Annual Report
CISA Annual Meeting
The Red Barn, Hampshire College
November 30, 2005
by Annie Cheatham, Executive Director

Thank you for coming to CISA’s 12th Annual Meeting, for bringing such delicious food, and good friends. And thanks to all of our out going and continuing Board members who serve so faithfully; to our new Board members who bring their passion for CISA’s mission; to our volunteers who give many hours in support of CISA.

And finally, thanks to the staff -- a remarkable group of talented professionals, who strive for excellence everyday, who dream of impossible projects, then work out the details to turn them into great successes, who laugh and eat together with great pleasure. I’d like to ask them to stand as I call their names: Sara Silvia, CISA’s Development Director; Mark Lattanzi, Margaret Christie and Kelly Coleman, all managing various CISA programs, and Jennifer Williams serves as Administrative Assistant to us all. Michele Marotta was with us through early October when she left to give birth to Andy Marotta. We look forward to continuing to work with Michele on the Development Committee. I’d also like to thank several people who work as contractors on special projects:

• Kathy Ruhf is managing our Farm2City project and our CT Buy Local feasibility study;
• Therese Fitzsimmons is working on the Women in Agriculture project;
• Rachel Chandler-Worth and Ann Gibson developed Farm2City and and worked on Senior FarmShare for Hampden County, and Rachel worked as our staff photographer this year;
• Jim Hafner is writing the feasibility study for CT Buy Local.
• Christine Serrentino and Apple Ahearn helped us with the grass fed beef and wool blanket projects this year.

And finally, Susan Bergeron-West, CISA’s graphics designer, keeps CISA’s images fresh and lively.

A big thank you to them all!

Last year I focused on two questions: 1. Why does CISA exist? (to raise awareness of the importance of local agriculture and to help farmers sustain their farms) and 2. What is the scope of the problems we are trying to solve? (citizen indifference and ignorance, global pressures on agriculture, dwindling farmland due to housing pressures, zoning and taxation, a growing population of citizens without access to local food. The programs we launched in 2005 addressed these problems, and we must ask now, What has been the impact? What difference has our 2005 activity made to Massachusetts agriculture and to our local communities? Here is a brief summary:

Senior FarmShare
• 205 seniors served in Hampden and Franklin Counties
• Over $20,000 paid to farmers for shares
• Partners provided nutrition information, cookbooks, vegetable steamers
• Farm visit to Sunderland farm for 45 Hampden County seniors and 2 Franklin County seniors which included u-pick component
• 90% return on evaluation surveys from farmers and seniors – all very positive

Farm2City
• Nearly 80 CSA shareholders in Hampden County; 52 of whom were employees at MassMutual
• Over $50,000 paid to farmers for shares
• 9 farms involved
• 7 drop off points
• Partners provided youth managers at 2 sites
• Nutrition education at 2 farmers markets
• Purchased Electronic Business Transfer (Food Stamp machines) for 2 farmers market to encourage Food Stamp recipients to use the markets.

Local Hero Schools Network
• Electronic newsletter written and sent on bi-monthly basis.
• Three network meetings held with 25-30 people at each meeting sharing information about working with schools.
• Partners continue to be Seeds of Solidarity Farm and Fertile Ground

Pioneer Valley Women in Agriculture Network
• Three networking meetings held with over 125 attending
• Electronic newsletter to be developed in 2006
• 6 networking meetings planned in 2006
• 7 women farmers attending regional and national conferences

Local Hero Program
• 130 farmers, 9 farmers markets, 3 speciality foods, 5 garden centers/nurseries/landscapers, 15 restaurants, 44 retailers involved
• Farm Products Guide distributed to 250,000 people
• UMass and Amherst College joining the Local Hero Program and committing to purchase over 15% local food. Over $350,000 into the local farm economy.
• Organized Cabin Fever Farm Tour and Marketplace and Asparagus Festival. Helped with Cider Days. Wrote and published Creating Successful Agritourism Activities for Your Farm.

Massachusetts Heritage Wool Blanket
• 23 farms involved, statewide
• 3,200 pounds of raw wool bought from farmers for $1,200
• Wool processed in MA (spun, woven and finished) resulting in $23,700 paid to MA businesses
• 650 blankets produced
• 12 farms have bought 163 blankets for resale. Resale will net them $10,200.

