Agricultural Commission

Want to get involved?

The Select Board is seeking volunteers to serve on the Agricultural Commission. The charge of the commission is to carry out the goal of the Agricultural Preservation Bylaw to encourage the pursuit of agriculture, promote agriculture-based economic opportunities, and protect farmlands within the Town of Bolton by allowing agricultural uses and related activities to function with minimal conflict with abutters and town agencies.

Interested parties should submit a Volunteer Form.

 Right of Farm Community

In 2006, Bolton citizens identified preserving the town’s rural character as one of three top priorities.

Retaining rural space comes by design and commitment, not by chance.

In support of this, Bolton citizens voted at the 2007 town meeting to enact an Agricultural Preservation Bylaw that would encourage the pursuit of agriculture, protect farmlands, promote economic opportunities for farmers and establish the Bolton Agricultural Commission.

Bolton is a “Right to Farm” community. This is not a unique designation: the right to farm is already given to all citizens of Massachusetts through the state constitution. The Bylaw and Commission strengthen it through support, education, and advocacy.

Local farmers grow, raise and sell apples, tomatoes, peaches, daylilies, annual and perennial plants, corn and other vegetables. They raise horses, pigs, sheep, goats, and rare livestock, and sell these as well as apple products, wool, wood chips, Christmas trees and more.