Western Massachusetts farms are warning of higher prices and less produce as federal cuts and other pressures mount against them.
Red Fire Farm, which grows on 200 acres in Granby and Montague, has decided to end their booth at the
Greenfield farmer's market this summer and reduce staff overall.
Co-owner Ryan Voiland said the farm will also likely raise prices somewhat to make up for cuts in federal funding and higher equipment costs from the Trump tariffs.
"We're trying to stay competitive but also have prices that realistically reflect what it costs to do the work," he said.
Among the federal cuts made by the Trump istration, local farms have lost grants for energy projects already underway and programs that distribution of local produce in schools.
"That could screw up the whole local food marketplace"
Although Voiland said Red Fire Farm does not rely much on the farm-to-school program, "I think that could screw up the whole local food marketplace, because then all these other farms don't have a market," he said. "And it could really mean there's not enough buyers for what's being grown."
Voiland said Red Fire will only be farming 85 acres this summer, down from 120.
Claire Morenon, of Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), said she can't predict food prices this summer because no one knows which programs and projects will be funded.
"It's been extremely chaotic, and that in itself has been a huge part of the challenge (for farmers)," she said.
Morenon said farm advocates are urging the state to help more, especially in light of federal cuts. That would include fully reinstating the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), which helped low-income consumers buy produce at farmers markets. The state significantly scaled back that program in December, causing steep losses for many farms.
Beyond a "simple left/right, blue/red binary"
Morenon said the new strains on farms, including recent ICE arrests of undocumented farmworkers, will have much greater impact than just the cost of produce.
"So many of the things that we're seeing happen right now pose a threat to a lot of core values that so many people share across political differences," she said.
"Something that we are seeing with the ICE actions and immigration arrests are potentially threats to basic constitutional rights. So many of the cuts that we're seeing to farmer programs and food access programs, those are going to make it harder for kids to have access to healthy food and for farmers to steward their land and the ecosystems that they're responsible for. It's going to make it harder for them to grow food, to feed their communities," Morenon said.
"And I think that these are issues that people should understand as being beyond a simple left/right, blue/red binary."
