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| Farm Name | Town | Variety | Place |
| Macarthur Farm | Holliston | Mountain Pride | 1 |
| Blue Heron Farm | Franklin | Trust | 2 |
| Red Fire Farm | Granby | Jet Star | 3 |
| The Warren Farm & Sugarhouse | N. Brookfield | 4th of July | 4 |
| Freitas Farm | Middleboro | Trust | 5 |
CHERRY CATEGORY
| Farm Name | Town | Variety | Place |
| Verrill Farm | Concord | Matt's Wild Cherry | 1 |
| Ward's Berry Farm | Sharon | Sun Cherry | 2 |
| Arena Farms | Concord | Sun Gold | 3 |
| Freitas Farm | Middleboro | Matt's Wild Cherry | 4 |
| Red Fire Farm | Granby | White Currant | 5 |
HEIRLOOM CATEGORY
| Farm Name | Town | Variety | Place |
| Kimball Fruit Farm | Pepperell | Speckled Roman | 1 |
| Stillman's Farm | Lunenburg | Striped German | 2 |
| The Warren Farm & Sugarhouse | N. Brookfield | Arkansas Traveler | 3 |
| Red Fire Farm | Granby | Speckled Roman | 4 |
| Simple Gifts Farm | Belchertown | Green Zebra | 5 |
HEAVIEST
| Farm Name | Town | Variety | Weight | Place |
| Arena Farm | Concord | Beefmaster | 3.00 lbs. | 1 |
| Verril Farm | Concord | Persimmon | 2.50 lbs. | 2 |
| Kimbal Fruit Farm | Pepperell | Gold Medal | 2.48 lbs. | 3 |
For more information on the Tomato Contest, contact: David Webber - (617) 626-1754 - David.Webber@state.ma.us
The Life is good Pumpkin Festival will attempt to “smash” the Guinness Book of World Records for most lit jack-O-lanterns in one place at one time. To be held, Saturday, October 23 on Boston Common, the event will benefit Camp Sunshine of Casco Maine. Camp Sunshine is a retreat for children with life threatening illnesses and their families. Last year’s event in Portland Maine raised over $52,000 for Camp Sunshine.
The festival will feature live music, magicians, pie eating contests, parades, hayrides, fireworks and of course, pumpkins!
Camp Sunshine has the distinction of being the only program in the nation whose mission is to address the impact of a life threatening illness on every member of the immediate family. Since its inception, Camp Sunshine has provided a haven for over 16,000 individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Thousands of pumpkins are needed to beat the Guinness Book
of World Records for most lit jack-o-lanterns. If you are interested in
donating pumpkins contact Michael Smith at 207-655-3800 or email mbsmith@campsunshine.org.
For more information on Camp Sunshine visit their
website at www.campsunshine.org. For
more information on the Pumpkin Festival visit www.lifeisgood.com.
The South Eastern Massachusetts Aquaculture Center (SEMAC) compliments the Northeastern (at Salem State College) and Western Massachusetts (at UMass Amherst) as one of the three regional aquaculture research, outreach and education centers that have received support through the Department of Agricultural Resources to assist the development of aquatic farming in our Commonwealth. The SEMAC’s region includes nearly all of the commercial shellfish farms in Massachusetts and, as a result, SEMAC’s efforts are appropriately focused on the research and development needs of our Commonwealth’s shellfish farmers. To that end, SEMAC has responded to Massachusetts shellfish grower’s identification of marketing and increasing farmgate value of farmed shellfish (predominantly hard shell clams or Quahogs and oysters) as a primary need by enlisting the services of Dr. Nora Barnes from the Charlton College of Business at UMass Dartmouth. Dr. Barnes and her graduate students work has identified some valuable marketing opportunities for Massachusetts shellfish growers and has lead to the development of a new logo that will be unveiled at an upcoming marketing event. The Cape Cod and the Islands Cultured Shellfish growers will be featuring a Chef’s Event in which connoisseurs will savor the distinctive differences among shellfish grown in different harbors, bays and coves. In every case these bivalves capture the essence of the cold, clean, salty waters of Cape Cod and the Islands region to assure fresh, fine-tasting shellfish.
