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Date: 8/29/2023
NORTHAMPTON — The Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Agricultural Society recently announced that they have donated $10,000 to three different funds helping farms that have experienced extreme weather events throughout the year.
The society, which is the nonprofit organization managing the Three County Fair, is specifically donating the money to the Massachusetts Resiliency Farm Fund, the CISA Emergency Farm Fund and the Local Farmer Awards Emergency Flood Relief Fund managed by the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation.
According to a release sent to Reminder Publishing, the Massachusetts Resiliency Farm Fund received $5,000 from the fair at a recent fundraising event at the Berkshire Brewing Company in Deerfield. The Local Farmer Awards Emergency Flood Relief Fund and CISA Emergency Farm Fund each received $2,500.
“2023 has been a disastrous year for farmers beginning with damaging freeze in February and frost in May and continuing with the floods and excessive rainfall that has taken place over the past two months,” said Tom Smiarowski, the president of the Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Agricultural Society. “The floodwaters may have receded, but the damage experienced by farmers in the Connecticut River Valley and across Massachusetts has been devastating and becomes increasingly more evident each passing day.”
The announcement of these donations comes after the Healey-Driscoll administration provided $20 million of state-financed aid to the Massachusetts Resiliency Farm Fund immediately after the floods occurred back in mid-July. As of press time, those floods have affected more than 100 area farms and caused more than $15 million in crop losses.
Meanwhile, unseasonable warm temperatures followed by a deep freeze in February, along with a late frost on May 18, caused damage to many apple, blueberry, peach and ornamental crops.
The Massachusetts Resiliency Farm Fund was established by the United Way of Central Massachusetts as a partnership between philanthropic organizations and private foundations. The fund aims to help central and Western Massachusetts farmers and their livelihoods while also helping them combat climate change and food insecurity.
“Our goal with the fund is to support farmers and communities by raising and distributing funds with urgency, as they are facing challenges right now,” said United Way of Central Massachusetts President and CEO Tim Garvin. “We are so grateful to Three County Fair and donors from all over the commonwealth who have stepped up and joined us to address the losses for farms, food pantries and the rural communities who rely on a vibrant agricultural economy.”
The CISA Emergency Farm Fund is currently offering zero-interest loans of up to $25,000 for Massachusetts farms impacted by the extreme weather events while the Local Farmer Awards Emergency Food Relief Fund has supplied two rounds of relief checks to those who have been affected by the floods.
“We are so pleased to partner with the Three County Fair to promptly distribute much-needed checks to farmers who were affected by the recent floods,” said Cari Carpenter, the director of Local Farmer Awards, Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation.