Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 6/8/2021
HADLEY – On June 4, members of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts met with local representatives to discuss its newer farm in Hadley and discuss the risks of food insecurity across the state and country.
Andrew Newhouse, the executive director of the Food Bank of Massachusetts, said the newer farm started back in 2019 and has received funding through the state.
“After many years of thinking and working with the Kestrel Land Trust we purchased this farm two years ago. It is 142 acres, it is under an agricultural preservation restriction with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which invested $340,000 through that arrangement,” he said.
Newhouse said building the farm would not have been possible without the Massachusetts Food Security Infrastructure grant it received.
“This farm would not be possible without a Massachusetts Food Security Infrastructure Grant we received late last year. It was a $295,000 grant to the Food Bank, and we dedicated the funds to refurbish both barns. We also invested in equipment, shallow wells and irrigation systems,” he said.
With the newer farm and funding, Newhouse said he hopes it is a self-sustainable operation.
“Our hope is that this will pretty much be a self-sustaining operation because we do not have to subsidize the farmers, they are generating their own income from the sale of their share of the harvest and that is what makes this model so attractive to us and hopefully the farmers,” he said.
Amanda Reynolds, the Senior Community Engagement Coordinator for the food bank, said one of the new farm initiatives for 2021 is to help teach people new to farming where to start.
“One of our big visions is to provide opportunities to new entry farmers and farmers of color, and we want to do this through hosting workshops and trainings at our community engagement farm and down the road help with leasing opportunities because we know farmland is really hard to come across,” she said.
Executive Director of the Amherst Survival Center Lev Ben-Ezra said the center would not have been able to provide as many meals as it has during the COVID-19 pandemic without its partnership with the Food Bank.
“Over the last year the Amherst Survival Center has provided more than a million meals worth of food to about 7,000 people across our community and almost 70 percent of that food came from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. I believe about 97 percent of the food received by the Amherst Survival Center from the food bank has come at no additional cost,” she said. “It would not be feasible with the partnership with the Food Bank.”
Despite the pandemic slowly diminishing, Ben-Ezra said people are still at risk for food insecurity.
Chief Executive Officer of Hunger Free America Joel Berg said that tackling food insecurity requires everyone to do their part.
“I just want to stress the importance of all hands-on deck, the importance of food banks and food pantries filling the gaps, but also the importance of public policy, increasing wages, ensuring jobs, ensuring health care is free, childcare and housing are affordable, and that we have an adequate food safety net,” he said.
Massachusetts 2nd District Congressman Jim McGovern said now was the time to host a White House conference to discuss a plan to tackle hunger in the United States.
“We want to get the White House to do a conference on food nutrition, health, and hunger, the last time there was a similar conference was 52 years ago. We want this conference because we need everyone at the table and so the White House can convene everybody and lock them in a room until there is a plan,” he said.
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, McGovern said he hopes people understand the need to address food insecurity.
“I am hopeful we are at a moment in the aftermath of this pandemic where people are realizing we have a hunger problem in this country. It existed before the pandemic, but it was exacerbated during the pandemic. Food ought to be a fundamental human right for every person in this country and this planet,” he said.
With the current makeup of the House, Senate and White House, McGovern said there is an opportunity to help the over 40 million people suffering from hunger across the country.
“We are the richest country in the history of the world, but we have 40 million people who are hungry, every one of us should be ashamed of that. We have an opportunity given the makeup of the House, the Senate and the White House to do something about it,” he said.