$85K grant to boost CISA’s Buy Local initiative

Fresh produce available at Natural Roots farm in Conway. Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture’s (CISA) Buy Local campaign will get a boost in the coming months thanks to a Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources grant.

Fresh produce available at Natural Roots farm in Conway. Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture’s (CISA) Buy Local campaign will get a boost in the coming months thanks to a Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources grant. STAFF FILE PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

By CHRIS LARABEE

Staff Writer

Published: 12-17-2023 4:52 PM

SOUTH DEERFIELD — Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture’s (CISA) Buy Local campaign will get a boost in the coming months on the heels of a Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) grant.

CISA received the $84,737 grant on Nov. 27 and will use the money to bolster its regional Buy Local program, which provides consumers with maps showing when and where to buy local produce and where Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) benefits can be used. The Buy Local initiative also highlights farmers throughout the Pioneer Valley.

“A really big part of the work we do at CISA is about educating consumers about local food — where they can find it, what’s in season,” explained Claire Morenon, the agency’s communications manager. “It’s continuing to build connections between farmers and the communities that they feed.”

Part of that program — and certainly the most visible aspect — is the “Be a Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown” campaign, which highlights places where folks can buy food grown in the valley.

Large yellow stickers are the indicator found in store windows.

“From our perspective, this is a central piece of the work that we do and we need ongoing funding in order to strengthen it,” Morenon said. “We are really grateful that the state prioritizes funding work like this because it can be challenging to get funding for ongoing work, even if it’s essential.”

A major aspect of that campaign is available on CISA’s website, where people can type in their ZIP code and what type of produce or product they’re looking for, such as apples, maple syrup or even Christmas trees. They’re then provided the names, addresses, websites and phone numbers of farms and growers.

“It’s meant to be really straightforward so people can find local crops,” Morenon said, noting that even though the harvest season has long come and gone, there’s “still a lot of local food available.”

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The Buy Local database can be accessed at buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.

In this round of grants, MDAR awarded $800,000 to organizations like CISA across the state with the intention of fostering long-term relationships between growers and consumers.

“MDAR values the ingenuity that the Buy Local organizations instill in their own regional and collective work, with many collaborating to enhance their initiatives,” MDAR Commissioner Ashley Randle said in a statement. “Each of the organizations have the pulse of the needs of their farmers/producers in their respective areas. We’re proud to partner with all of them in advancing our shared goals of increasing the purchase and consumption of locally grown food by our consumers in the commonwealth.”

For more information about CISA and the resources it offers to farmers and consumers alike, visit its website at buylocalfood.org.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.