Farmer Flood Relief Fund – Flats Mentor Farm

World Farmers is honored to have close partners and friends who care deeply about the mission of World Farmers, the farmers we serve, and the work we build together. Read on for a message from Liz O’Gilvie, Director of the Springfield Food Policy Council, who is assisting us to launch a Farmer Flood Relief Campaign for the farmers of Flats Mentor Farm.

Hey y’all, my 270 BIPOC Immigrant and Refugee Farmer friends at World Farmers’ Flats Mentor Farm experienced catastrophic flooding this week and they need our help!

I call them my friends because World Farmers and their farmers help to increase access to healthy food for many in Springfield and Holyoke’s food marginalized communities as well as everyone they serve through their farmers markets and CSA.

Last week, all 70 acres of the World Farmers’ main landsite in Lancaster were completely submerged by the heavy and unrelenting rain that spread across the Commonwealth, resulting in a total crop loss for all 214 farmers growing on that land in World Famers’ Flats Mentor Farm (FMF) Program. This was the second flood of the season, after a series of excessive rainfalls throughout the late spring and early summer. Some of these same and other FMF farmers have also experienced 65% crop loss across the 17 acres in production on our second largest landsite, which hosts 87 immigrant and refugee farmers.

The flood is devastating, and the value of the loss has not yet been measured. No farmer has been left spared from the effects of these floods.

FMF farmers engage in labor-intensive farming with minimal machinery across multiple land sites. This requires weekly travel between sites and to and from their homes across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. Farmers were only a few weeks, or even days, away from harvesting and selling their crops before they were taken by the floods. The loss of income is compounded by the fact that at this point in the season, there is not enough time left to replant most of the crops that were lost. If the rains slow, and the land dries, farmers hope to return to planting this season, but for now, the impact of the flooding has put their businesses and their families at risk. These farmers don’t grow food just to take to market. Their crops also feed their families, friends and neighbors. And they help to feed our families here in Springfield. The Springfield Food Policy Council partners with World Farmers to provide no-cost CSA shares to our communities most vulnerable families. The flooding has put many already food insecure families and children at even greater risk for not having enough food to eat.

I am also really worried about the farmers and the WF staff. I have spoken with some of the farmers and the staff and the despair is tangible. This is their second total loss of crops due to flooding in just three years, and the fourth season in a row of business uncertainty due to market changes from COVID, and an extreme drought in 2022. I know that farmers across the Commonwealth and New England are suffering. You have been in my thoughts and prayers. So many of you have supported our work in Springfield and have stood with us as we have worked to create equity and opportunity for everyone. I believe that you understand the extra layer of hard that BIPOC immigrant and refugee farmers experience with losses like these. They are frankly insurmountable without community support.

In an attempt to compensate for the farmers’ extensive losses, I am supporting World Farmers in their Farmer Flood Relief Campaign to raise $100,000. Funds raised during this campaign will be directed by the FMF Farmer Committee, an FMF farmer-led body, and 100% of all proceeds will go directly to the farmers themselves. Please lend your support to the 270 immigrant and refugee farmers of Flats Mentor Farm by donating today – so that they may attempt to recover and return next year to once again grow food for all of our communities.

World Farmers intends to continue to steward this land and offer nourishment to our communities and support to our farmers. They and their friends, like me, are profoundly grateful for all of the emotional support that they and their farmers are receiving.

You can give through this GoFundMe, by going to this link on the World Farmers website, or by sending a check payable to World Farmers, Inc. mailed to their offices at 769 Main Street, Box 112, Lancaster, MA 01523 and visit them on their website, at: www.worldfarmers.org/flood-2023

With love and gratitude,

Liz O’Gilvie

Springfield Food Policy Council/Gardening the Community

On behalf of the Farmers of Flats Mentor Farm Program, and World Farmers