By Lisa Gentes-Hunt

For the second year in a row, a group of nine local organizations are gathering to provide local farmers, fishers, food producers and community members with a workshop and conference that they are hoping will help educate and inspire about 400 attendees. 

The Second Annual Southeast New England Agriculture Conference is scheduled to take place on February 2, 2025. 

The event, which is open to the public and will feature programs for both children and adults, is offering those in the food producing community the chance to gather, network in person and learn about valuable resources. 

“They are doing the hard work, and we are connecting them to resources,” Susan Murray, Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership’s (SEMAP) Executive Director, said of the farmers and food producers.

The conference, being held at Bristol County Agricultural High School in Dighton, is a collaboration of SEMAP, the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Rhode Island, Plymouth County Extension 4-H, Buy Fresh Buy Local Cape Cod, The Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust, Oasis on Ballou, and Cluck & Trowel Farm, according to Brad Fesmire, the SEMAP Community Engagement and Program Director. 

“Workshops range from hands-on production and training, business skills such as workforce development and risk mitigation, and broader issues facing small farms, such as land access and climate change,” Fesmire stated. 

One Bellingham farmer and business owner is excited to be able to attend the upcoming conference.

Justine Cruz Corchado, the owner and operator of Jaebird Farm in Bellingham, has attended SEMAP events in the past, but this will be her first time attending the group’s “Annual Southeast New England Agriculture Conference.” 

Corchado, who has owned and operated her farm for the past two years, is a fan of SEMAP and its resources.

“SEMAP is great at providing information for farmers in a centralized spot,” Corchado said. “They do a lot of great workshops” and also provide locals with information on farming grants, she stated. 

The Chelsea native’s farm focuses on fresh eggs and growing pesticide-free fruits and vegetables, she noted. 

Growing up in a city without much green space, Corchado came into farming with the idea of giving back to the community with fresh food that is locally grown and nutritious, something that can be harder to come by in an inner city like Chelsea, the business-owner stated. 

After taking a leave from her busy lifestyle in the city and leaving her demanding government job, Corchado was inspired by growing strawberries with her son. She eventually bought the just-over-two-acre farmland in Bellingham and established the female-owned and operated Jaebird Farm.

“We are a very new farm and only in our second year and rolling into our third season come spring,” she said. “This is an awesome thing I get to do after living in a city and not having any green space and remembering when fresh food was hard to come by.”

The Bellingham resident said one of her goals of farming is to share with others that fresh food can be grown anywhere. With microgreens, people can grow fresh food like lettuce in a small container on a windowsill, she noted. 

SEMAP’s executive director said connecting farmers like Corchado to educational and grant resources is part of the aim of the conference and aligns with SEMAP’s mission. 

“We’re building stronger agricultural communities,” Murray said. “Farmers reach out to us (at SEMAP.) We meet with them, walk their farms, talk about what problems that they’re having and what goals they have, and we sit with them to put together an action plan.”

Those plans can involve educational goals, financial assistance goals, or connecting the growers with specialized consultants who can assist them in everything from website creation and marketing to getting into sustainable farming. 

“We are a problem-solving organization that’s working on farm viability and making sure that our farms stay in business,” Murray said. 

At the Second Annual Southeast New England Agriculture Conference in February, the consortium of local groups will be working together to make the conference an enjoyable and educational day for farmers, fishers, food growers, community members and children too.

This year’s conference will feature a full day of workshops and  4-H activities for children ages three and up. 

Children will be able to have fun taking part in the agriculture, nature-based and educational activities provided by outside educators, Murray said. 

“We’re making it a super fun day for kids,” she noted, adding that the children’s tickets include breakfast, lunch and workshop fees. 

Murray noted that tickets for the 2025 event are available on a sliding-scale basis, and any farmer or community member can contact SEMAP for more details. 

For more information on the Second Annual Southeast New England Agriculture Conference or to purchase tickets, go to: https://semaponline.org/ .