Grass Fed Beef Project
• 9 farms in Franklin County involved
• One farm explored forming Limited Licensing Corporation (LLC) to market beef from other farms.
• Several farms exploring forming a cooperative.
• Expands available beef products for local retailers to meet growing demand

Advocacy for Agriculture
• Organized 5 regional meetings to introduce concept of Town Agricultural Commissions and Right to Farm Bylaws with partners at the MA Department of Ag Resources and Highlands Communities Initiative
• Over 200 people attended
• Assisted 17 towns in their formation of Agricultural Commissions
• Attended national summit in Washington, DC on planning for 2007 Farm Bill

Communications
• 10,000 average page views per month on www.buylocalfood.com
• 5,000 copies of Field Notes print newsletter distributed twice annually
• 1,600 readers for CISA’s monthly electronic newsletter
• Over 75 stories in local and national media about CISA’s work
• 2,000 bumper stickers distributed
• 3 vans in Chicopee promoting the farmers market on van signs inside and outside the vans. These signs will be on the vans through 2006.
• Radio ads on 4 English and 1 Latino stations, totaling $12,000
• Print ads in 6 area newspapers, totaling $10,000
• 1,500 posters distributed in Hampden County in 4 languages (Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese and Polish) promoting 3 farmers markets in Springfield, Chicopee and Holyoke

Development
• 910 donations made so far in 2005
• $102,000 raised so far from individuals, businesses, sponsorships and events, or 22% of budget
• 110+ volunteers gave time to CISA during 2005
• $40,000 in kind contributions made so far in 2005
• Trademarked “Be a Local Hero/Buy Locally Grown” with US Patent and Trademark Office and State of Massachusetts. CISA’s first ownership of “intellectual property.”
• Purchased One Sugarloaf Street, South Deerfield building for $325,000 with 100% financing from Greenfield Cooperative Bank and the Franklin County Community Development Corporation.

Would it matter if CISA ceased to be a part of the western Massachusetts agriculture, its economy and communities? The answer to that is a resounding YES. CISA is making an economic difference for farmers and for other local businesses. UMass and Amherst College are not buying local food because it is easy. They are buying local food because CISA has helped raise awareness about the importance of buying local food. MassMutual Financial Group didn’t open their doors to a local farm to sell to their employees because it was commonplace to do so. They opened their doors because it was presented to them by Mike Marotta, a CISA spouse, and implemented effectively with CISA staff, partners and a local farmer. Bay State Health System is copying the MassMutual program because it makes good sense. All of these connections and others like them are keeping money flowing within the region, strengthening our economy AND preserving and sustaining farms in the process.

We will continue this work in 2006 in urban communities, with men and women farmers, with public and private institutions, and in collaboration with many partners. We have embarked on a new strategic planning process that will outline CISA’s direction for the next 4 years. The question that Kathy Lawrence will address is, How can CISA transform awareness into action? What will we do with the success we have had? What is the next message that CISA should deliver to help citizens become more than consumers of farm products, but advocates for agriculture and for the values inherent in agriculture? In this time of fundamental conservatism, or radical right wing politics, what could be more radical, more fundamental, more conservative than the values of community, land preservation, hard, honest work, and resourcefulness? The work of CISA is not only to raise awareness but to raise radicals. Let’s reframe “conservative” to describe what we already do.

Conclusion: You can take credit for this work. It is yours. You have supported CISA with your time, your skills, your advice, your passion about western Massachusetts. You have made it possible for CISA staff to do this work. Thank you for your confidence in us. Your contributions of time and money have helped CISA achieve its current level of influence.

Please continue to support CISA. Three local philanthropists have given CISA a challenge: Raise $28,000 by the end of December, and we will donate an additional $12,000 to CISA. We appreciate their confidence in CISA and we are confident that we can meet this challenge. You can help. Please consider writing CISA a check, making a gift of stock, making a multi-year pledge, writing CISA into your will. We will keep your gift anonymous if you want. Help us meet our year end challenge so we can continue the programs I have outlined for 2006. And please continue to give CISA your precious time and your energy.

Thank you for your passion, for your faith that a strong community with a rural character will benefit us all, and for your willingness to see it manifest. CISA is your organization, we are a community involved in sustaining agriculture. May we make 2006 the best year yet for farmers and our community.

Annie Cheatham
Executive Director