Mapping & Monitoring
The Decline of Agriculture and Livestock after 1800
Southeastern Massachusetts underwent a transition from subsistence agricultural communities in the colonial era, to a manufacturing dominated economy in the mid 1800s. This is reflected in statistics on the number of farm animals upon the land. Figure 1 illustrates this broad trend with relatively low numbers of grazers in 1800 to a peak around 1850, followed by a dramatic decline to 1870 (the height of the new industrialization and the period of the opening of the west). There was moderate recovery in Bristol county around 1950, largely due to the dairy industry, and then continued declines in all counties to the current time. Only Bristol County has any significant numbers of grazing animals (86% cattle) remaining. By 1900, the percentage of sheep had dropped to only 5% of the total herd whereas in 1845, sheep made up 35 to 40% of the herd.
Figure 1
The decline in the numbers of grazing animals indicates the fall in the profitability of farming in the region. Also, if we assume an acre or half acre of grazing land per animal the amount of land required drops (for Bristol county for example) from a high of 13,000 to 25,000 acres in 1845 to 4,500 to 9,000 acres in 1990.
Cranberries and SE Massachusetts
The agricultural crop that defines Massachusetts best is cranberries (Figure 2). Among the remaining agriculture in Plymouth and Bristol counties, cranberries remain the most important crop. Norfolk County, to the north, represents less than 1% of the bogs in the state while Plymouth County contains 75 to 80% and Bristol County about 4% of the states bogs. Cape Cod (Barnstable County) contains the rest of the cranberry acreage – typically around 15%. Trends in the Massachusetts cranberry industry are largely represented by these three counties.
Figure 2
The amount of land in cranberry production increased steadily from 1970 to 1999 and then fell due to much lower prices for berries. Today, prices and area harvested have rebounded somewhat but poor yields have kept profits low.
In general, cranberry growers own several acres of uplands for every acre of bog. Cranberry growers own about 60,000 acres of land in Massachusetts, almost all of which is in SE Massachusetts. In fact, the A.D. Makepeace Company of Wareham is one of the largest landowners in the state with 12,000 acres of property in Carver, Easton, Marion, Mattapoisett, Middleborough, Norton, Plymouth, Rochester and 1750 acres of bogs. They have a major influence on the local environment. In Plymouth County alone, cranberry growers own 22% of the surface water (UMASS Cranberry Station).
