Press Release  Healey-Driscoll Administration Kicks Off Earth Week with Tours of Local Non-Profit and Dairy Farm in Western Massachusetts

North Amherst — In celebration of Earth Day, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) Commissioner Ashley Randle visited the Amherst Survival Center in North Amherst and Mapleline Farm in Hadley, demonstrating the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s commitment to supporting food access and security.

Serving the community since 1976, the Amherst Survival Center provides direct access to food and other basic needs for vulnerable and underserved residents. MDAR recently awarded the non-profit $430,000 through the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Plus Program (LFPA+) to buy local crops and value-added goods from Massachusetts farmers to distribute to pantries in towns across Franklin and Hampshire Counties.

Located in Hadley, Mapleline Farm is a woman-owned multi-generational dairy farm celebrating its 120^th anniversary this year. The farm supplies milk to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, with the Amherst Survival Center as a food pantry partner. Mapleline has also made several clean energy investments through the years, installing solar powered arrays and no-till seed drills through MDAR’s Climate Smart Agriculture Program (CSAP), reducing the farm’s carbon footprint.

“Today’s visits to the Amherst Survival Center and Mapleline Farm underscore the power of partnerships and highlight the critical connections between our local producers and the non-profit community,” said MDAR Commissioner Ashley Randle. “This Earth Day, we are mindful of the support that organizations like the Amherst Survival Center provide for area residents who are experiencing food insecurity, and also grateful to dairy farms like Mapleline for their role in providing nutritious local products while being responsible stewards of the land that provide all of us with enormous benefits. Providing more of our residents with locally grown food is a win-win for everyone, as it drives down our dependence for other food sources that often travel great distances, reducing their freshness and increasing our carbon emissions.”

For hundreds of years, dairy farming has been a central tradition of agriculture in Massachusetts. It is an essential component of the agricultural industry in the state, generating approximately $45 million towards the local economy. Although concentrated in Western Massachusetts, dairy farms can be found across the state, the vast majority of which are small-scale multi-generational operations. Over 113,000 acres of open space and land are preserved thanks to dairy farming, which provides a beautiful scenic landscape for recreation and wildlife habitat management. Massachusetts dairy farms use greener and cleaner technologies, including anaerobic digesters that recycle cow manure into renewable energy. They produce fresh and delicious daily products like milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream, contributing to a sustainable local food system.

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