The Chef’s Event will be held on Monday, September 27, 2004 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Dan’l Webster Inn in Sandwich, MA. The event will feature shellfish raw bars from the Cape Cod and the Islands region, littleneck raw bars, local wines, specialty breads and hors d’oeuvres. The Dan’l Webster Inn’s chef will also be preparing special shellfish recipes.
The event is FREE and the first 150 guests will receive a gift bag with a total retail value of $75.00. Who should attend? Restaurant chefs, owners, managers and seafood wholesalers.
Please RSVP to Ava Lescault at ALescault@umassd.edu or (508) 910-6434.
A Salute to New
England Specialty Foods will be held Friday, October 1, 2004, at the
Massachusetts Building at the Eastern States Exposition (The Big E), West
Springfield, Massachusetts during the 17 day fair. You’re invited to sample and
sell on the front lawn of the Massachusetts Building as part of the Salute to
New England Specialty Foods. There is no cost to participate, but you must
bring EVERYTHING you need for your exhibit - tables, décor, coolers, tents,
etc.
October may seem a long way off - but if you can soon commit to A
Salute to New England Specialty Foods, The Big E public relations staff will
send out targeted press releases to local newspapers promoting your company’s
participation. You can also be apart of the advertising in the official Big E
program book. Check your schedule and make plans to attend.
To sign up
or for additional info., contact Bonita Oehlke - 617-626-1753 or at Bonita.Oehlke@state.ma.us
October 12 to November 30, 2004 - Milford, MA
Green School is a comprehensive educational training program for Green Industry professionals, presented by the UMass Extension Landscape Nursery and Urban Forestry Program in cooperation with the UMass Extension Turf Program. The program is designed to provide training in horticulture fundamentals and the relationship of those fundamentals to environmental quality. Green School is intended to instill a sense of environmental stewardship in the participants. Knowledge of plants and plant systems, and Integrated Pest Management form the foundation of the curriculum.
The 60 plus-hour training program focuses on the management of the landscape as a whole, and is appropriate for garden center managers and employees, private or municipal grounds managers and personnel, landscape and lawn care operators, nursery operators and personnel, tree wardens, and professional gardeners. Horticulture professionals will learn about IPM concepts and the optimization of pest control through proper cultural management of turf, woody ornamentals, and other related specialties. Participants choose either the Landscape Management or Turf Management track. Sessions will be taught by UMass Extension educators, UMass faculty, and other professionals recognized in their area of expertise in the Northeast.
The 2004 Green School will be held in Milford, MA from October 12 through November 30 and will meet for 12 sessions from 9 am to 3:30 pm. Students opting to receive the Green School certificate must maintain a 75% or better average on the daily quizzes.
Registration deadline is September 24, 2004; the cost for LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT section is $550; the cost for the TURF MANAGEMENT section is $620 (includes an additional text book), and includes all other study materials. Be sure to register early, as seats fill up quickly and space is limited. Program flyers are in the mail. For a copy of the schedule and an application, call the Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Program at
(413) 545-0895 or go to our web site at www.umassgreeninfo.org.
Questions? Call (413) 545-0895 or email greenschool@umassgreeninfo.org
Many farm ponds in Massachusetts can be used to grow trout in cage culture. Trout can be marketed to local restaurants, game clubs, used for fee fishing ponds, or for stocking local fishing derbies. Fish cages are simple to build, require limited maintenance and provide an introduction to the possibilities of fish farming.
The Western Massachusetts Center for Sustainable Aquaculture (WMCSA) is looking for farmers to grow trout in their farm ponds in 2005. Growers will receive testing of their pond water, training in trout culture, materials and instructions to build a trout cage, and 100 fingerling trout. Participating growers will attend a winter workshop, pay a small fee and complete a survey at the end of the project. Craig Hollingsworth will coordinate the project, and Keith Wilda, Director of WMCSA, will provide training sessions at the Cranberry Station in Wareham and at the WMCSA in New Marlborough (Berkshires).
Farm ponds need to be a minimum of 8 feet deep, minimum of 5000 square feet of surface area (100’ x 50’), have vegetation in or around ponds edge, be spring or brook fed year round and meet water quality standards, determined by water testing performed by WMCSA. A questionnaire to help determine whether a farm pond is suitable for trout growth will be sent upon request.
Wilda and Hollingsworth hope to receive a grant to help support the project, and are looking for interested farmers to enlist their support on the grant application. Email: chollingsworth@umext.umass.edu (preferred) or leave address information at: (413) 545-1055.
