By Ben Grosscup
Community Farm Organizer
At its 2008 February retreat NOFA/Mass
identified the development of new community
farms in Massachusetts as a major priority.
As the new community farm organizer for
NOFA/Mass, I am very excited about what
our organization can do to spur the creation of
these much-needed projects.
Many farms around Massachusetts contain
the phrase “community farm” in their
name. Some community farms take different
names, but they all share some underlying attributes.
So, what is a community farm?
A community farm is one that directly
serves the needs of its local community. It does
this by conducting educational programming,
making itself accessible to the public for use
as a recreational space, and in some cases as
a place for involvement with producing food.
Community farms also have a non-profit governance
structure in which the interests of the
local community are represented.
Today much remaining farmland in Massachusetts
faces considerable development
pressures, challenging new farm enterprises
economically. Yet the demand for local and
organic produce consistently exceeds what
farmers are currently able to produce. Many
approaches are needed for addressing this
underlying issue, and the community farm
model is one of them. Part of what makes it
unique is the ability to directly involve local
residents in the farm, leading to a greater stake
in the farm's preservation.
NOFA/Mass's long-term goal is to have
a community farm in every town in Massachusetts.
To bring that about, we are working
toward heightening public awareness of how
community farms can serve the practical
everyday needs of our towns and neighborhoods,
and generate an active network of
local groups seeking to create community
farms in their locales. We're going to provide
direct assistance to such groups, including
strategizing at the local level for advocacy
efforts to commit local resources and increase
the awareness among funders about the local
need for community farms.
To do it, we're exploring partnerships
with other like-minded organizations who
are also doing excellent work on farm-based
education and community involvement in
farming, including the established community
farms. I am researching the range of different
models of community farms in Massachusetts.
If you are someone who wants to start a
community farm in your area, I'd like to connect
with you. Please contact me at ben.gross
cup@nofamass.org. Working together, we can
turn our communities into the ecological and
humane places that we all want to live in.
Back to the November - December, 2008 NOFA/Mass News
This page was last modified on July 27, 2009 at 10:38:19 AM.
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