A year of seemingly endless catastrophic weather ended on a bright note for several Valley farms.
Last month, South Deerfield’s Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, or CISA, issued the first loans from its Emergency Farm Fund. CISA created the revolving fund in the fall to help farmers who suffered damage from Hurricane Irene.
The money went to Dave’s Natural Garden in Granby, Ashfield’s Bug Hill Farm, The Bars Farm in Deerfield and a fourth farm whose owner asked not to be publicly identified. The zero-interest loans range between $5,000 and $10,000, said Phil Korman, CISA’s executive director.
The loan program was seeded by an anonymous donor, who offered CISA $50,000 if the group could raise a matching amount. And it did so, in impressively short order: Whole Foods got the ball rolling with a $15,000 contribution, individual donors kicked in gifts ranging from $5 to $5,000, and the nonprofit Pioneer Valley Local First organized local businesses to donate a portion of their holiday shopping revenues to the fund. Shortly before Christmas, CISA met its fundraising goal with a $20,000 check from Farm Table, the restaurant at Bernardston’s Kringle Candle Co.
In the days after Irene, Korman told the Advocate, CISA was flooded with calls from people asking how they could help farmers affected by the storm. Being able to set up the fund, raise the money and get loans out to those who need it so quickly has been a gratifying experience, he said: “To actually hand that check over was great. I wish everyone who cares about this could have been there, and in a way they were.”
While CISA has hit its initial $100,000 fundraising goal, the group will continue to accept donations for the fund to ensure that it can respond quickly to farmers’ needs after weather-related losses in the future as well. And, Korman added, he expects more farmers hurt by Hurricane Irene to turn to the fund as word of mouth spreads, and as farmers consider how they’ll get through the long months until their next harvest.
“Farmers are just now having the chance to add up their losses and think about the next year,” Korman said. “Our goal is to try to lend all of this [$100,000] out. I’m reasonably confident that there are plenty of farmers who need it.”
To contribute to the Emergency Farm Fund, go to www.buylocalfood.org; call 413-665-7100, ext. 10; or send a check to: CISA, One Sugarloaf St., South Deerfield, MA 01373.
