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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources has granted CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) a $117,000 Agriculture Innovations grant to study the feasibility of building a dairy-processing plant and a high-quality salad greens-processing facility in Western Massachusetts. “We are thrilled that the state is partnering with us to find solutions to the dairy crisis and start to address growing public concern over food safety,” says Annie Cheatham, CISA’s Executive Director. “If deemed feasible, both facilities could open new markets and streams of revenue for local farmers, which will help keep our working farms in business and help keep our food as safe as possible.” DAIRY PROCESSING FACILITY The proposed facility will boost dairy farmers’ profits because it will be largely farmer-owned and will allow farmers to process their milk into products that they can then label and sell directly to consumers. (Currently there is no dairy processing plant in the Commonwealth where a dairy farmer can take his or her milk for processing into products that carry the farmer’s label.) This will help farmers retain more of the profits from retail milk sales. The plant will also be designed so farmers can produce a variety of dairy products so that they can move into new markets. “A dairy processing facility in Western MA could bring our dairy farmers more business at a time when they desperately need to boost their bottom lines,” says Cheatham. CISA will launch the dairy-processing facility study right away with plans to conclude it by the end of the summer. It’s uncertain where the facility will be sited, but CISA is looking first into a South Deerfield location that is central to dairy farms and that offers opportunity for agritourism marketing due to its proximity to Yankee Candle. SALAD GREENS PROCESSING FACILITIES Recent outbreaks of illnesses traced to pre-bagged salad greens have raised industry and consumer concerns about salad green safety. More and more, larger retailers and buyers, such as Whole Foods Market, require that greens are HACCP-certified, which means they must meet the most stringent processing standards. Presently, there are no facilities in the Commonwealth that can process greens to these standards. “The facilities we are studying will allow farmers to produce HACCP-certified greens and market directly to retailers and consumers,” says Annie Cheatham. “Right now, the vast majority of pre-bagged salad greens are grown in California and Arizona. Being HACCP certified will enable our farmers—many of whom can grow greens 10 months out of the year—to compete with this national market. And this certification will allow farmers to access the growing number of markets that require this certification.” Through the feasibility study, which will begin this summer with most research occurring this fall and winter, CISA will determine where it makes the most sense to locate the greens-processing facilities; either at a central location, such as the Community Development Corporation in Greenfield, or at specific farms, or both. CISA is a community organization comprised of farmers, consumers and professionals working together to sustain agriculture and the unique rural character of our communities. CISA is the creator of Senior FarmShare, the Pioneer Valley Women in Agriculture Network, Farm to School projects, a workplace CSA program, and the ‘Be a Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown™’ public awareness campaign. Relevant
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