October 18-20, 2004
Herbaceous Perennials Featured at New England Greenhouse Conference
Come hear the latest on perennials during all 3 days of the New England
Greenhouse Conference which will be held on October 18-20th at the Centrum
Centre in Worcester, MA. As an herbaceous perennial grower, you know how
important it is to learn more about the hottest new perennials to stay
ahead of your competition.
On Monday, October 18th, a Perennial School features the following speakers: Richard Hawke from the Chicago Botanic Garden will speak on “Hot New Perennials”, Stanton Gill from the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension will discuss “Bad Bugs - Managing Insects in Perennials”, Jean Williams-Woodward from the University of Georgia will speak on “Disease Prevention for Perennials”, Andrew Senesac, from Cornell University, will discuss “Weed Control”, Leonard Perry from the University of Vermont will speak on “Perennials: Production Systems and Scheduling” and Bill Cullina, from Garden in the Woods will discuss “Native Perennial Plants”.
On Tuesday, October 19th, Dan Heims from Terra Nova Nurseries, will speak on " Spring Forward and Fall in Love with New Perennials" and Robert Herman from Uncommon Plants will discuss "The Beauty of Ornamental Grasses in the Landscape." On Wednesday, October 20th, Bill Miller will speak on "Bare-Rooted Perennials", John Friel from Yoder-Green Leaf will speak on "New Perennials", and Matt Horn from Matterhorn Nurseries will discuss " Plants for Water Gardens."
For more info: Cindy Delaney, Show Coordinator, 1 Main Street, No. 36, Winooski, VT 05404, Phone: 802-655-7769, Fax: 802-655-6098, delaney@sover.net, or visit our web site: www.negreenhouse.org
The 2004 Northeast SARE conference will be held in Burlington, Vermont
on October 20 and 21, 2004, with a thematic emphasis on regional food systems.
There will be workshops on marketing, ecological production, policy and
planning, learning from farmers, and sessions on communications in the
agricultural community.
A farm tour will precede the conference on October 19. Tours will cover sustainable horticulture, grass-based dairying, small ruminant farmstead cheese, commercial composting, and maple sugaring.
There will also be poster sessions with farmers, researchers, and educators, and the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group will hold a reception and its annual meeting, to which all are welcome.
The keynote speaker for the conference will be Russell Libby, executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and the closing speaker will be Bill McKibben, author and scholar-in-residence and Middlebury College.
We will also present the Patrick Madden Award, which recognizes outstanding farmers across the nation who have adopted innovative and sustainable practices on their farms.
For more information, visit http://www.uvm.edu/~nesare/conf.html
In February 2005, more than a thousand farm direct marketers will gather
for the annual conference of the North American Farmers' Direct Marketing
Association (NAFDMA). The last time this many farmers gathered in Boston,
they started a revolution!
The conference will be held on Feb. 11-12, 2005, at the Park Plaza Hotel, which is just a few blocks from the start of the Freedom Trail. It's being held in conjunction with the New England Farmers' Direct Marketing Conference. A trade show with more than 80 vendors will be held in conjunction with the conference; it will be held across the street at the historic Castle at Park Plaza.
The theme of the 20th annual North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Convention
is "Start a Revolution." The convention is one of the premiere
farm direct marketing events in the world. Past attendees have come from
as far as England, Ireland, Japan and Australia. In addition to the conference,
the convention will feature pre- and post-conference bus tours and a full-day
workshop. The entire event runs from Feb. 7-14, 2005.
The convention rotates to a different part of North America each year; it was last in the Northeast in 1996, when it drew a record 1,400 people to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. This is an opportunity that local farm direct marketers won't want to miss.
The conference will feature nine different tracks; topics include agritourism, business management, retail markets, farmers' markets, local food initiatives and livestock. Another track will take attendees Beyond Fruits & Vegetables, and another will take a close look at Featured Farms. Speakers will feature a mix of local New Englanders and speakers from as far as California, Alberta and the United Kingdom.
The conference will feature several well-known speakers, including: Bruce Baker, jewelry craftsman and salesmanship expert, Craftsbury, Vt.; Chris Fesko, dairy farmer and award-winning videographer, Skaneateles, N.Y.; Marty Jacknis, business management expert and vice president of Calico Cottage Inc., Amityville, N.Y.; John R. Mullin, certified land use planner and director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst ; and Susan Wagner, editor of Country Business, St. Charles, Ill.
