PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
July 13, 2006
Info: Therese Fitzsimmons, 413-665-7100, therese@buylocalfood.com

Noted farmer speaks at Pioneer Valley Women’s Agriculture Network Meeting July 27
Cheryl Rogowski, MacArthur ‘genius’ awardee, tells farmers to ‘work smarter, not harder’

In 1995, when Cheryl Rogowski was faced with managing her family farm into the 21st century, she saw many challenges: a single crop farm (onions) located far from direct markets, rising land and fuel costs and a competitive global market that drove her farm’s prices lower each year. “The most common saying I've heard in this business is get big, get weird or get out," says Rogowski. "We got weird."

For Rogowski, getting weird meant radically changing her farm’s harvest from a single crop to a diverse one. And if there were no markets coming to her for her food, she would bring her food to the market. The result was the transformation into a direct marketing farm that developed markets in New York City, bringing farm-fresh produce to urban dwellers through farmers markets and community supported agriculture shares. Rogowski, like other farmers, constantly seeks ways to innovate and improve her business. Her latest idea is the creation of a farm kitchen where she can provide catering services and make and sell pre-cooked meals with her farm’s produce to customers.

Rogowski’s work was recognized in 2004 by the MacArthur Foundation, which awarded her one of their ‘genius’ fellowships.

Local farmers and residents are invited to hear Rogowski talk about ‘working smarter, not harder’ at the Second Annual Celebration of Women in Agriculture meeting on Thursday, July 27 at 6 p.m. in the Whately Town Hall, 194 Chestnut Plain Road. Admission is free; dinner and childcare are provided free of charge for those who register by July 24. For more information or to register, call 413-665-7100 or email therese@buylocalfood.com.

Cheryl Rogowski is available for interviews by calling her cell phone, 845-742-1613. Her farm’s web site is http://www.rogowskifarm.com/.

This event is sponsored by the Pioneer Valley Women’s Agricultural Network, CISA, and the USDA/RMA.