A freeze can bring the growing season to a halt, even before it actually gets going. Remember the deep cold snap last spring that killed the peach buds? We do, too. It was a sad August without that juicy local fruit.
But the Franklin County Community Development Corporation has found a particular type of freeze that could prove beneficial to farmers and food producers up and down the valley. After years of work to cobble together the necessary funding sources, the CDC can finally go forward with a long-awaited project — building its cooler-freezer at the Greenfield food-processing plant.
Taking the harvest and processing it into jams or soups or other products adds value for the local farmer. While a butternut squash might fetch a couple dollars, a quart of butternut soup can go for several dollars more. The farmer and/or soup producer can make more money, and we get delicious local products to carry us through the winter and beyond. But that plan only works if there is a way to work in bulk. The CDC kitchens provide that space. And this new freezer will allow for proper storage.
The need to enlarge the cooling and freezing capacity at the plant was recognized long ago. For a while now, those processing local fruits and vegetables in the CDC kitchen had to use rented freezer space in Westfield, but that facility was only able to quick-freeze about 10,000 pounds of produce. While five tons sounds like a lot, when you are talking heavy vegetables, five tons of capacity goes pretty quickly.
What put the freeze on this project (pun intended) was the funding mechanism. Building a 2,600-square-foot freezer building was originally expected to cost between $450,000 and $500,000. But time and clearer specs brought that price tag up to the $700,000 it is going to take to make this new freezer happen.
As understandably discouraging as this might be, CDC Executive Director John Waite and other local officials didn’t let that get in the way of continuing to explore ways to get state and federal dollars to help foot the bill.
The CDC wound up putting the financial pieces together from a number of sources. There is a $250,000 grant from the Department of Agriculture Resources; a previous $50,000 grant; and a $250,000 Department of Agriculture loan. The CDC is going to borrow the rest of the money.
The new cooler/freezer building will allow the processing of more than 100,000 pounds of food while creating new storage that the food processing center and others can use. That’s a lot of berries for jam or vegetables for salsa.
“Improving food access and providing healthy options in rural communities for low- and moderate-income families will strengthen and innovate our rural economy, giving farmers and small business owners the tools they need to thrive in Franklin County,” said Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst. “We must continue to revolutionize our agricultural enterprises to create an abundance of economic opportunities throughout the Commonwealth.”
While the growing season for fresh fruits and vegetables may be passing us by for this year, being able to get our local bounty all year long extends our enjoyment of these foods. A new freezer at the CDC can mean some cold, hard cash for local farmers and food producers, and some great food for us.
Very cool, indeed.