Pioneer Valley farmers pursue resilience in a time of climate change

When it comes to how farms in the region are responding to the impacts of climate change, each one does it a little bit differently.

It could mean installing giant fans to move air around an orchard to shoo away an unseasonable frost. It could mean switching to farming techniques that sequester more carbon in the soil. It could mean solar panels to guard against power outages.

And the greenhouse has become a critical tool.

“Across the agricultural world, pretty much every crop or production method that I can think of has some area where the climate change impacts are affecting them,” said Claire Morenon, communications manager for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture.

Morenon said the topic of climate change comes up often in her visits with farmers. There’s a lot to talk about, including how funding used to help farmers make climate-related changes to their operations has changed.

Last year, CISA was about to help 35 farmers with a federal program that would have given them $45,000 each to invest in climate resiliency in the first year of funding. But before any of them got the money, the federal government cut the program, Morenon said.

In December, a report commissioned by the Legislature found that the state’s farmers, who are considered small operations compared to agricultural operations across the nation, often are unable to receive federal assistance following a disaster. It noted that while the state established a disaster relief fund, it does not have a permanent way of funding it.

But it’s not all gloom and doom, Morenon said.

“People are working really, really hard and doing a ton and growing a lot of food. And that means there’s a lot of hope in there,” Morenon said.

Here’s a look at how several Pioneer Valley farmers are responding to climate change, as they seek ways to be resilient.

In the pursuit of chickens’ happiness

Chickens are sensitive to fluctuations in the weather, said Kat Chang of Reed Farm in Sunderland. While extreme weather might not kill the birds, it could make them more vulnerable to disease.

“They’re kind of like fragile little glass sculptures,” Chang said. “We really have to keep a close eye on them.”

Chang co-owns Reed Farm with her husband. Together they manage a business that processes about 19,000 birds a year for meat. The birds spend some time outdoors. The farm is planning to expand the number of chickens it brings to market.

In planning new buildings, the farm’s owners seek energy efficiency, but also want spaces with back-up generators, should the electrical grid go down.

“We have a lot of refrigeration and it’s poultry,” Chang said. “So it needs to stay cold in order to remain food safe.”

While Reed Farm would like to install solar panels for on-site energy production, it would prefer to fund them through grants, and the grant landscape is uncertain, Chang said.

Reed Farm is building out a U.S. Department of Agriculture-licensed facility that would allow it to process meat from around the region and sell it out of state. The processing center will help the region’s livestock farmers prepare to sell a wider variety of products – from sausages to broth — to a larger consumer base. It is also expected to benefit the regional farming economy.

“The more farmers we have with eyes on their land, I think the better care it will be taken care of,” Chang said.

Lessening the ‘carbon hoof-print’

Denise Barstow Manz, a seventh-generation dairy farmer in Hadley, said her family’s farm has been adapting for generations. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, Barstow’s Longview Farm would rely on hay for animal feed, as New England’s climate was dryer than it is today, she said.

Not only has the farm switched to silage for its 600 head of cattle (half of which are dairy cows), it has begun no-till farming methods for the 500 acres it uses to grow its animals’ feed.

Traditionally, tilling is a first step for farmers before sowing seed. But the farm is replacing that with a method with a multitude of benefits, according to Barstow Manz.

“We know that by having a lower impact on that soil, you’re going to keep that soil ecosystem more intact,” Barstow Manz said of the no-till techniques. “So all that good fungi and those good bugs can really thrive. And we know carbon is in things that are alive. So if we can keep the soil more alive, we’ll sequester more carbon in the ground. It reduces erosion. So the amount of soil that’s coming off in the wind and the rain.”

The farm began the shift around 2014. The USDA helped pay for the specialized equipment for the farm to switch to no-till agriculture, and it also studied the crop yields for five years. Now, the fields can produce even more than what was grown with traditional farming techniques.

The farm switched fully to no-till production methods in 2019. These days, the farm leases the equipment to neighboring farms that also adopted no-till production.

This isn’t the only way Barstow Longview Farm is aiming to reduce its “carbon hoof-print,” Barstow Manz said.

Cows, too, are sensitive to temperature. Barstow Manz said the cows on their farm are happiest on a 45-degree day. Happy cows mean better milk, and so the farm seeks ways to boost bovine comfort, such as sprinklers and fans.

And when it comes to the cow waste, the farm years ago installed an anerobic digester, converting methane into enough power for 1,600 homes, Barstow Manz said.

The modern grower’s essential tool

Anthony Reiber, a professor of soil science and horticulture at Greenfield Community College, said a greenhouse is an essential tool for the modern vegetable grower.

In October, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources awarded the college a $300,000 grant for a greenhouse. The funds came from a program intended to boost food security across the region. It was the first time a college received money from that program.

The greenhouse is expected to be operational by June. Greenhouses can be energy intensive, Reiber said, but this one is designed to reduce energy demands. Rather than using fans found in a typical greenhouse, the structure will employ a passive ventilation system that uses convection to move air. The greenhouse will come with curtains that descend during the evening to slow the release of warm air during the night.

Produce grown in the greenhouse will be available at the college’s food pantry.

Even an unheated hoop house, Reiber said, can help farmers cultivate crops like tomatoes, because the environment can be controlled a bit more, as well as guarding against diseases.

Another factor in climate resilience, Reiber said, is using plants that are disease-resistant.

“Growing in these controlled environments can really take the edge off temperature-wise, with controlling humidity levels, controlling moisture levels in the soil. And that can all provide a healthier growing environment,” Reiber said.

Water, water everywhere

Meghan Hastings, farm manager of Dave’s Natural Gardens in Granby, agrees that greenhouses are vital for a modern small farm’s operation.

“If you had to ask me what the most important tool (or) thing on the farm would be, most people would probably think, ‘Oh, it’s the tractor.’ But to be honest with you, it’s probably not. It’s probably a greenhouse, or a zip tie,” she said.

As part of its operation, the farm purchased large caterpillar-style hoop houses with the help of a USDA grant years ago.

In mid-January, the farm began sowing its first batch of tomato seeds, using a greenhouse to control the temperature and water — weeks before many a backyard gardener has even thought about the start of the growing season. The tomatoes will be ready by the end of April, Hastings said.

Almost all of the farm’s produce is sold through its farmes market booth or its community-supported agriculture program.

The biggest effect climate change has wrought on this 32-acre farm concerns water. The farm’s main growing area — about five acres, where a tractor can enter — has poorly draining soil combined with a high water table.

Bouts of heavy rain the last few years left pooling water, which leads to plants rotting in the field.

“When there’s water issues, that’s where things go to die,” Hastings said.

The farm hasn’t abandoned the fields. Instead, it might use the space to graze chickens.

The farm moved its growing operations to smaller fields. The other fields require more manual labor, and the farm has transitioned to rapidly transplanting one crop after the other. The farm has also switched to an essentially no-till operation, Hastings said.

The farm has focused on cutting down the amount of waste. Rather than planting, say, 3,000 lettuce plants all at once, it will plant 100 a week, calculating the amount it needs, Hastings said.

“Cutting down on the space that we’re using is actually beneficial in a lot of ways. It takes a little more planning, versus just planting a ton of stuff and harvesting until it’s gone,” Hastings said.

In the end, changes like this mean Western Massachusetts has a more resilient local food system.

“It’s important for us to have – for food safety and food security – a local food source, you know,” Hastings said. “The pandemic really showed that.”