Monica Hernandez and Riley Gilroy of Go Fresh Mobile Market. Stephanie Craig Photography

The Go Fresh Mobile Market, which is operated by Wellspring Cooperative, brings fresh, local produce to over 20 sites around Springfield and serves as an essential HIP and SNAP access point for the communities they serve.

The Go Fresh Mobile Market is now in its 13th year. It started out as a project of the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, and then was run by the Springfield YMCA, which is when Market Manager Riley Gilroy and Assistant Market Manager Monica Hernandez both came on, and it finally landed with Wellspring two years ago. This history speaks to the fact that this market exists because of the input, labor, and support of many people and institutions over many years. And that continues to be the case: while a mobile market is such a straightforward solution to many of the specific challenges that many people face in accessing fresh produce (whether that is mobility challenges, being able to access sites that process HIP, or being able to find and afford culturally relevant products), that doesn’t mean it’s easy. It requires a lot of organizational support, funding for the equipment, and daily sweat equity to source the food and set up for each market.

Riley and Fred Rose, who is a co-director at Wellspring, both talk about how important the input of customers is to the way the market is run, especially when it comes to sourcing foods that people want to eat. They prioritize relationships with their shoppers and with the farmers they source from, and they rely heavily on those relationships to find new farmers to buy from, which includes a particular focus on sourcing from BIPOC farmers.

Last year, the market ran year-round for the first time. Now, they are expanding to a second van so they can serve more communities, and are especially focused on expanding their reach to younger populations and families. It’s exciting to hear about this growth and to think about what this can mean for people in Springfield and beyond. So for all of this success so far, and the growth to come, CISA is proud to present a 2023 Local Hero Award to the Go Fresh Mobile Market.

Winton Pitcoff, Director of The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative, accepting their Local Hero Award. Stephanie Craig Photography.

The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative was founded to support the goals set in the Massachusetts Local Food Action Plan, which was completed in 2015 as a result of several years work and the input of thousands of stakeholders across the state. The (paraphrased!) top-level goals of that plan are: 1) to increase production, sales, and consumption of Massachusetts-grown foods, 2) to create jobs and economic opportunity in food and farming and improve wages of food system workers, 3) to protect the land and water needed to produce food and ensure food safety, and 4) to reduce hunger and food insecurity, make healthy food more available, and reduce food waste. Those are lofty and absolutely necessary goals, and the Collaborative is working towards them through collective action, with a focus on legislative advocacy.

Winton Pitcoff, Director of the Collaborative, says that after the plan was developed, there was a core group of participants who wanted to make sure it didn’t just sit on the shelf – and who also understood that there were a lot of groups already doing this work in so many ways across the state. But there was one big missing piece, which was the focus on policy in a coordinated, state-wide coalition. The MA Food System Collaborative would become the policy staff for organizations that don’t have dedicated policy staff, while also working on building capacity in that realm.

Some highlights of their work, which happens with the input and leadership of partner organizations, advocates, and issue experts, include successfully advocacy for $59 million for HIP since the program began in 2017, working towards policy shifts to make that program more equitable, and turning it into a year-round program. The Collective has also led advocacy efforts to fund FSIG, the Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program; new funding for UMass Extension; a new grant program for food policy councils, and too much more to name.

Those are some of the specifics, but the big picture is that Collaborative has been an essential part of changing the conversation around food and agriculture so that policy-makers see it as fundamental to the economy, health, and overall well-being of our state. So for all of that, CISA is pleased to present a 2023 Local Hero Award to the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative.

The whole Clarkdale gang at CISA’s 2023 Annual Meeting. Stephanie Craig Photography

Clarkdale Fruit Farms is a fourth-generation orchard located in Deerfield, known for the quality of their fruit and for the generosity and the civic- and community-minded orientation of the Clark family.

Clarkdale is run today by father-son duo Tom and Ben Clark. It was established over 100 years ago by Tom’s grandfather, Webster Clark, who was an entrepreneurial doctor who lived in Greenfield. Tom’s father, Fred, took over in the 1940s and he continued with the business model established by his father, which was to sell fruit to regional wholesale markets in New York and Providence, while he continued to expand the orchard. By the time Tom came back to the farm in the 1970s, the fruit business had started to shift, with more global competition and fewer regional wholesale markets. So throughout the 80s Tom shifted the business towards the farm-based retail operation that is still booming today, along with some limited wholesale sales directly to schools, grocery stores, and restaurants. Ben’s return in the mid-2000s marked an opportunity for some modernization, like the farm’s first website, revamping the farm store, planting new varieties, etc.

The Clarkdale story tracks with the types of transitions that every multi-generational farm family experiences as markets and opportunities around them shift. Throughout it all, the Clarks have kept pace with changing tastes and needs, and that warrants celebration on its own. But they are truly exceptional in the way that they show up and give their time – and their fruit – to make Deerfield, Franklin County, and the whole region better. From service on the town school board and selectboard and as volunteer firefighters, to supporting The Food Bank and Monte’s March every year, to Ben’s nine years on the CISA Board, to using their position as trusted community members to speak out against the Kinder-Morgan pipeline that would have been laid under many miles of Franklin County, the Clarks show up for the things they believe in. Ben says that they see this as a symbiotic relationship: they give their support to their community, and the community supports the farm – and gets some pretty beautiful fruit out of it too. So for all of this, CISA is honored to present a 2023 Local Hero Award to Clarkdale Fruit Farms.