Sunderland farmer honored with Emerging Leader Award

BOSTON — The United Nations has declared 2026 to be the International Year of the Woman Farmer, and at the State House, Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle declared one such woman farmer, Kat Chang Laznicka of Sunderland’s Reed Farm, to be an “emerging leader” in her field.

Wednesday was Agriculture Day. The occasion invited farmers and food system enthusiasts to speak with legislators about bills and programs that would help agriculture in the state, explore a hall filled with booths representing agricultural businesses and recognize a few individuals who have made an impact on their local food system.

“Last year, you may recall, was the Year of Youth in Agriculture. This year, we are uplifting women farmers,” Randle said. “In Massachusetts, we have the highest percentages in the country of women, female owners and operators on farms, so we are incredibly excited to be able to celebrate that this year and uplift the incredible contributions that women farmers make to our agricultural sector.”

Randle presented the Emerging Leader Award to Chang Laznicka.

“An unsung hero who’s doing work behind the scenes to contribute to Massachusetts agriculture, this year’s honoree is both a member of the western Massachusetts farming community, a poultry producer and will soon be USDA-certified for poultry processing, which is incredibly needed in the state,” Randle said. “And serves on our Board of Agriculture, as well as boards within their community.”

Chang Laznicka said she had no idea she was going to receive an award, but after hearing her name called, she added that it made sense, as Randle and other MDAR representatives kept asking if she was coming to Agriculture Day.

“When I heard her say the award was going to a western Mass poultry producer, I wondered who it was, because I probably know them, and then she said ‘soon-to-be USDA-certified’ and I knew it was going to be me,” she said. “It’s incredible. I’m a little overwhelmed.”

At their farm on Russell Street, Chang Laznicka and her husband, Peter Laznicka, raise poultry for meat, which they sell wholesale while also offering custom processing services. She said Reed Farm differs from other farms because it raises and processes the birds.

“We’re both a producer and processor,” she said. “There’s not a lot of us around.”

MDAR also announced $3.3 million in grant funding during Wednesday’s festivities, $211,051 of which will go to Franklin County towns.

Clark Brothers Orchards in Ashfield will receive $32,283, Mycoterra Farm in South Deerfield has been awarded $9,713, Pine Hill Orchards in Colrain is getting $20,240, Sobieski’s River Valley Farm in Whately will get one $18,435 grant and another $2,490 grant, Antes Farm in Conway will receive $15,830, Boulder Top Farm in Montague is getting $11,600 and Sweet Birch Herbals in Ashfield has been awarded $12,460. Additionally, the South Deerfield-based Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) has been awarded $88,000 through the Buy Local Grant Program.

Antes Farm, a beef cattle farm in Conway, received its grant through MDAR’s Climate Smart Agriculture Program to purchase an aerator. According to Quentin Antes, owner of the family farm that dates back to the 1880s, an aerator breaks up the soil to clear a path for nutrients to reach the roots. 

Antes has had his sights set on an aerator since noticing a lack of grass growth in the farm’s fields and spotting compaction with a penetrometer, a device used to measure the density of soil. With the hooves of the farm’s 34 cows making an impact on the grass, Antes said their grazing can lead to compaction, or soil packing together, blocking the roots’ access to nutrients and, as a result, blocking the grass from photosynthesizing, leading to shorter grass. He hopes the aerator will help mitigate this impact.

“Photosynthesis is really making your money,” Antes said.

At the farm, Antes prioritizes staying up to date with research and improving the technology to “keep the animals happy,” as well as strengthening the farm’s sustainability amid the unpredictability of the industry. 

“It’s an art, more than a science,” Antes said of farming.

He described Massachusetts Agriculture Day as “a good way to highlight the contributions” of farmers. 

“It takes energy and effort to keep land open,” Antes said.

Hannah Morano of Sweet Birch Herbals in Ashfield put her $12,460 award toward installing a small solar array on the roof of the barn/farm store. The array was installed in February and will help the business cut energy costs.

“We put a small solar system on our farm store, and it’ll power that space and maybe a little more,” Morano said.

She said she was excited to receive the state grant at a time when federal grant opportunities are less available.

“We’re just trying to be as energy efficient as we can, especially with changes at the federal level,” Morano said. “We jumped at the opportunity.”

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said the funding will help farmers who are facing the impacts of climate change, rising costs and economic instability to ensure they can continue to provide food for their communities.

“These are investments. Those operations will be more resilient during weather events, and continue to weather storms,” Tepper said at the State House. “Growers have used this funding to increase productivity and grow sustainability and strengthen their operations for the long term. … We need to recognize that farming, in Massachusetts and everywhere, is hard work. The weather doesn’t cooperate, and you have to deal with market shifts and costs that are climbing, and all these people in this room are dealing with that and they’re keeping us going. These programs are our way of making sure our agriculture sector thrives in the face of these challenges.”

In addition to grant funding for farmers, Randle said the state is also investing in the food system by increasing funding for emergency food assistance, protecting land for agriculture and introducing a food donation tax credit, which, if passed by the Legislature, would offer a $5,000 tax credit to farms that donate produce to food banks and programs.

Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, who serves as vice chair of the Joint Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries, said that supporting programs that offer funding to farmers and legislation that makes agriculture more feasible and sustainable is “the best thing we can do for the commonwealth.”

“I’m so glad to be a part of this wonderful group of legislators,” Comerford said. “And grateful to the Healey-Driscoll administration for seeing the wisdom to advance the kind of policy and spending that farmers and our commonwealth needs and deserves.”