GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Berkshire Community Land Trust's Farmsteads for Farmers will show the award winning regenerative farming film "Kiss the Ground" followed by a panel moderated by Katy Sparks (Edible Natural World) with Berkshire County farmers on May 19 at 4:00pm.

 

Farmers Anna Houston (Off the Shelf Farm), Elizabeth Keen (Indian Line Farm), and Will Conklin (Sky View Farm/Greenagers) will offer their knowledge and expertise to the event.

 

According to a press release:

 

Marketed as "The Most Important Film You'll Ever Watch", Kiss the Ground offers a hopeful message about climate change and the impact of regenerative farming. Regenerative farming techniques, which are thousands of years old and practiced by indigenous cultures across the world, working in sync with nature and science. In doing so these techniques focus on caring for the soil and helping it retain carbon. 

 

Farmsteads for Farmers, an initiative of the 501c3 Berkshire Community Land Trust, was created to serve those who seek security on the land to feed their neighbors. Resources to protect farmstead sites are vital to building a resilient, sustainable future.

 

"Our goal is to stop the loss of our farmland, and provide secure farmsteads for unlanded farmers using regenerative practices. Not only is this a huge local benefit, but the impact is global. This is a climate action we can take in our backyard. Today," said Sarah Downie, vice president of Berkshire Community Land Trust.

 

According to an excerpt from The Massachusetts Farmland Action Plan of 2023-2050, "Protection of farmland soils, a ?nite resource, preserves the rural character of an area, supports domestic food security, acts as a carbon sink stabilizing future greenhouse gas emissions, sustains habitat, provides ?ood control and contributes to local rural economies."

 

In 2022 Great Barrington's Agricultural Committee commissioned a report from the Conway School of Landscape Design.  Titled Growing Better Great Barrington: Toward a Regional Food Economy in the Southern Berkshires, the report highlighted insecure access to land and housing by regional farmers as the prime obstacle to establishing food security.

  

The Farmsteads for Farmers initiative of the Berkshire Community Land Trust is a response to the problem described in the report.  Currently Farmsteads for Farmers is working toward the purchase of River Run Farm in Great Barrington. The first long term lessee of River Run Farm will be Off the Shelf Farm, a regenerative chicken, egg, and poultry farm. Purchase of River Run and leasing to Off the Shelf Farm will remove the burden of land debt from the farmers' business costs while enabling them to build equity in their improvements. Funds raised to secure the site ensure affordable access to local farmland and farm housing for generations to come. The voters of Great Barrington have supported this effort with a $300,000 CPA grant. 

 

"Soil improvements are already visible from Off the Shelf Farm's regenerative practices. It's exciting and tangible. After seeing this film you get the sense that there is hope, and real action that can be taken today. And that's what Farmsteads for Farmers is doing," said Downie.