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By EMILEE KLEIN

NORTHAMPTON — The Pioneer Valley Regional Agricultural Conference this Saturday presents three guest speakers on low-impact forestry, cheese making and maple forestry production for agricultural professionals looking to diversify their production.The...

By JACOB NELSON

‘We do a little bit of everything,” says Andrea O’Brien of O’Brien Farm in Orange. “But mostly we milk cows.”Running a successful dairy farm requires commitment, perseverance and creativity. That’s especially true in recent times, as the costs of...

By PAT JAMES

Community gardens grow on all kinds of land. Many gardens start as derelict lots, long abandoned by owners who sometimes reclaim the property after community gardeners reveal its beauty and productivity.Schools and parks are common sites for community...

By JACOB NELSON

‘The best carrots you’ll ever eat are picked in January or February,” says Erik Debbink, owner of Lombrico Farm in Whately. In the dead of winter, their sweetness shines through.Lombrico Farms is one of a growing number of local farms working hard to...

By LISA GOODRICH

Farms are the foundation of our local food system, with farmers markets, farm stands, and community markets providing the predominant means of providing local food to customers. And for some members of the community, the ability to order fresh, local...

By MADDIE FABIAN

Editor’s note: This is the fourth and final article from the Western Mass. Solar Forum series. The first three forums took place in September, and another series of forums is in the works for this spring. AMHERST — Most experts agree solar energy is...

By JACOB NELSON

WORTHINGTON — “Agriculture is going to have to look different,” says Lincoln Fishman of Sawyer Farm in Worthington, given the climate crisis. “And I’m just not interested in farming the old way.”Well-read and well-spoken, Fishman has a keen ability to...

By JACOB NELSON, Zoraia de Jesus Barros and Dan Burke Perez

HOLYOKE — Maiz (corn). Pimientos (peppers). Ajo (garlic). Berenjena (eggplant). Calabaza (squash). Gandules (pigeon peas). Habichuelas (beans). Tomate (tomatoes). These are just some of the crops grown by farmers at Nuestras Raices’ 30-acre community...

By EMILY THURLOW

BELCHERTOWN — With a long-term lease about to expire on 430 acres of state-owned land in Belchertown known as the Lampson Brook Farm, leaders of the Nipmuc Nation are calling on legislators to give these ancestral lands back into the tribe’s...

By EMILY THURLOW

HATFIELD — By most familial accounts, Frank J. Skawski, Jr. and Linda Skawski were always together. The couple founded and co-ran their Hatfield business, Skawski Farms, that has thrived for more than four decades. Season after season, Linda could be...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY – A three-story storage building proposed to be built on 4.2 acres of farmland on South Maple Street is nearing approval from the Planning Board.For Ideal Movers and Storage to construct the 96,500-square-foot temperature-controlled building,...

By MICHAEL CONNORS

PLAINFIELD — A defunct dairy farm owned by the family of the late fire chief Dennis Thatcher is about to get a jolt of new life after a Plainfield couple and business owners bought the well-known property earlier this month.The property’s new owners,...

RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — The owner of a bull that wandered out on a road and caused a fatal car crash in Vermont has been sentenced to probation.Craig Mosher was sentenced to 6 to 12 months of probation and 50 hours of community service on Wednesday for...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Customers of a community supported agriculture farm share program have enjoyed the fruits of Simple Gifts Farm owner Jeremy Barker-Plotkin’s labor for more than a decade. Soon even more people will have the opportunity.Barker-Plotkin, who...

By STEPHANIE MURRAY

HADLEY — In western Massachusetts, much of the labor that keeps local farms afloat is done by immigrant workers. But many who make up that labor force are living in fear of U.S. immigration policy, farm owners say, especially after the election of...

By CAITLIN ASHWORTH

EASTHAMPTON — Cumberland Farms is coming to Northampton Street.The gas station and convenience store chain is planning to build a facility on property located at 221 Northampton St. off Route 10 in Easthampton.A section of the nearly 2-acre lot is...

By RICHIE DAVIS

If your answer to “Where’s the beef?” is “local, local, local,” you’re not alone.The demand for locally raised beef, as well as lamb, pork, chicken and turkey, has been inching upward enough in recent years, with Shelburne’s Foxbard and Wheel-View...