Food safety and infrastructure upgrades are in store for a handful of Franklin County farms thanks to state and federal grant awards.

Of the $1 million in grants awarded to 23 farms through the Agricultural Food Safety Improvement Program and nearly $7.3 million in Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program grants to 16 organizations, four Franklin County farms were awarded $778,286. Both programs are administered by the state Department of Agricultural Resources.

Additionally, on the federal level, Just Roots community farm in Greenfield received more than $233,000 through the Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

With its $492,786 state grant, Just Roots will provide free farm shares to 100 households who identify as low-income or who are experiencing food insecurity as part of its Building Equity for Local Eaters and Farmers (BE-LEAF) program. Just Roots is partnering with nearly a dozen community organizations to enroll participants who will receive weekly distributions of produce and protein from June through October of this year, and monthly distributions from November 2023 to May 2024. With the 61-acre community farm having provided sliding-scale, year-round farm shares for more than a decade, the state grant allows for the expansion of a community supported agriculture (CSA) program that now serves 545 households.

The grant will also support Just Roots’ distribution of free do-it-yourself cooking kits containing fresh, local ingredients and kitchen staples. Staff will show participants how to use the kits during monthly online cooking classes.

Items in the farm shares and the cooking kits will be sourced from Just Roots’ community farm as well as numerous small-scale local farms and food businesses, resulting in increased consumption of locally grown food while expanding economic opportunity for farmers and producers.

“Through this funding, MDAR has provided Just Roots a unique opportunity to ensure a reliable market for a network of local farmers,” Laura Fisher, executive director of Just Roots, said in a statement. “It simultaneously ensures that this locally grown food ends up on the plates of more of our neighbors — those who might otherwise face barriers to participating in our local food economy.”

The $233,000 federal grant, meanwhile, will support work within Just Roots’ barn to maximize storage, capacity, safety and systems. The funding will also support community engagement by investing in the farm as a community resource and gathering space.

“This infusion of funds over 2023 and 2024 gives us the opportunity to build and strengthen the structures and systems that make us an impactful community organization,” Meryl LaTronica, director of farm operations at Just Roots, said in a statement. “Physical improvements to our barn, land and distribution area will allow people to engage more easily and fully in our programs. ... Systems improvements to our wash, pack, storage and food safety plans will go a long way to ensuring a top-quality product reaches our customers.”

Among other state grant recipients is Hager’s Farm Market in Shelburne. The 55-acre farm and retail farm stand got $172,000 through the Agricultural Food Safety Improvement Program for a washing and packing facility.

Kim Stevens, owner of Hager’s Farm Market, said the facility will be for cleaning and packing vegetables, and will include a large cooler that her staff is looking forward to.

“We’re really short on space for properly storing vegetables due to some pretty big growth in our business,” Stevens said. “We’re pretty excited about this grant. We feel it’ll be a great asset.”

Upinngil, a 175-acre farm in Gill, declined its $102,800 Agricultural Food Safety Improvement Program grant award for a washing and packing facility. Isaac Bingham, assistant manager at Uppingil, said the facility would cost about $150,000 in total, meaning Uppingil would still have to pay the difference of about $47,000. Bingham and owner Clifford Hatch noted this would be a substantial investment on the farm’s part for a facility that wasn’t the right size to suit demand at Upinngil.

“What we really need is to handle a small part of our vegetable product,” Hatch said of Upinngil’s needs. “It wouldn’t have been adequate for all that we needed to do. It wasn’t the right scale for what we needed. ... I’d rather situate something that would handle all of our crops.”

Bingham also said farms had to submit their grant applications by November 2022, and needed to complete the construction project and have receipts for contractors submitted by June 30, to receive the reimbursement.

“We didn’t feel like we could get the project done within that time,” he said.

“I am grateful for the money that [the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources] has given us in the past,” Bingham continued, “but we need more time for these projects. ... A year would be best.”

The last Franklin County recipient of an Agricultural Food Safety Improvement Program grant was Quonquont Farm in Whately, which received $10,700 for washing and packing upgrades.

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