Commissioner of agriculture to speak in Lee
LEE – The Berkshire County Farm Bureau (BCFB) is pleased to announce Massachusetts Commissioner of Agriculture Greg Watson will be the keynote speaker at its annual meeting tonight (Sept. 27) at the Greenock Country Club at 220 West Park St.
The evening begins with the social at 6:30 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m., with the speaking program and annual meeting to follow.
Commissioner Watson, of Falmouth, was sworn in as the department’s 19th commissioner by Governor Deval Patrick on April 2. He also served as commissioner from 1990-1993 under then governors Michael S. Dukakis and William F. Weld.
His major accomplishments as commissioner during his first tenure included the promulgation of innovative groundwater protection regulations designed to prevent contamination of aquifer recharge areas; outreach program to farmers to adopt integrated pest management techniques; working to make Massachusetts the first state to establish a dairy pricing system; and clarification of acceptable agriculture practices under the Wetlands Protection Act.
Commissioner Watson has a long connection to and appreciation of agriculture, starting in his childhood, when his grandmother tended a vegetable garden and fruit trees and visiting his uncle’s working farm in Tennessee.
His first hands-on experience with agriculture started in 1978 as he worked with urban community groups and rural farmers to develop a network of six neighborhood-based farmers’ markets in greater Boston. He was also a founding member of the Massachusetts Federation of Farmers’ Markets.
Commissioner Watson has served in a variety of capacities related to both sustainable agricultural practices and energy efficiency. Before his appointment as commissioner in 1990, he was the executive director of the New Alchemy Institute, an applied research farm with close links to the cranberry, vegetable and green industry.
Prior to that, Commissioner Watson was appointed assistant secretary for science and technology with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Affairs and served concurrently as deputy director of the Massachusetts Centers of Excellence Corporation.
Most recently, Commissioner Watson was engaged as the senior advisor for clean energy technology within the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. He also serves on the boards of the U.S. Offshore Wind Collaborative, the Buckminster Fuller Institute and Ocean Arks International.
BCFB is an independent, non-profit group that advocates on behalf of farmers. They are a true “grassroots” organization, whose policies are directed by its members. The organization works to enhance the business of agriculture and protect the rights of private land ownership.
Each year at the annual meeting, individual voting members bring issues of concern for discussion and vote on policy. These policies are passed on to the state and national levels of the farm bureau.
The cost of farmland in Massachusetts is the fourth highest in the nation, so they work to protect the remaining farms in the state and not lose them to development.
The USDA reported on an interesting trend in its last census: while the number of acres being farmed in Massachusetts had fallen between 2002 and 2007, the number of farms has actually risen by 27 percent. This may be due, in part, to legislation like the “Small Plot Farming” bill farm bureau worked to get passed.
For more information about the BCFB, contact Jeannette Rotondo at (413) 243-0989 or rjrotondo@aol.com.
Posted by George C. Jordan III
on September 27, 2012. Filed under Community News,News.
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