed beef, pork, lamb and chicken, as well as wool products, Tafel said. The SARA grant is allowing the farm to restore unused space.

“We’re a grazing farm; grass is our business. If we can get more grass for our animals, all the better,” Tafel said. “It’s not something we could do on our own.”

Porter Family Farm in Ashfield has been awarded $31,875 for drainage installation and field edge clearing.

“We applied for the SARA grant to repair some existing drainage on our land. We would like to be able to dry more of our land to help the fertility and the growth of the grasses. This is land we use both for pasture and for haying. We also will use the grant to reclaim the land by cutting trees back on the edge of the pasture and removing stumps,” said co-owner Anne Porter. “As a result of these improvements, we will be able to continue to produce high-quality forage for our cattle, but more efficiently.”

Bloody Brook Farm in South Deerfield has been awarded $35,000 to install drainage tiles at the farm. Owner James Heller said the grant helped the farm purchase and install plastic pipes along the fields to help keep soil dry and healthy.

“One of the things I heard before buying it is that land gets wet and stays wet. The way it was tilled in the past led to the land developing a kind of bowl shape that fills with water,” Heller said. “When my wife and I bought it a few years ago, we realized the ground is staying too wet and we’ve gotta fix it.”

Heller said he is an active-duty member of the U.S. Coast Guard and leases the land to a farmer in Hadley who uses it to grow corn and butternut squash for Trader Joe’s, but he hopes to one day retire from the Coast Guard and work solely on the farm. Eventually, he’d like to pass it down to his children.

“We’re happy to take care of this land and we could not do it without the state’s help,” Heller said. “Farmland is precious and we have to preserve it for future generations.”

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.