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Date: 7/18/2022
BELCHERTOWN – Members of the Massachusetts Fruit Growers Association (MFGA) from across the state gathered at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst’s Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown to listen to legislators speak about the state of agriculture in the commonwealth and to take a tour of the orchard.
Before introducing state Rep. Jake Oliveira and state Rep. and House Speaker Pro Tempore Kate Hogan, MFGA President Ben Clark touched on the relationship between UMass and the MFGA.
“Mass Fruit Growers was founded in 1895, and then in 1961 when there was a need for a farm – after UMass campus’s expanding – the Fruit Growers got together, bought this farm and then over time gifted it to UMass,” he said.
Oliveira also detailed some of the history of UMass and its founding as an agricultural school in 1863.
“This farm is tied to the long history and the partnership that we’ve had with the University of Massachusetts in agriculture. This farm is so special because it hearkens back to the original mission of the University of Massachusetts, which was founded as Mass. Agricultural School,” he said. “The first mission was to focus in on agriculture, to focus in on technology and it’s about to adapt to the times.”
With the work being done at the orchard, Olivera said the university is continuing its original mission.
“To see the different varieties of fruit that they grow here and the experimentation that they do, whether you look at grapevines or pears or apples, all of this is part of the original mission of the University of Massachusetts,” he said.
With farmers across the state, Oliveira said he wants farmers to partner with the legislature to keep the agricultural industry going strong.
“Massachusetts is a very dense state, we have a large population in a very tight space, but we do have so many working family farms out there and we want to relay to all of you that we’re here to be partners with you,” he said.
To begin her remarks, Hogan thanked the farmers for their work during COVID-19.
“As we moved through the [coronavirus] pandemic, we know that farms, farm stands, fruit growers, everyone involved in agriculture was so critical during the early days of the [coronavirus] pandemic as so many people reached out to our farmers and knew that they had local food and resources,” she said.
To help support farmers, Hogan said she filed legislation to create the 21st Century Family Farms Commission.
“What we’re trying to do is bring people together to have discussions with our farmers, with our scientists, with folks in different fields of expertise and simply say what can we do better to create a better, more resilient farm community as we head into the 21st century,” she said.
To strengthen farms in Massachusetts, Hogan said the state needs to support local farmers that are sometimes overshadowed by larger farms.
“It’s going to be really important as we move forward that we better understand how to get resources to the folks that need it in our agriculture community to make it easier to access and to better understand through discussions how we can help move our commonwealth forward, because without agriculture, the commonwealth does not move forward,” she said. “Agriculture is one of the backbones and one of the real important aspects of who we are in Massachusetts.”
Following the opening remarks attendees were given a tour of the orchard’s facilities and given presentations on its projects, including an apple variety evaluation, apple and peach chemical thinning trials and a look at the orchard’s new cider apple tree block. Attendees were then treated to a lunch from Outlook Farm.