River Run Farm, photo by Ciana Barnaba | |
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Dear Friend:
The May flowers are abundant and the hills are lush with shades of green. This time of year brings a beautiful change in our landscape. Similarly, BAV has some news of change we are eager to share.
BAV is delighted to announce we have welcomed Rebecca Busansky as the new Executive Director on May 15th, following the successful tenure of Interim Director, Glenn Bergman.
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Glenn’s leadership over the past two and half years resulted in significant growth and advancement for BAV. He successfully built a talented staff of experts to lead BAV’s programs, and secured strong support for the organization's initiatives. Glenn’s dedication and enthusiasm for BAV will be deeply missed, and we express our gratitude for his valuable contributions.
We excitedly welcome Rebecca Busansky, previously serving as a Program Director at the Franklin County Community Development Corporation (FCCDC). She joined the FCCDC in 2015 where her work focused on helping local farms thrive and increasing food access. During her time there Rebecca, and team, launched the PVGrows Investment Fund an innovative community investment vehicle which provides financing and technical assistance to farm and local food entrepreneurs primarily in western MA. She also managed the Mass Food Trust Program since its inception in 2018, which provides financing to increase the availability of affordable healthy food in underserved communities across the Commonwealth.
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Rebecca is thrilled about joining the organization sharing, “I am honored and excited to take on the role of Executive Director at Berkshire Ag Ventures. I look forward to working with the talented team here to build on the organization's success and together continue to bring new ideas and innovations to our work.” | | | |
Join BAV in welcoming her to the team! | |
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BAV’s Market Match Fund springs back into action as farmers market season begins! Check out our website for a refresher on how this important food access program works.
You may recall earlier this year, BAV held a fundraising campaign (Double SNAP for a Great(er) Impact) to grow the impact of this program. Because of the generous outpouring of community support, this year we’ve been able to do exactly that!
In 2023, BAV is thrilled to announce our support of 10 Berkshire-area farmers markets in offering a $1-for-$1 SNAP match up to $30. Providing SNAP customers $60 to spend on local foods. This year’s support totals more than $140,000!
The participating markets include: Williamstown, North Adams, Pittsfield, West Stockbridge, Lee, Great Barrington, Sheffield, Millerton, New Milford Farmers Market and the Winter Farmers Markets organized by Berkshire Grown.
All in all, the Market Match Fund provides critical support to Berkshire County farmers markets, leveling the playing field of who can afford local foods, ultimately leading to stronger, healthier communities and thriving local agribusinesses well into the future.
We are extremely grateful to our 2023 program sponsors, and to all the individuals who have already contributed to this important program. We can’t wait to share more updates as the season progresses!
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Building Capacity in the Regional Food System | |
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Together with an additional $210,000 match from community members, BAV will use this grant to establish a dedicated $840,000 revolving loan fund that will enable us to issue loans to meat processors within the Berkshire-Taconic foodshed, over the next three years.
Photo by Paige Storti
As these loans are repaid, they will be invested into a permanent funding mechanism that will significantly enhance BAV’s ability to support any kind of local food processing, distribution, and aggregation.
The creation of this additional, dedicated loan fund complements the work we do through our Local Meat Processing Support Program (LMPSP). The LMPSP has helped BAV forge relationships with many of the existing meat processors in the Berkshire-Taconic region. Now with the MPILP funding, BAV looks forward to working with other regional processors to assess needs, develop strategies, and build a more resilient regional meat processing system!
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Food Business Spotlight
Plymouth Meats LLC
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Plymouth Meats, located in Terryville CT, is a woman-owned, multi-species small slaughter and processing facility. Owner and operator Katie Adkins opened the doors in 2017 after almost 6 years of planning, acquiring property and getting her necessary regulatory plans in place. Today, Plymouth Meats is a full service USDA inspected facility - from harvesting to packaging all under one roof. They also offer custom harvesting and processing!
Plymouth Meats was the first processor to sign up for technical assistance offered under BAV’s Local Meat Processing Support Program. Through this program Katie worked in-depth for 18 months with Kitchen Table Consultants (KTC) to develop business and management skills. Katie also worked closely with AgriForaging Food Safety to develop new food safety plans and to design a new smoking program at Plymouth.
The end results of this engagement with Plymouth has been that Katie has much stronger business skills and tools, as well as higher employee retention. More importantly, Katie has come to really enjoy using these new found skills and tools!
Through the work with KTC and AgriForaging plus a loan from BAV, Plymouth Meats is currently building out a smokehouse at the facility, which will allow them to produce bacon, smoked sausages, and snack sticks in house. This will be a huge improvement for Plymouth as well as for Plymouths customers!
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"Working with BAV has been a life changing experience. As a single owner operator of a small business it’s hard to know how, where or when to ask for help and guidance. Through BAV and their partners I have become a more confident and strategic business owner, and leader. Without BAV I would have never been able to implement adding a smokehouse so soon in my business growth and with such confidence that it is the right strategic decision.”
-Katie Adkins, Owner & Operator
Photo courtesy of Katie Adkins
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Tragedy struck our farming community recently...
A devastating fire burned down the barn at Migliorelli Farm, in Red Hook, NY - one of the oldest and best-recognized family farms in Dutchess County. The fire torched this iconic red barn, a building 350 feet long and 60 feet in width at one point and 80 feet wide at another, completely to the ground.
Thankfully no one was injured, but it left Migliorelli Farm with an upward estimate of $750,000 in damages and losses.
A family friend of Migliorelli has started a GoFundMe to help offset some of the damages. BAV has contributed toward this campaign. We encourage you to join us in supporting this family in their time of need.
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Support BAV today, and join us in building the future of local food in our community. | |
Photo credits: unless photo credits are placed in the footer for space-saving. | | | | |
