Farmers across Massachusetts have been struggling with the effects of climate change.
DEERFIELD, Mass (WWLP) – Farmers across Massachusetts have been struggling with the effects of climate change.
“Our food is actually a little more perilous than we might think. Food is something that hits all of us, everybody eats,” said Gideon Porth, owner of Atlas Farm.
The Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture or CISA has declared this week as Climate Change and Farming Week. CISA works to bring the farming community together to share ideas to solve climate problems many are experiencing.
“Why try something that you are not sure about if you can go to a farm and see that it worked or didn’t work and learn from that before you try it yourself” said Stephen Taranto, climate program coordinator at CISA.
A group of local and state leaders traveled to two different farms in Franklin County and spoke with the farm’s owners, listening to the challenges they are facing in relation to climate change.
“Farming is a very low margin business, we are always walking a bit of a financial tightrope, so it doesn’t take much to tip us negative,” said Porth.
One of the biggest challenges for Gideon and Atlas Farms along with farms across the Northeast have been experiencing are the extreme temperature changes over the last few years.
“Many of our farmers last year in the summer of 2023 for example, we had over 1,000 acres of farm land under water during that event that took place in July, the flooding event,” said Melissa Hoffer, the Climate Change Chief for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The State’s Climate Change Chief Melissa Hoffer said they’re working to find solutions, “We have been thinking very hard about how we are going to help to finance the cost of resilience”.
One of those solutions is the Regional Food Resilience Plan, which is looking into how we can produce most of our food here in New England. Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear answer, but farmers, researchers and the state are committed to working together.
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