The Chester Agricultural Commission

1
The Chester Agricultural Commission
For Agriculture and the Community
2
What is an Agricultural commission?

• Municipal committee
• Volunteers who care about agriculture in their
  town
• Forum for balancing rural character and growth

Photo by NHDTTD/Cecilia Howard
3
What is the Role of an Agricultural Commission?

• Advises town boards
• Focuses public attention on multiple values of
  agriculture
• Non-regulatory
• Does what the town needs to support
  agriculture

4
Typical activities of an Agricultural Commission

• Conduct inventories
• Cost of community services studies
• Public education
• Farmland protection
• Encouraging farm enterprises
• Starting farmers markets
• Hosting farm festivals and tours

5
The Chester Agricultural Committee

• Before an Agricultural Commission could be
  established, a committee was formed to present a
  warrant article to the voters of Chester.

Photo by NHDTTD/George Kelly
6
What has the Agricultural Committee done so far?

• Reached out to all the farmers in Chester
• Inventory of all the farms in Chester
• Held an exploratory and informational meeting
• Formed an Agricultural Steering Committee with
  officers
• Met townspeople at Chester Town Fair
• Created a mission statement

Photo by NHDTTD/Jeff Newcomer
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Mission Statement

• The Mission of the Chester Agricultural Committee
  is
• To represent Chester farms and to advise the
  Chester Town regulatory bodies on agricultural
  matters.
• To facilitate communication among farmers, to
  educate the community in agriculture, and to
  promote the business of farming and farm
  activities in Chester.
• To promote and to help preserve the farms,
  agricultural lands, and rural character of
  Chester.

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Warrant Article 

• To see if the Town will vote to establish an
  Agricultural Commission (by definition
  non-regulatory) pursuant to RSA 67444-e.
• The Mission is as follows
• To represent Chester farms and to advise the
  Chester Town regulatory bodies on agricultural
  matters.
• To facilitate communication among farmers, to
  educate the community in agriculture, and to
  promote the business of farming and farm
  activities in Chester.
• To promote and to help preserve the farms,
  agricultural lands, and rural character of
  Chester.

9
Thank you

• This information was modified from a presentation
  published in February 2007 by the UNH Cooperative
  Extension in cooperation with the NH Coalition
  for Sustaining Agriculture, with funding from the
  Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and
  Education Program of the US Department of
  Agriculture.
• For additional information, please visit the UNH
  Cooperative
• Extension website http//extension.unh.edu/Agric
  /AgComm/NHAGCom.htm