The pre-conference bus tour will be held Feb. 7-9, 2004. For the first time ever, NAFDMA is offering four different pre-conference bus tour options: Agritourism, On-Farm Retail, Farm Direct Marketing and Farmers' Markets. The farm direct marketing tour will combine different elements of direct marketing; the other three tours will focus on farms or venues specific to the tour title. All will mix in a little tourism, with stops at Yankee Candle Factory in Deerfield, Mass., and Old Sturbridge Village, in Sturbridge, Mass. The increasingly popular pre-conference bus tour (500 people and 11 buses went on the 2004 tour in California) will have a limited number of buses per tour option. Buses will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
A day of workshops will be held Feb. 10. Workshop topics include: Salesmanship with Bruce Baker; Business Transfers with Attorney Michelle Carron; Business Management Strategies with Marty Jacknis; and School Tours with Chris Fesko and a team from the famed Shelburne Farms in Vermont.
The post-conference bus tour will be held on Feb. 13-14. The tour will go to New York City for sightseeing and will include a ticket to see The Lion King on Broadway. Stops along the way will be Bishop's Orchards in Guilford, Conn., and Stew Leonard's in Norwalk, Conn.
For convention information, visit www.nafdma.com. Or, e-mail info@nafdma.com or call (413) 529-0386. Registration will be available on-line around Nov. 1. The pre-registration deadline is Jan. 6.
Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004, 1-4 PM - All are welcome!
Barrett Distribution Centers is an ISO
Registered, third party distribution company with operations throughout
Massachusetts. Under the same family ownership since 1941, Barrett's management
team is focused on delivering superior warehousing services to both our
customers and their consignees. We are dedicated to the New England market, but
manage business for our clients on a national and international basis. With over
600,000 square feet of food grade, temperature controlled space under
management, we are large enough to handle our customer's needs, but still small
enough to care about each and every client we serve. We also provide
transportation service to truly control the supply chain for our valued
customers.
Our commitment to customer satisfaction goes beyond internal
measurement and training. We measure our customer satisfaction levels with
annual surveys, and use this feedback to improve our performance. We will be
continuously measuring our level of satisfaction and using this process as a
tool to identify and make changes that are required in our processes. Our only
product is our service, which we are committed to each and every day.
Please
contact Mark Sotir, Director of Customer Relations @508-553-8800 (ext. 924) or
email Mark at msotir@barrettdistribution.com
to register and cc to Ellen Callaway, MSFA Networking coordinator, at ellen@callawayphoto.com.
"Bringing your Food Product to Market" is a three hour workshop
for entrepreneurs interested in developing a food related business, or
a new food product. Manufacturing, marketing, logistics, and legal issues
surrounding food products, as well as the resources available to this industry
will be discussed.
Date: October 14, 2004, Time: 5pm-8pm, Location: Center for Women & Enterprise, Central Mass. 50 Elm Street, 2nd Floor. Worcester, MA 01609 Fee: $45 Registration: Contact Ivette Olmeda-Colón at 508.323.2300 or iolmeda@cweonline.org
Presented by: food and marketing experts Patrick Degnan, Macaran Printed
Products, Herb Heller, Western MA Food Processing Center, Michael Morassi,
Meredith Springfield, Bonita Oehlke, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural
Resources, and Luther Leake Ph.D, Scientific Creativity.
Buying locally grown food is easy for most consumers. Hop in the car, stop
by a favorite farm stand or store, and you’re done. But what about local
senior citizens, many of whom no longer drive and live on fixed incomes?
CISA has devised a novel approach to meeting the nutritional needs of local seniors: provide them with the bounty of local farms. CISA’s Senior FarmShare program pays local farmers to provide free shares of locally grown food to seniors this summer, at farmstands or farmer’s markets or conveniently delivered to a local senior center or apartment building.
At the Powertown Apartments in Turners Falls, 45 seniors receive their weekly organic vegetables from Ryan Voiland’s Red Fire Farm.
“Everybody who comes through here has been so impressed by the variety,” says Sharon Cottrell, Powertown Apartments manager. “The farmer grows beautiful produce and the seniors really appreciate it. They come early and are often waiting for us as we unload the truck! It’s been a lot of fun for everyone – it’s a break from the routine, a real festive event.”
