Authors: Trevor Campbell & Lam Tran
Interviewees: Jeremy Barker-Plotkin & Dave Tepfer, Farmers & Land Stewards
Website: simplegiftsfarmcsa.com
Simple Gifts Farmstand
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Short Summary
Simple Gifts Farm's mission is to serve as a community-owned preserve supporting an organic vegetable and livestock farm, a wildlife corridor, nature walks, green-energy production, and apprenticeship training. The farm is located on North Pleasant Street just north of the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, and serves North Amherst as well as greater Western Massachusetts.
Profile
In 2004, the fate of a 35.5-acre plot of agricultural land in North Amherst hung in the balance after longtime owner Edwin Dziekanowski fell ill. Forced to part with the land to pay his medical bills, the Dziekanowski family fielded offers from potential buyers, including developers offering as much as $2 million.However, the family’s wish was that the land remain undeveloped, set aside for agricultural use. In support, the adjacent community came together in 2005 to form North Amherst Community Farm (NACF), a volunteer-run non-profit aiming to preserve local farmland and promote sustainable farming. They employ what’s known as a shared stewardship model, in which the community owns farmland that they lease to farmers at a reasonable rate, planning to do so for the foreseeable future.
NACF tapped farmer Jeremy Barker-Plotkin, who founded Belchertown-based Simple Gifts Farm (SGF)—a limited liability for-profit corporation—in 1999, to apply his experience to the newly acquired farmland. In 2006, Dave Tepfer joined SGF.
Cultivating community engagement, Simple Gifts holds multiple events every year. They host an annual Harvest Festival with live music, hay rides, and a farm-fresh feast, as well as a Strawberry Festival. At their monthly “Front Porch Jams,” they host local musicians and invite the community to bring instruments to play along. Off the farm, Dave and Jeremy often attend other festivals and local events in the area.
Formerly, the farm operated as a community-supported agriculture (CSA) model, but Dave and Jeremy knew that there was potential to do more. “In order to reach out to more people in our local community, the farm needed to have something else in addition to the CSA model. That is when big changes came, and a farm store was built to fill a potential need.” At the SGF store, the public can purchase goods from the farm without a subscription.
Self Governance
Dave and Jeremy are ultimately in charge of Simple Gifts Farm. However, Jeremy states that “if [a decision] has a significant impact on the farm, we do have to get permission from NACF, and in which case it's a majority vote of the board.” Like other small businesses, operational rules are written down in SGF’s employment policies. Jeremy adds that “we do have some aspiration to run the farm in a collaborative way with our employees, and to empower them to take as much responsibility for what goes on here as we do.”Running SGF is no easy task. “It's a very difficult and stressful job but…there's nothing like it as far as I can tell,” says Jeremy. “I think that the results that we get are very physical and tangible and real, producing food and feeding people and having a sense of connection to nature.” Jeremy and Dave are motivated by “trying to improve our neighborhood and improve this little corner of our world by being a place where people can come and walk through the farm and enjoy it.” They also highlight that “having a relationship between the farm and the community was the best possible way to manage a resource like this.”
Ownership Model
Jeremy describes the farm as a “shared ownership model between [SGF LLC] and North Amherst Community Farm [non-profit]. The farmland is preserved by the community and we're here, just as stewards of the property, but the land itself and the farm are held as a trust for the community.”The relationship between NACF and Simple Gifts Farm is an innovative blend of public and private ownership. NACF’s lease agreement establishes that Simple Gifts Farm LLC can operate autonomously as long as they meet certain criteria. This includes “[integrating] the diverse groups of our community and [educating] them with the farming process,” says Dave. He also emphasizes regenerative agriculture techniques, to “produce food in such a way that we’re not running the land down and [are taking] steps to improve it.”
Future Goals
There are other projects currently in the works. Dave plans to ramp up off-season production, dedicating more resources toward winter production and expanding storage capacity to store crops from the summer and fall seasons. “We’re [also] looking at expanding our offering for more perennials and small fruit crops to hopefully bring increased diversity to the community’s diet.”Funding
NACF’s funding originated from sources ranging from private donations and loans, to town and state programs, including the Massachusetts Agricultural Preservation Restriction and the Town of Amherst Community Preservation Act.YOUTUBE 5rJpCXqp_8k Mulching with the flail mower