Chamber breakfast highlights community collaboration as key to overcoming farming challenges

GREENFIELD — Speakers at the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce’s third “Growing Our Economy” breakfast on Friday emphasized the value of community partnership between farmers and business stakeholders.

Speakers represented the different intersections of farming, including Jennifer Core, executive director of Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA); Courtney Basil, co-owner and manager of Apex Orchards; Jenelle Wilkins, director of operations at Quonquont Farm; John Waite, executive director of the Franklin County Community Development Corporation; and Cecy Yazwinski, a board member with the Massachusetts Agriculture Youth Council and a junior at Deerfield Academy.

Each speaker spoke about their respective sector of the agricultural industry, with Jessye Deane, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, saying that Franklin County is recognized for its farming economy.

“Farms are the foundation of our economic landscape, and it’s the agritourism and the farm stands and the orchards that are the reason that people fall in love with Franklin County in the first place,” she said.

Deane also shared that 14% of agricultural sales statewide stem from the 830 farms in Franklin County. Those farms hired 1,400 workers with a payroll of $29.6 million.

While highlighting the impact the county has on agriculture on a statewide level, speakers touched on the challenges many are facing. Federal policy impacting workers, funding cuts to farms, the impact of climate change and unaffordable land prices were just some of the issues mentioned.

“Whether you’re a farm that’s global or national or local, you’re dealing with shifting trade conditions, tariffs, policy changes, and it’s a lot. It’s a lot on a job that’s already hard, and it’s a lot on an industry that’s already difficult,” said Jessica O’Neill, board president of the Greenfield Farmers Cooperative Exchange. “When these larger systems become unstable and erratic, it’s local networks and local communities like this one, and especially co-ops like ours, that become even more important.”

Basil, of Apex Orchards in Shelburne, spoke about these challenges as a farmer, while also highlighting how these issues can be tackled when there is community buy-in, whether that comes in the form of purchasing local produce, fueling the agritourism sector with visits to area farms and working with other local businesses to keep money circulating in Franklin County.

“You are ensuring that there is a next generation of growers. Our region’s agricultural future is bright and definitely delicious when farms, organizations and communities work together.”

Courtney basil, co-owner and manager of apex orchards

Wilkins detailed agritourism’s impact on Quonquont Farm. She explained that Quonquont Farm’s expansion from just a pick-your-own farm model into offering weddings at its barn venue, alongside other ventures like a barn-to-bar program that takes produce from the farm and incorporates it into the bar service, has made the Whately farm and its operations more “resilient” and “dynamic.”

Additionally, Wilkins said when people come to Quonquont Farm from outside the area, they are investing back into other areas of the local economy by spending at hotels and local shops during their stay.

Outside of farming, Waite spoke to how his organization can support farmers and their work. He shared how Franklin County CDC offers loans to farmers from its PVGrows Investment Fund, which lets people invest as little as $500 into the program that pools funds to provide flexible loans to farmers, who can pay them back as they can. Other offerings include Greenfield’s Western Massachusetts Food Processing Center and the Preserve the Valley program, which lets farmers send their produce to the Processing Center to turn it into products, mostly shelf-stable ones, that they can sell at farm stands, at farmers markets, through farm shares, online and wholesale.

Yazwinski, who serves on the Massachusetts Agriculture Youth Council as well as on Deerfield’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program Committee, closed out the panel with a perspective on legislative priorities impacting farmers in western Massachusetts.

She shared how policy that empowers farmers to navigate the impacts of climate change is important for farms to sustain themselves, and that sustainable farming and cooperative relationships between farmers and their community will lead to stronger rural communities and combat food insecurity across the state.

“It is important to translate what happens in Boston out into the farming communities beyond the [Interstate] 495 corridor and into the more rural parts of the state, and make sure they’re able to connect with resources that the legislation intends for them,” she said, with a standing ovation from attendees at the conclusion of her remarks.

“So,” Deane said, “the future is bright. We have that figured out.”