“This is a unique community program that helps seniors and farmers,” says Margaret Christie, Senior FarmShare coordinator. “Ryan grows great food, and Sharon and her staff at Powertown Apartments help with delivery, set-up, and communicating with participants. Between them, a lot of Franklin County seniors are eating better this summer.”
“FarmShare gives me a market I can count on, and it also makes it possible for me to sell food to people who might not otherwise be able to afford it. That's important to me,” says farmer Ryan Voiland.
In this first season, CISA’s FarmShare program involves 7 local farmers and 120 seniors. The program is modeled on a statewide Maine program now serving more than 7500 seniors a year. CISA hopes to expand the program in future years. Funding for CISA’s FarmShare program was provided by CISA’s community and farm members and by grants from agencies including the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts Franklin Fund, the Bridge of Flowers Community Grant Program, and a vitamin litigation settlement.
To learn more about FarmShare, contact Margaret Christie, coordinator, 413-665-7100. The program is full for the 2004 season. Please do not call the office trying to enroll in the program. There is no waiting list for the 2005 season.
(AMHERST, Mass.) June 15, 2004 – U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Mark Rey has approved a request to realign Worcester County from the Berkshire-Pioneer Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Area to the Patriot RC&D Area, effective immediately. This move affects Worcester County communities and groups that may seek federal assistance with natural resource conservation issues.
RC&D is a program of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service that promotes natural resource conservation, development, and use to improve economic activity, and to enhance the environment and standard of living in communities within a designated RC&D area.
“The realignment was requested by the Worcester County Conservation District, with support from the Berkshire-Pioneer RC&D Area Council, because district supervisors felt that Worcester County now shares more common interests and resource concerns with the Patriot RC&D Area,” explained Cecil B. Currin, State Conservationist for NRCS in Massachusetts. “Such interests and concerns include development pressure on agricultural land and open space, as well as water quality and quantity.”
The Patriot RC&D Area, formed in 2002, is Massachusetts newest RC&D area and now encompasses Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Worcester counties.
Worcester County groups may now contact the Patriot RC&D Coordinator for assistance: Stephanie Parrish, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, 319 Littleton Road, Suite 302, Westford, MA 01886, 978-692-1904, x4, fax 978-392-1305, Stephanie.Parrish@ma.usda.gov.
RC&D areas are locally organized, sponsored and led. Each RC&D area is guided by an RC&D council whose members are recruited from the local community and empowered with leadership responsibilities. USDA provides technical and financial assistance through NRCS, while local sponsors secure additional funding and in-kind services for RC&D projects. For more information on the RC&D program in Massachusetts, visit www.ma.nrcs.usda.gov
(Beltsville, MD) The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program recently unveiled a new website designed to help farmers and ranchers increase profitability, protect the environment, and improve rural communities. Located at www.sare.org the site is a source of information on cutting-edge sustainable farming and ranching technologies, useful contacts, and funding sources for research and education initiatives.
Funded by the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, SARE works with producers, researchers and educators to promote sustainable agriculture through a competitive grants and education program. Now, information gleaned from years of research conducted in partnership with the nation's most innovative producers is available from the comfort of your own home.
Classified ads are accepted free-of charge on a first-come basis. Limit: 25 words. Be sure to include a phone number. No display ads will be accepted. Only one ad per business/individual per issue, unless space permits. Ads may run in consecutive issues, space permitting. Ads must be of interest to Massachusetts farmers. The Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources reserves the right to refuse any listing it deems inappropriate for publication.
E-mail, fax or mail ads to: Farm & Market Report, Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources, 251 Causeway Street, Suite 500, Boston, MA 02114, fax: 617-626-1850, e-mail: Richard.LeBlanc@state.ma.us
Published monthly by:
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, Governor
Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Ellen Roy Herzfelder, Secretary
Department of Agricultural Resources, Douglas P. Gillespie, Commissioner
251 Causeway St., Suite 500, Boston, MA 02114
617-626-1700, fax 617-626-1850
www.Mass.gov/agr
This publication is available in alternate formats upon request.
Next issue to be published for October/November. Please send news, calendar and/or classified information by October 22nd to Richard.LeBlanc@state.ma.us or fax to 617-626-1850.
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