State lawmakers toured four farms in Franklin and Hampshire counties on Friday to better understand the challenges facing farming communities in Western Massachusetts.
The tour included stops at Simple Gifts Farm in Amherst and Reed Farm in Sunderland, as well as Barstow’s Dairy Store and Bakery at Longview Farm and Joe Czajkowski Farm, both in Hadley.
“Every opportunity to share what we’re doing is worthwhile,” said Denise Barstow, a seventh-generation member of the Barstow’s team.
While leading the legislators and a couple of state officials around her family’s dairy farm, Barstow talked about how the pandemic has had a major impact on its operations. In addition to significant blows to dairy markets and fears of going out of business, Barstow said the farm is still “dealing with COVID-related staffing issues.”
Among those on the tour were state Rep. Carolyn Dykema and state Sen. Becca Rausch, co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture; and Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner John Lebeaux and Deputy Commissioner Ashley Sears Randle.
The tour was hosted by state Sen. Jo Comerford and state Reps. Natalie Blais, Dan Carey and Mindy Domb, as well as Winton Pitcoff from the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative and Phil Korman, executive director of the South Deerfield-based Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA).
Carey, D-Easthampton, said the idea was to “bring the work of the State House to real life,” hoping that it would give lawmakers personal connections to the bills they debate on Beacon Hill.
“A huge part of our job is making sure Eastern Mass. knows about Western Mass.,” Carey said.
Blais, D-Sunderland, echoed that sentiment, noting that “being here, you feel the struggle” that farmers face.
“All these people gather here from all areas of the state to learn about agriculture and challenges our farmers are dealing with. We can create concrete legislative solutions that could make a difference,” she said during the tour’s stop earlier in the morning at Reed Farm in Sunderland.
At Reed Farm, a 13-acre farm established in 2019, poultry farmers and processors Peter Reed Laznicka and Kat Chang Laznicka showed the officials the barn where they process the chickens they raise, as well as poultry from other farmers.
Kat Laznicka told of her experience slaughtering 20 chickens by hand and how long it took when she first started raising meat birds. The farm has equipment to process birds efficiently, as machines to pluck the feathers and butchering racks simplify the work before parts are vacuum wrapped and air-chilled in the farm’s new cooler. Reed Farm was awarded a Food Security Infrastructure Grant for upgrades, including a new septic system and a walk-in cooler and freezer.
After the tour of Barstow’s cow barn, anaerobic digester and robotic milking equipment later in the day, Pitcoff said that “farming and food are part of every conversation” at the State House. For example, he explained how talks about developing affordable housing “can’t come at the expense of farmland.”
“Every day, Massachusetts farmers have to contend with climate change, shifting markets and a host of other forces that challenge their survival,” Pitcoff said. “The state has opportunities, through supportive policy and wise investments, to ensure that local farms can continue to feed our communities while remaining financially viable, environmentally sustainable and resilient in the face of these challenges.”
As the agricultural industry intersects with issues ranging from economic development, food insecurity and the climate crisis, Carey said he hopes the tour “brings a new level of understanding to the conversation” at the State House.
“This tour highlights the accomplishments and challenges confronting our farmers, and how we can be of more help in this sector,” said Domb, D-Amherst. She also pointed to how lawmakers should strive to “tap into the expertise” of farmers for fighting the climate crisis.
This story includes reporting by Staff Photographer Paul Franz.