Hundreds gathered outside Hadley Town Hall Sunday protesting a deluge of changes to the USDA by the Trump administration, including frozen grant money, program cuts, staff layoffs, and the slated closure of Massachusetts’ Natural Resources Conservation Service office.
farming
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. agriculture commissioner urges federal government to release funds and rehire USDA staff
The head of the Massachusetts’ agricultural department has written a letter urging the federal government to release frozen funds for farmers and reinstate staff at the US Department of Agriculture.
Posted inOpinion
Healey initiatives at cross-purposes on farmland
The Farmland Action Plan is important and long overdue, but the subsequent budget language that puts even more pressure on farms is working at cross purposes against that initiative. Massachusetts ranks 47th in the country for agricultural production, so there isn’t very far to go to hit rock bottom.
Posted inEconomy
Climate change taking toll on Mass. farms
RYAN VOILAND, owner of Red Fire Farm in Montague and Granby, says growing organic vegetables is hard enough, but doing it amidst climate change makes it nearly impossible. In 2021, his crops suffered significant damage due to excessive rains. This past year the drought forced him to water his crops repeatedly, which yielded a decent […]
Posted inEconomy
How now cow power?
IN A RURAL valley south of Deerfield, power lines strung on new poles run along a stretch of muddy gravel between the main road and the interior of Bar-Way Farm, where hundreds of cows provide electricity along with their milk. Manure from the cows is pumped into a massive, red, airtight tank that acts like […]