Berkshire County Farms Awarded Grants

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BOSTON — The state awarded farms in West Stockbridge and Lee grants to address composting and climate smart agriculture. 
 
The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced $3.6 million in more than 100 grant awards through several programs, including the Agricultural Food Safety Improvement Program (AFSIP), the Agricultural Composting Improvement Program (ACIP), the Cranberry Bog Renovation (CBRG) Program, and the Climate Smart Agriculture Program (CSAP).
 
"From the Berkshires to Barnstable County, our farms are significant economic drivers and the backbone of our local food system. Their success benefits us all," said Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll. "Programs like these help improve and strengthen Massachusetts farms in the short and long term."
 
The Agricultural Composting Improvement Program (ACIP) funds equipment and projects to improve agricultural composting practices and facilitate the use of compost as a valuable soil amendment on farms. MDAR also provides technical assistance to farms conducting agricultural composting and encourages farms to utilize compost as a soil amendment or manure management tool.
 
Baldwin Farm in West Stockbridge was awarded a $21,874.50 ACIP grant to purchase a compost screener.
 
High Lawn Farm in Lee was awarded a $28,200 ACIP grant to purchase a compost spreader.
 
 
 
 
 
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Mount Greylock School Committee OKs Budget Without Adding Elementary School Position

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee approved a fiscal year 2027 spending plan  on Thursday that officials characterize as a "level services" budget.
 
The elected body approved the same budget it reviewed two days earlier after deciding not to add an additional full-time teaching position at Williamstown Elementary School as advocated by a half-dozen WES parents who addressed the committee in the annual budget public hearing.
 
That additional position, a math interventionist sought by the WES School Council, would have added about $120,000 (for salary and benefits) to the assessment to Williamstown and raised that assessment to 14.42 percent over the amount raised for the district through Williamstown property taxes in the current fiscal year.
 
Before taking a vote to advance the budget as drafted, School Committee member Jose Constantine moved that the bottom line be increased by the $120,000 necessary for the full-time math interventionist. His motion was defeated, 4-2, with Curtis Elfenbein joining Constantine in the minority and Steven Miller, who joined the meeting late, not voting.
 
The final, original, budget then was passed on a vote of 6-0, setting the stage for the district's presentation to the Williamstown Finance Committee on Wednesday and to the Lanesborough Fin Comm and Select Board on April 6.
 
Ultimately, the budget will show up on the annual town meeting warrants in Lanesborough and Williamstown, where voters later this spring will have an up-or-down vote. The budget approved on Thursday would raise the assessment to Williamstown by 13.61 percent, year-to-year, and in Lanesborough by 10.99 percent.
 
Williamstown would be on the hook for $16.8 million (up about $2 million from FY26). Lanesborough's assessment would be $7.6 million (up by $751,000).
 
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