Because I subscribe to Mass Moments, I’m on the mailing list for Mass Humanities and receive a monthly email message announcing Mass Humanities-sponsored events in my area.  That’s how I first heard about a project of the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust called “Farm Values: Civic Agriculture at the Crossroads.”  There was to be a special event to present this project to the public tonight at the Athol Public Library.  Curious about it, I drove to Athol after work.

One of the library rooms held a photo exhibit, commissioned by the Quabbin Harvest Co-op, showing images by Northampton-based photographer Oliver Scott Snure, as he worked over the summer to create portraits of the farms and farmers featured in the Farm Values project.  There were two exhibits set up in the library’s meeting room:  one discussed preliminary findings and major recommendations of a community food system assessment which reviewed food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste recovery; the second was an agricultural timeline for the North Quabbin region.  Shortly before 7 pm, folks gathered in the meeting room for a panel discussion about farms in the area and their future.  Nancy Allen, the president of the Mount Grace Land Trust, introduced the speakers, who included Cathy Stanton, the project lead.  There were almost a hundred people in the room, a lot more than they anticipated, each person wearing a name tag specifying his or her role in the food system.  I couldn’t stay and gave up my seat, but they were still bringing out chairs when I left for home.

I’ll try to summarize what I learned about our local food production system from the Farm Values project.  First, what is “Civic Agriculture”?  Ms Stanton defines it as the “idea of food production as a matter of public concern connected to other social, economic, and environmental issues.”  Her work on this project focused on six farms in six towns, considering the history of each property, the values embodied in the current farming methods, and the ways each farm had to change and adapt to survive and perhaps even thrive in the future.  In roughly geographical order, these are the farms that were studied in this project.

Chase Hill Farm in Warwick.  This farm began as a dairy farm in the 1940s.  Currently run by Mark Fellows and his wife Jeannette since 1984, the farm now makes cheese and markets directly to people and stores in the immediate region.  Situated in the uplands, Chase Hill grows high quality grass to feed its cows and only milks them for three seasons rather than year round.

Moore’s Maple Grove Farm in Orange.  Also originally a milk business founded shortly after the turn of the 20th century, the farm has had to diversify in recent years.  Now run by John and Laura Moore, the farms sells vegetables, meat, and maple syrup, while Laura runs the Maple Grove Farmhouse Bakery.  When their children and grandchildren help out, that makes nine generations of Moores who have farmed in Orange.

Adams Farm in Athol.  Originally a dairy farm, the Adams Farm has been in existence for well over a century; the Adams family who owned the property was known for working with animals.  After small-scale dairying became unprofitable after World War II, the farm transitioned to selling meat.  Now a slaughtering, wholesale, and retail meat operation run by Beverly Adams Mundell, the farm is a key node in the region’s food system.

King Farm in Petersham.  This farm was established in the 1790s but was not maintained as such until recently, when Emily Anderson and Tyson Neukirch took over, with financial help from state and local agencies.  They plan to pasture animals, manage forests, cultivate fruit and nut trees, and grow other perennial and annual crops in ways that don’t deplete soil nutrients.

Many Hands Organic Farm in Barre.  This 55-acre parcel was once part of a larger Barre farm.  Back in the 1980s, Julie Rawson and Jack Kittredge started homesteading the property and raising their four children there, coming to farming at the end of the back-to-the-land movement of the 60s and 70s.  The Farm now sells fruits, vegetables, and meats through CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares and also to some wholesale customers.  The couple also train new farmers and help run the state chapter of NOFA (Northeast Organic Farm Association).

Stillman Quality Meats in Hardwick.  Now owned by Kate Stillman, this business is comprised of two farms which have been meat producers for decades.  Kate continues to build her business by selling at urban farmers markets and through its CSA.  Like all farmers in this region, she struggles to balance supply and demand and transportation and labor costs, all the while maintaining her land’s productivity.

The six towns chosen for this project can be considered a mini-region, which is at the crossroads of the state’s agricultural, industrial, and postindustrial sectors.  Ms Stanton intended to study the intersection of those economies over time and think about the role played by food production in all of them.  Here’s an extremely condensed synopsis of farm history in this area.

Pre-1700: Indigenous groups hunted and gathered
1700s: European settlers created small farms with hayfields, pastures, woodlots
Early 1800s: Area farms expanded and began participating in the regional market economy
Mid 1800s: Farms shifted to producing meat, milk, and butter instead of grain and cheese
Late 1800s: Small farmers struggled to remain competitive
1900: First back-to-the-land movement and agritourism emerged
1910s-20s: A&P founded first grocery store in region, then others moved in
1930s: During the Great Depression, people began growing food for themselves
1940s-50s: New England farms declined due in part to growth of interstate refrigerated trucking
1960s-70s: Second baack-to-the-land movement brought homesteaders
1980s-90s: Chain grocery superstores sprang up amid globalization of food production
2000s: Locavore movement spurred renewed interest in local farms