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By JACOB NELSON

Plenty of young kids tap a few maple trees, inspired by the sweet promise of maple syrup. Few become enamored with it to the point of kickstarting a family business. Cooper Deane, who helps run Bear Hill Sugar Farm, is one of them.

By JACOB NELSON

Spring is here, and with it are signs of new life on farms around the Valley. Leaves are beginning to bud on fruit trees, farmers are preparing soil for the coming growing season, and at Little Brook Farm in Sunderland, day-old baby lambs are bounding around the lambing barn.

By CHRIS LARABEE

BOSTON — As farmers prepare to head out to the fields for the season, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle sent a letter to the new U.S. agriculture secretary expressing concerns over uncertain federal funding and other actions taken by the federal government.

By CHRIS LARABEE

WASHINGTON — As federal dollars continue to be frozen for projects across the nation, a Pioneer Valley farm has joined a federal lawsuit demanding the government lift the “unlawful and indefinite freeze of congressional appropriated funds,” according to documents filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

By CHINANU OKOLI

Applications are rolling in for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources’ new Farm Transfer Planning Assistance initiative that connects aging farmers and their successors with experienced planners to set retirement goals and figure out how management and assets will be transferred.

By LISA GOODRICH

For local farmers, winter is a time for planning the next growing season, catching up on small business tasks, and maintaining structures and equipment. For the local community, winter is the time to lock in prices on produce for the growing season by signing up for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

AMHERST — As visitors from throughout the country toured ServiceNet’s successful Prospect Meadow Farm in Hatfield on Monday to learn about “care farming” — a therapeutic approach that combines agriculture and health care — Shawn Robinson shared the story of an employee who was thriving while working at the 18-acre property.

By CHRIS LARABEE

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) is seeking information about weather-related losses in 2023 and 2024 from farmers across the state as it prepares to report damages to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which will split up $220 million in relief funding among eight states.

By CHRIS LARABEE

SOUTH DEERFIELD — After a national search, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) has found a new executive director right here in the Pioneer Valley. The agency has chosen Jennifer Core, a Warwick resident and farmer with a background...

By CHRIS LARABEE

DEERFIELD — With folks confined to their homes in the early days of the pandemic, but still looking for local produce, Julia Coffey and her team at Mycoterra Farm branched out to bring products to their doors in the form of Mass Food Delivery.While...

By JACOB NELSON

The Christmas season, for people who celebrate, tends to be full of traditions. Maybe it’s watching the same corny holiday movies every year. Maybe it’s making Grandma’s special cookies, a yellowing index card with her faded cursive handwriting...

By CHRIS LARABEE

SOUTH DEERFIELD — New life may soon be coming to the vacant farmstand at the intersection of Routes 5 and 10 and North Hillside Road.Maple Valley Creamery, the Hadley-based dairy farm that also operates Maple Valley’s Scoop at the Silos, is eyeing the...

By JACOB NELSON

In South Deerfield, the North Main Street bridge over the railroad tracks has been closed for repairs since May. “I was joking that we’re probably the only ones on this street happy about the detour,” Kelly Kicza says with a laugh.That’s because cars...

By JACOB NELSON

Jared Duval built his farm around Massachusetts’ innovative Healthy Incentives Program (HIP). Since 2017, HIP has helped tens of thousands of lower-income households buy fresh produce grown by local farmers. By most accounts, it’s been a wild success,...

By MARA MELLITS

Earlier this year, a nationwide outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in cows caused panic for dairy farmers everywhere. Now, Massachusetts has become the only state to test all of its dairy herds, from 95 farms, and achieve 100% negative...

By JACOB NELSON

When Heather McCann founded her Belchertown farm, Rustic Outlook, in 2020, she picked a niche that few local farmers have chosen. She decided to make beans her thing.Dry beans, specifically. They’re a pantry staple that lasts for years and a delicious...

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERIand SAMUEL GELINAS

Some squash, pumpkin and potato farmers in the Pioneer Valley are bearing the burden of a soil-based disease described by one farmer as being “like the plague” for these and potentially many more species.Walking through a barren pumpkin patch late...

By CHRIS LARABEE

SUNDERLAND — Two local farms opened their doors to Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer on Monday morning to talk about the challenges brought on by climate change, as well as opportunities for future investments in the industry.The state’s first-ever climate...

By LISA GOODRICH

Sunset Farm in Amherst is a neighborhood farm that emphasizes the social aspects of farming in community. Owners Connie and Bill Gillen grow vegetables and flowers on 10 acres, within walking and biking distance of the University of Massachusetts...

By CHRIS LARABEE

Corn one, come all! The circus is coming to Sunderland this fall, as Mike’s Maze turns itself into a corn-ival for the 2024 season, with its “Join the Circus” theme.With stars and the theme’s phrase etched into the cornfield, the famous labyrinth is...

By JACOB NELSON

For over two decades, J & J Farms stood alone as the last dairy farm in Amherst. Many other small New England dairies shuttered as the economy shifted even more in favor of mega-dairies, but the Waskiewicz family held on, milking cows while also...