What's in season and where to find it
Welcome, fall!
What a great time of year to visit farm stands and markets. We're still seeing the very last summer crops, while the fall crops (squash! apples! crisp greens!) are coming in strong too. Don't miss a thing -- find everything you're looking for in CISA's online guide to local food and farms.
Pick-your-own apples are opening up!
It's time! Picking your own apples is the PERFECT activity for friends and family on a cool fall day. And hey -- this weekend looks pretty good!
Yes on 4: help preserve long-awaited driver’s license law
This summer Massachusetts passed the Work and Family Mobility Act – following years of work by many community groups across the state, including CISA – to enable all qualified state residents, regardless of immigration status, to apply for a standard MA driver’s license. Massachusetts was the 17th state in the country to pass such a law and it is critical to ensuring safer roads and transportation options for everyone, including many farm workers. Yet the new law is now under serious threat.

Spread the word: CISA is hiring!
Are you interested in providing farmers with the resources they need to implement practical and meaningful changes to their operations? Are you knowledgeable about business decision making? Do you have experience working on or with small farms or businesses? You might be a great fit for the Program Coordinator position currently open at CISA! We are hiring a full-time Coordinator to join our Farm and Business Support Team.
Making a difference for local farms: a big step forward for Winter Moon Roots!
Rosendo Santizo, the new owner of Winter Moon Roots in
Hadley, received an state infrastructure grant with help from CISA just as he was taking ownership of the farm from Michael Docter. “I feel very lucky that we got this grant right when we were buying the farm. The equipment is helping me to do a better job, more quickly, and more efficiently,” he said. “Now I have a big tractor to plow, mow, and harrow so I don’t need to rent a tractor anymore. We worked with CISA on our application, and CISA helped us with the farm ownership transition as well. We are so grateful for their help!”

Funding for capital investments of this scale is very rare, and the process is highly competitive. As part of CISA’s assistance to farmers, we review applications and provide feedback to
strengthen their chances. Over the last two years, our team helped 36 farms secure almost $5.5 million in grants.
How are farmers adapting to climate change?
CISA has written a series for publication in the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s “Climate Change at Home” series, reporting on the current impacts of climate change to daily life in western Massachusetts and how farmers are adapting. Read the first two stories here:
Foxtrot Farm
“Big picture,” says Abby Ferla, farmer at Foxtrot Farm in Shelburne Falls, “for farmers to adapt together as a community we need more collaboration than we have currently. It takes time to build relationships and trust before that emerges, and farmers are busy, but organizations like CISA are in a good position to foster dialogue.”

Ultimately, Ferla’s vision is both radical and shockingly simple.

“It’s not about ‘eat these five plants to solve the climate crisis,’” she offers. “It’s about reorienting towards eating what makes sense here, in this place, in this time. I think if we ate a little more amaranth and dandelion and a little less lettuce, we’d be healthier, and it would be a lot easier on farmers and our land and water supply.”
Vollinger Farm

Vollinger Farm is built around grass and cows. Vollinger cuts and sells hay and raises beef cattle, and also grows winter squash and fall flowers for sale at their farm stand in Florence. In recent years, they made countless changes to keep their farm viable in the face of a changing climate.

I can’t emphasize this enough,” says Vollinger. “If it wasn’t for some of the funding programs we have, I’d never have been able to clear out all these invasive species, put fences back up, and start raising grass-fed beef along with the hay, squash, and flowers we’re doing here today. We’d never be able to afford to invest in our land for the future like this.”
Action Needed: Tell DOER that increased solar energy capacity shouldn’t come at the expense of food production
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources is collecting survey responses about solar siting in Massachusetts. One option is on farms, which typically provide a relatively inexpensive location for siting installations because they are often flat and open. Although expanding renewable energy production is essential—and solar can offer good cost-reduction and income-generation options for farms when appropriately located—local food resilience is also a critical climate change adaptation strategy. Massachusetts has a very limited amount of good farmland, and land access is one of the most significant barriers to new farmers.

Please respond to the survey here, and tell DOER that solar installations should not compromise our ability to produce food in Massachusetts.
Quick Links

Our Annual Report is available on our website.

Check out our press page for news stories about local farms and local agriculture, along with our weekly interview series on WRSI, monthly column in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and more!
 
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