Flying in a helicopter above Massachusetts cranberry bogs in October was a new experience for National Farmers Union Vice President Claudia Svarstad, Stan Brown from Midwest Insurance Agency, and Annie Cheatham, President of New England Farmers Union. Farmers were busy collecting the tangy harvest on the Harju Farm in Plympton, Massachusetts when these three and a dozen other guests were treated to the walking and helicopter tour organized by the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association. They watched as thousands of pounds of cranberries were corralled, then pumped into three tractor trailer trucks before being hauled to the Ocean Spray processing facility in Middleboro, Massachusetts. Jeff LaFleur was our host, explaining all of the many steps involved in growing cranberries.

The helicopter ride was the only time our feet left the ground, but we felt like we were running during the whole week of October 19–23, 2009. We met with the farmers, state agriculture officials and others in Rhode Island where Noah Fulmer from Farm Fresh Rhode Island hosted us. While meeting with Noah, we invited him to serve on the Board of Advisors for New England Farmers Union, and he agreed to have his name placed in nomination.

We sat down with Sue Nickerson, Executive Director, and Ben Martens, Policy Analyst, from the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen Association at their offices in North Chatham to talk about strategy for strengthening their relationship with New England Farmers Union. The Hook Fishermen have been members of NEFU since 2006. We agreed to continue to work together to identify areas where NEFU can help strengthen the Association’s programs with access to economic development grant funding.

Claudia and Stan got a good sense of the strength of the “buy local” efforts in Massachusetts by talking with Jay Coburn, Executive Director for the Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP), leaders on the “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” brand. They also spent time with Phil Korman, Executive Director of CISA, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, in South Deerfield, Massachusetts where the “Be a Local Hero/Buy Locally Grown” program has led for over a decade. And a drive to the Berkshires to meet with Barbara Zheutlin, Executive Director of Berkshire Grown helped Claudia and Stan understand the relationships between farmers in western Massachusetts and restaurants in the Berkshires.

We also visited with Board member Susan Phinney at Whole Foods Market in Bellingham, Massachusetts where we held an NEFU Board meeting. During that meeting, the current Board elected two new members of the Board: Dorn Cox, farmer from New Hampshire, and Ida DeFrancesco, farmer from Connecticut, and two members of the Board of Advisors, Noah Fulmer from Farm Fresh Rhode Island and Darlene Monds, NRCS-RC&D Coordinator from Berkshire-Pioneer RC&D Council. Welcome to these new leaders for New England Farmers Union!

We had a delicious lunch cooked by Julie Rawson at Many Hands Organic Farm and Jack Kittridge. Julie and Jack are coordinators for Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA-MA), and we discussed ways for NEFU and NOFA to develop partnerships for advocacy. We also met with Bob Wagner from American Farmland Trust, the director of the University of Massachusetts Extension Service, Nancy Garranbrants, Darryl Williams from Williams Dairy Farm in Hatfield, Massachusetts, Kathy Orlando from the Sheffield Land Trust, and Billie Best, independent advocate for farmers and food. Also Greg Melnik, former loan officer for First Pioneer Farm Credit joined us for breakfast to discuss insurance needs for farmers and their families.

We ended our trip with a visit to Joe DeFrancesco’s greenhouse and nursery farm in Northford, Connecticut, where Ida DeFrancesco and Joe gave us a tour of their large operation. Ida had been elected to the Board of Directors only two days before our meeting! We are very glad to have a representative of this important New England industry on our Board. Welcome, Ida. As you can see, flying in a helicopter was not the only time our feet left the ground! We look forward to working with all of these important partners in the months and years ahead as we bring National Farmers Union’s voice to New England farmers and fishermen.

Annie Cheatham, reporting, November 2, 2009