Community Involved In Sustaining Agriculture Inc

Programs: Cisa's farm & business support program provides technical assistance and education to farmers on issues related to farming, including business management, marketing, and customer communications. In 2017, cisa had specific funding to focus on beginning farmers, farmers who sell direct to consumers, and wholesale farmers. Over 180 farms and businesses attended 57 cisa workshops and technical assistance consultations.

cisa's local hero program provides education and outreach to residents of our region about the benefits of farms, farming, and local agriculture. The local hero program reaches residents through events, publications, individual outreach, press and cisa's online presence. In 2017, cisa's activities, programs and highlights of local farms were the subject of 287 newspaper articles, radio and tv news stories, and over 400 radio, print ads, and psas, plus over 1 million impressions via online advertising. 60,000 copies of our farm products guide were distributed, in order to inform residents and visitors about the local benefits of local farms and farming, over 10,438 people receive monthly e-mail information from cisa or facebook updates and cisa reaches at least an additional 2,000 people through attendance at events, community festivals, fairs, farmers' markets, and other events. Cisa's website recorded 43,583 users and 491,707 page views in 2017. Participants in cisa programs included 282 farms, 41 retailers, 74 restaurants, and 41 institutions (hospitals, universities, schools and senior living facilities) and specialty products manufacturers. 94% of farmers surveyed were satisfied with the program.

local food for all: this program researches and supports markets that are an important bridge between community members and farmers. Through this program, cisa expands market access for farmers and community members and provides low-income senior citizens with a share of the local harvest and educates seniors and service providers about the benefits of fresh, local agricultural products. We work directly with farmers' markets and farms to support them in being able to accept ebt/snap and support farmers' markets in outreach and communications to potential customers.

growing the local food system: cisa researches food system gaps and creates opportunities to build the local food economy. In 2017, we helped large buyers such as schools and colleges source more locally-grown products by forging connections to growers, supporting food safety education and certification, furthering networking and collaboration, and providing business assistance to distributors. We are a partner on the pioneer valley grows investment fund, which makes loans and provides technical assistance to food and farm businesses.