NORTHAMPTON -- For the third year running, the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation will help local farmers purchase business-boosting equipment.
Recipients of the 2017 Local Farmer Awards will be honored with food and drink Wednesday at the Smith College Campus Center in Northampton. This year, 116 farmers applied, and 49 were awarded $2,500 for targeted infrastructure improvements.
For instance, Gideon Porth, owner of Atlas Farm in Deerfield, used his grant to buy a new potato bagger.
"The award enabled us to purchase a much more efficient bagging machine for our five-pound bags of potatoes, which greatly increased the profitability of the crop," he said.
Rooted Farm in Hadley purchased low crop tunnels to extend the growing season.
The system "allowed us to protect early spring crops when frosts hit, and provided us with product several weeks earlier than without them. It will also allow us to overwinter some crops for next year," said farmer Rebecca Sadlowski.
The Grinspoon Foundation and Big Y supermarkets partner with HP Hood, Baystate Health, Farm Credit East, MGM Springfield, Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place, and the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts for the farm grant program.
The charitable foundation, based in Agawam, also collaborates with Berkshire Grown and CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture), the region's two major "buy local" organizations.
At Wednesday's celebration, ten farmers will have a chance to win an extra $250 by participating in a "90-second farmer pitch." Grinspoon himself will facilitate a "harvest swap," and everyone will go home with a bag of mixed goods. Finally, judges will choose the winner of a "farm innovation idea contest" for $500 cash.
The grant program aims "to strengthen local farmers' ability to compete in the marketplace so that our region benefits from the environmental, health and economic advantages of local farming."