Protect the Future of Sustainable Agriculture, Community

The following letter was published in the January 5, 2023 edition of the Ware River News

By Robin Prouty

The western hills of Worcester County feature awesome views and abundant natural beauty.

At the center of the region is Hardwick, a small agricultural community perched on the banks of the Quabbin Reservoir. For over two centuries, our town has retained its New England character. Historic homes – such as the one named for Timothy Ruggles – ring the Common.

Farming thrives here. Top-quality hay, a vast array of vegetables and flowers, and pasture-raised livestock are among the many products from Hardwick that are sold across the Commonwealth.

Today all of that is in peril. A fierce battle is underway over whether to allow the town to be

taken over by the Thoroughbred horse-racing industry, with all of its dubious associations.

Under the guise of an equine breeding concern, to be run in tandem with a commercial racetrack,investors from Boston and beyond are seeking to cash in and make tens of millions of dollars a year from sports betting, simulcasting, and related activities.

The upshot of endless maneuvering – much of it through hardnosed political tactics driven by powerful gambling lobbyists and abetted by apparent local conflicts of interest – is this:

Hardwick’s 2,600 residents will vote Jan. 7 on whether to allow the town to be dominated from now on by an industry that will bring with it traffic congestion, environmental damage, and countless other ills.

The “benefits,” already rejected by prudent residents of Sturbridge and other Massachusetts

towns and cities, would amount to a handful of decent jobs along with a number of temporary ones surrounding “race days” that would choke the roads for miles around.

Despite the picture painted by the project’s multimillionaire investors, horse racing itself is in

decline. It has a well-earned reputation for animal cruelty, doping, and neglect.

Yet the agencies and officials charged with overseeing it – among them members of the

Massachusetts Gaming Commission – have so far greeted the Hardwick plan with stunning

indifference.

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources has been silent, and little has been

heard in recent days from the legislators representing the area on Beacon Hill.

So, what is really at stake?

The historic 360-acre Mixter Farm, famous for its dairy operations in the early 1900s, is at the

epicenter of the fight, with the racetrack only the latest attempt to convert pristine property for vast profit, regardless of the local cost.

In the 1930s, the Goodfield family bought the farm, located a quarter mile from the Common, and named it Guernsey Dell.

Years later, in 1985, Chester Goodfield placed the land under the state Agricultural Preservation Restriction program, supposedly guaranteeing that its pristine pastures and woodlands would be limited to farming-related businesses in perpetuity.

In 1998, Erik Fleming, whose family fortune is derived from an international seed corporation,

arrived in town, bought the farm, and renamed it Great Meadowbrook. For more than 20 years the farm has largely derived its revenue from its specialty hay crop while hosting occasional Olympic-level horse-riding events.

Two years ago, Fleming sold the land to a group of investors who tried but failed to turn it into a massive marijuana-growing facility. That put Great Meadowbrook on the market again, which caught the attention of Richard Fields, the former owner of now defunct Suffolk Downs racetrack in East Boston, which is being redeveloped for condos and related uses.

Along with Fields, too many others to list are involved in pushing the racetrack, as anyone who has a telephone, a mailbox, or an email address in Hardwick can attest. The hard sell involves ties that span the U.S. and extend beyond its borders. It includes “push” surveys, unrealistic promises, and a scheme fronted by Great Meadowbrook but offering few

protections and spreading its tentacles to the highest reaches of America’s ever-growing gaming industry.

Town selectmen voted once to reject the racetrack plan and then, interestingly, two out of the three reversed themselves and voted to approve it. Not surprisingly, the issue has caused a bitter divide among residents.

All of us know there is a need for stable, well-paying jobs in Hardwick, which is one reason a

number of residents have formed Hardwick Villages for Responsible Growth, an organization

that is dedicated to the long-term growth of the community – and to ensuring its economic future while keeping it a great place to live and raise a family.

My husband, Steve, and I – along with our son, Dana, and his partner, Emily Paquette – work

Clover Hill Farm, growing hay and other crops, raising livestock, and operating a direct-to-

consumer flower business.

The land has been in the Prouty family for five generations. We are just down the road from the site of this proposed “facility. In our view, our home, our labor, and our livelihoods as small-business people are all on the line.

But make no mistake: The future of sustainable agriculture, the environment of our beloved

community, and much more are in the balance as we fight to stop this ruthless and irresponsible proposal to change the very nature of an unspoiled and yet highly productive region of Central Massachusetts.