Berkshire Grown has funding to provide individualized technical assistance to beginning farmers and direct market farmers in the form of business and marketing support. The technical assistance can include business growth/planning strategies, including website construction, e-commerce set-up, marketing/advertising, and other business planning needs. The technical assistance can be a single session with a Berkshire Grown staff member or with an external consultant.
Mentorship Opportunities for Beginning Farmers
For beginning farmers looking for a long-term mentorship opportunity, Berkshire Grown is pleased to offer a one-on-one mentorship program. This lightly-structured program will take place over a period of 5 months and include 5 hours of conversation/support from an experienced farmer.
Seeking Producers to Mentor New and Aspiring Farmers
Are you an experienced farmer interested in mentoring a beginning farmer? Berkshire Grown is seeking mentors from diverse agricultural industries and with expertise to provide in-depth mentorship to beginning farmers. A stipend is provided to mentors for their time. This program has a time commitment of 5 hours over a period of 5 months.
If you are interested in receiving technical assistance support, or in acting as a farmer mentor, please email Ian Brunell at ian@berkshiregrown.org.
Local Food and Farming events happening throughout the Berkshire region are on the calendar below.
Events displayed in red are open and of interest to the general public; those in green are appropriate for farmers and food businesses.
To subscribe to one or both of the calendars, click on the “+ Google Calendar” button at the bottom right-hand corner. Your calendar will open and you can choose which Berkshire Grown calendar you wish to add – “Community Events” or “Farmers and Food Business Events.” The button looks like this:
Berkshire Grown hosts our own events throughout the year. For a sampling, see the list below and visit the appropriate month on the calendar for details.
Farmer Workshops (January-March)
Spring Supper (March/April)
Summer Event (varies)
Harvest Supper (September) Indoor Farmers Markets (Williamstown Nov & Dec, Great Barrington Nov-April)
Throughout this 2020 Summer Podcast Series, Berkshire Grown hears from farmers and agricultural professionals from both in and beyond the Berkshires to learn about the different ways farmers are farming and getting their products to market. These 30 minute interviews let farmers share their own experiences out in the field, in the barn and marketing their farm’s products. Some weeks may include conversations with other ag professionals working on issues related to local food and food access. These podcasts are a part of Berkshire Grown’s Technical Assistance program to connect farmers with other farmers in order to learn from each other
Bigfoot Farm is a small, diversified vegetable farm located in Northern Berkshire County with most of the labor done by hand and without herbicides and pesticides. Brian speaks to the importance of community engagement and relationship building at the farmer’s market, his new online sales approach in response to COVID-19 and the benefit of leasing land for emerging farmers that don’t have access to inherited land or the ability to purchase.
In this podcast series Berkshire Grown hears from farmers both in and beyond the Berkshires to learn about the different ways farmers are farming and getting their products to market. These 30 minute interviews let farmers share their own experiences out in the field, in the barn and marketing their farm’s products.
These podcasts are a part of Berkshire Grown’s Technical Assistance program to connect farmers with other farmers in order to learn from each other.
Farmers Talk to Berkshire Grown – Episode 2
Abby Ferla – Foxtrot Farm – Ashfield, MA.
Foxtrot Farm is a certified organic 2 acre farm in the hilltowns of western Massachusetts with a focus on growing foods that walk the line between medicine and food. Foxtrot Farm implements no-till farming systems and avoids the use of fossil fuels. In this conversation, Abby talks about the launch of their new Resilient & Healing Foods CSA program, food justice and activist farming perspective and the importance of Instagram as a marketing tool for the farm.
In this podcast series Berkshire Grown hears from farmers both in and beyond the Berkshires to learn about the different ways farmers are farming and getting their products to market. These 30 minute interviews let farmers share their own experiences out in the field, in the barn and marketing their farm’s products.
These podcasts are a part of Berkshire Grown’s Technical Assistance program to connect farmers with other farmers in order to learn from each other.
Berkshire Grown is Here to Help
With an increase in demand for locally produced food, farmers are being asked to shift their sales approach in order to reach consumers. Berkshire Grown has created technical assistance resources to help farmers with the transitions brought on by COVID-19. Our goal is to help farmers pivot their sales strategies and strengthen their online marketing and sales presence in order to provide wider access to their farms’ products and diversify their consumer markets.
Hearing from farmers over the last month, Berkshire Grown has identified different areas of need to help farms navigate the pandemic crisis and its effects on farm product sales. The organization will be offering the following:
One-on-one assistance developing simple pre-order systems and on-farm pick-up safety protocols
Help identifying point of sale software systems for farm web stores
Funding support for consultations with marketing and web professionals to help create a stronger web presence and online store
Networking CSA farmers with additional crops andvalueaddedproductsfromotherfarmproducers
Weekly farmer-to-farmer online meet-ups focused on technical assistance questions in response to COVID-19.
Compilation of up-to-date COVID-19 resources related to farm businesses and operations
We will continue to update guidelines and available resources on our website here.
Looking for technical assistance related to COVID-19 not listed above? Let us know! We want to hear from you! How you are doing? What are the effects of COVID-19 on your farm’s operations?Let us know the type of support you need. Contact us with any updates and questions related to your farm’s new sales outlets and systems in response to COVID-19.
