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New Entry Training Programs
- Edible Boston, Fall 2009
Mobile Poultry Processing Unit: You can take it with you.
Read about New Entry Director, Jennifer Hashley's work to train new farmers in sustainable livestock production and to rebuild the poultry processing infrastructure in Massachusetts through an innovative partnership project that developed a Massachusetts-licensed Mobile Poultry Processing Unit (MPPU) for use on area farms. The article focuses on the growing demand for local meat, one volunteer's experience helping process birds on the unit, the regulatory hurdles in licensing multiple users, and the growing trend in shared farm infrastructure in today's agriculture. "Hashley’s vision of the future of small-scale farming includes more mobile units. The demand is there, she says. As fewer and fewer farmers can afford to own the land they work, and leasing becomes the preferred arrangement, more farmers will be sharing capital infrastructure. The mobile-unit concept fits in well with this new model of farming.. "
- Webinar: building new farm incubation programs, December 2008
New Entry Program Director Jennifer Hashley spoke along with other farm incubator folks from across the country in this instructive Webinar. Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, Ben & Jerry's and Burt's Bees sponsored the webinar which highlights several successful farm incubator programs.
Click here to listen to the webinar (.wmv file)
- Edible Boston, Summer 2007
The New Entry Sustainable Farming Project
This relatively new magazine (first published in June, 2006), which profiles food systems around the Boston area, chose to highlight the New Entry in its 2007 summer issue. The article focuses on the rigors of the New Entry training program, and profiles a few of the beginning farmers who are in various stages of the program.
"The part of the story that often goes untold is the hours of training that go into preparing the farmers for their business trajectories in the U.S. While reports on New Entry often depict the feel-good end results of this training, Jennifer Hashley, the Director of New Entry, believes it's important for people to know what it takes to get to these end results so the local community can support immigrant farmers along the way. "
- MetroWest Daily News, April 19, 2007
New Entry Farmers
MetroWest journalist speaks to New Entry farmer Seona Ban and staff person Amy Cook, regarding New Entry training programs:
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Four years ago Seona Ban moved to the United States from Cameroon in West Africa. With little practical work experience under her belt, but a love of earth and nature, Ban found her way by becoming a full-time farmer. ...For the past two years, Ban has enjoyed growing tomatoes, collard greens, and hot peppers and said that in addition to selling some of the produce for a profit she loves being able to serve her family fresh vegetables all season."
- The Lowell Sun, June 16, 2005
"There is Always that Big Person Who's Missing"
John Ogonowski, one of the key players in New Entry's first years, was a pilot killed on September 11, 2001. His daughter talks about the family's loss and John's legacy as she prepares to graduate high school and go off to college.
- The Boston Globe, October 5, 2002
Pilot's pipeline to charity still flows.
The Project received a $55,000 aluminum irrigation pipe donation from Boston's Central Artery Tunnel Project ("the Big Dig"). We organized over 75 volunteers from State Street Bank, CTI's Youthbuild Program, and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department to remove pipes from overgrow brush on Spectacle Island and transport them by barge and truck to our farm sites in central Massachusetts and Dracut. This donation will allow limited-resources growers to access irrigation equipment needed for successful vegetable production.
- The Boston Globe, June 1, 2002
Kennedy, Meehan back farm aid pushed by pilot killed on Sept. 11.
In June, our first mentor farm site, White Gate Farm, was visited by US Senator Edward Kennedy and Representative Martin Meehan. Their pledge to further legislation enacted by the 2002 Farm Bill to preserve a 33-acre parcel in Dracut will ensure continued use of this farmland by immigrant farmers. John was working to preserve this parcel before his death on 9/11. The parcel will be a tribute to his legacy and titled the "John Ogonowski Memorial Site."
- The Lowell Sun, October 4, 2001
A Legacy left planted in the soil.
The September harvest at White Gate Farm in Dracut was somber as the gardeners reflected upon their mentor, John Ogonowski.
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