Farmland Preservation at the Field Station

by Dee Kricker, Community Farms Outreach and Friends of Waltham Field Station Steering Committee (originally appeared in Community Farms Outreach Spring 2004 Newsletter)

Preservation of local working farms is central to the mission of Community Farms Outreach - "to promote, support and manage farms in the community and community farms . . . and to preserve the open space and beauty of farms." For several years we have been concerned that the community farm we manage, Waltham Fields Community Farm, is in danger of being closed. Unprecedented economic challenges faced by UMass Extension, the program that manages the site on which our farm is located, have limited UMass’s ability to adequately maintain the Waltham Field Station facility and there has been talk of the site being closed.

In 1999, an informal group known as the Friends of Cornelia Warren Farm (FCWF) began meeting periodically to discuss options for the continued use of the Waltham Field Station. A subcommittee of the FCWF group crafted a Vision Statement that proposed a Agroecological Education Center that would generate sufficient revenue to maintain and grow the Field Station’s infrastructure and programming. Subcommittee members met with Dr. John Mullin, UMass Amherst Vice Provost, twice in 2003. As a result of those meetings, we were encouraged to explore how Field Station users might engage the University with a proposal to assume more responsibility at the site. Dr. Mullin made clear the advantages of a 501 C (3) nonprofit organization partnering with UMass. Over the course of the past five months, a transition has occurred whereby Community Farms Outreach, Inc. has taken the initiative to lead and consolidate the efforts formerly undertaken by FCWF.

In February of this year, the CFO Board of Directors voted to accept leadership of efforts to maintain and preserve the Waltham Field Station. CFO’s Farm Preservation Committee is leading this effort. This committee represents the interests of a large number of Field Station tenants and regular users who comprise the newly formed Friends of the Waltham Field Station group. CFO has held several recent public meetings of the Friends of the Waltham Field Station. Site tenants and other users of the Field Station continue to be concerned about closure of the site. This past year, we have witnessed reductions in staff time and closure of some of the heated greenhouse spaces. Consequently, some long-term tenants and valuable programs have been forced to leave the site. At this key juncture, we believe it is in our mutual interest to act now to prevent any further reductions in services at the Field Station.

The CFO’s Farm Preservation Committee, with the help of site tenants and users, has created a proposal that will be sent to Dr. Mullin. We propose that Community Farms Outreach, representing the Friends of the Waltham Field Station, be involved in all future planning processes for the site, as a vested community-based partner with UMass Extension. We propose immediate establishment of a standing joint UMass-CFO Waltham Field Station Task Force, with responsibility to develop and present a viable business and operations plan for the Waltham Field Station within one year.

If you would like to become involved in our work, please contact the Farm Preservation Committee at fpc@communityfarms.org. Our members are Martha Creedon (chair), Judy Fallows, Clayton Carter, Chris Yoder, and Dee Kricker. For more information, contact the committee or check the CFO web site (under "Programs").