Scott J. Soares

Commissioner, Department of Agricultural Resources

View Scott's Complete Bio

This holiday season coincides with the Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association’s (MNLA) 100 year anniversary. Over the years, MNLA has partnered with DAR in efforts to combat Asian Longhorned beetles and other invasive plants and diseases, and to maintain environmentally sustainable industry standards.

To the latter, a number of Massachusetts nurseries have been funded by DAR’s Agriculture Environmental Enhancement Program (AEEP) grant program, which supports the mitigation and/or prevention of negative impacts to natural resources that may result from agricultural practices. Farmers selected to participate are reimbursed for the approved costs of materials up to $30,000 used to “go greener” through implementation of best management practices.

Two examples are Volante Farm in Needham and Lakeview Nurseries in Lunenburg. In operation since 1917, Volante Farm recently installed energy efficient furnaces to help make its nursery and agricultural operation more cost effective and energy efficient. The new furnaces have improved efficiency by more than 10 percent!

Lakeview Nurseries is a garden center, nursery, and landscaping company. Lakeview has installed solar panels to reduce the electricity it buys from the grid, and also lessens its impact on the surrounding environment by composting on site and producing perennials in biodegradable pots. Another environmental conservation initiative includes working with its largest nursery stock vendor to return and recycle all of its nursery pots.

To find out more about these and other case histories, click here.

For more information on and locations of Massachusetts nurseries – including many offering holiday gifts and decorations, visit MassGrown & Fresher.