Pumpkins, apples, turkey ... local in the late fall!
Fall fun on the farm!
This will be a glorious weekend to go pick up a pumpkin and carve it before Halloween on Monday. Or to visit a pick-your-own apple orchard and bring home apples for sauce, pies, and regular old eating.
Time to order your Thanksgiving turkey
Order early to make sure you have a local turkey on your Thanksgiving table.
Looking for more?
Summer markets are still happening, winter markets are opening soon, and farm stands are full of squash, greens, apples, and so much more. Don't miss a thing -- find everything you're looking for in CISA's online guide to local food and farms.
Call all kids! Join us in Springfield for Making Food Fun on 11/5!
Come to CISA’s Making Food Fun event on Saturday, November 5th, 10am -12pm, at the Winter Farmers' Market at Forest Park, where learning, food, and fun intersect in a family event for all ages.

Featuring a kid-friendly cooking demo with Bella Foodie, apple tasting with Red Fire Farm, pumpkin decorating, and more autumnal delights!

Rain or shine! The event is free and park admission is free for the farmers’ market. Enter the park from Sumner Avenue, Springfield, and follow market signs to the Bright Nights’ storage building.
Yes on 4: help preserve long-awaited driver’s license law
Election day is fast approaching and we want to make sure you're informed on this important ballot question! This summer Massachusetts passed the Work and Family Mobility Act 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. On November 8th, vote YES to keep this common-sense law in place.


Join our team: CISA is hiring a Development Coordinator!
Do you love local farms and food and want to use your energy and enthusiasm to help build a vibrant local food system? Do you enjoy creating memorable experiences for people to connect to local agriculture? CISA is looking for the next member of our team to help us organize events and communicate the impacts of our work to our supporters. Applications from individuals with diverse backgrounds and life experiences, not necessarily fundraising, are strongly encouraged.

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 last two stories in the series here:
Agric Organics
“Being a farmer and a pharmacist, I understand the symbiotic relationship of both,” says Hameed Bello, owner of Agric Organics, a new urban farm in Wilbraham. There, he and his wife Ayo are intent on building a farm that can be a multi-faceted resource for their community, supplying farm fresh food, health, and education while withstanding the challenges of climate change.

“As we design our farm, we always take into account Mother Nature and how unpredictable she can be,” Bello says. “Getting better control of our growing environment is the most important thing, and so we would love to cover everything with high tunnel greenhouses. We’ve also gone back to something we learned growing up in Nigeria, which is not weeding as much. The weeds serve as a shade to the soil and retain moisture around main crops.”

Sawyer Farm

“Agriculture is going to have to look different,” says Lincoln Fishman of Sawyer Farm in Worthington, given the climate crisis. “And I’m just not interested in farming the old way.”

“I’ve farmed here for 12 years and 15 in total, and I’d say the last five have felt dramatic,” says Fishman. “For us it’s all about the intensity and frequency of precipitation, and the variation is stunning. Last July we had 16 inches of rain, this July we had one inch. We can’t predict anything.”

The new low-till farming methods they’re piloting are unproven. Will the soil be healthier? Will it grow as much food? Will it be financially viable enough for other farmers to follow their lead? Fishman isn’t sure. But he’s gathering data and offering his farm as a laboratory.

New Social Impact Pool from the PVGrows Investment Fund
The PVGrows Investment Fund (PVGIF), a program of the Franklin County Community Development Corporation, has launched its new Social Impact Pool. PVGIF allows community members to do more than buy local – it’s an opportunity for grassroots investing in the local food system. PVGIF has provided financing and business assistance to 55 farms and local food system entrepreneurs since 2015.

The new Social Impact Pool minimum investment is $500 with two percent interest and a three-year term. Previously, the minimum investment was $1,000 with a longer term.

Seeds of Solidarity Farmer Deb Habib, a PVGIF investor explains, “The PVGrows Investment Fund has made it easy and welcoming for everyone to feel they can invest in our local food system. As farmers as well as first time investors without significant funds, my partner and I continue to feel how much it matters, and it feels more proactive than a CD or savings account.”

PVGIF provides the financing that is important to our local farms and food producers and can be hard to access elsewhere. Crimson & Clover farmer Nate Frigard comments that the flexibility of a PVGIF bridge loan allowed him to accept a Massachusetts Food Security Infrastructure Grant to insulate his barn for year-round use as a farm store, and to build a washing and packing building attached to the barn. “Getting that grant felt life-changing,” Frigard said, “and securing a bridge loan from PVGrows made me feel like anything was possible.”

To learn more about PVGIF investing and borrowing, check out pvgrows.net or contact Rebecca Busansky at rebeccab@fccdc.org.

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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