BAV leads lecture on farming in a changing climate

BAV leads lecture on farming in a changing climate

Sara Keleman, Climate and Agriculture Specialist, spoke at “Farming in a Changing Climate” held at the Greenagers’ Barn at April Hill Farm in South Egremont, Massachusetts.

Photo by L. Tomaino

SOUTH EGREMONT, Mass. — On Sept. 18, Berkshire Agricultural Ventures (BAV) presented “Farming in a Changing Climate” to coincide with Climate Week NYC. It was held at the Greenagers’ Barn at April Hill Farm in South Egremont.

BAV works to support Litchfield, Berkshire, Columbia, and Dutchess County farmers with education, financial support and technical assistance. Greenagers works with teenagers and young adults, through firsthand work in farming, environmental conservation, and natural resource management.

Sarah Monteiro of Greenagers started the event with a tour of the one-acre vegetable garden that is hand scaled, meaning no machinery is used. The work is mostly done by teens in the farm work summer program.

Monteiro is learning to deal with crops during climate change. Growing plants can suffer heat stress with the hotter temperatures, and she said it is becoming more difficult to grow lettuce and other greens. “A lot of it is observation,” Monteiro said, referring to knowing what is growing well and under what conditions.

Climate change is bringing an increase of insect pests such as Colorado Potato beetles and squash borers. At Greenagers they do not spray with pesticides and use methods of covering the plants to deter insects.

After the tour Sara Keleman, Climate and Agriculture Specialist, spoke in the Greenager Barn.

Keleman explained that average temperatures are up three degrees from the 1970’s. “And it may increase more quickly in the next fifty years,” she said.

“It will be hotter and wetter. There will be more precipitation, an extended mud season, and stronger, slower storms with heavier rainfalls.” An extended mud season can cause delayed planting.

“Winters will be warmer, and it will be hotter during parts of the year when it is supposed to be cold,” Keleman said. With warmer winters there will be less snow. Snow protects soil during the winter and helps prevent erosion.

Growing zones have changed. “Half the country has shifted to the next half zone,” Keleman said. “We are losing cooler zones.”
Keleman said it’s best to have a backup power source, emergency plans for animals, and have neighbors ready to help (get animals and crops under protection, deal with flooding, winds, or storm damage).

Ben Crockett, BAV program manager, moderated a panel to answer questions about climate change.

Sarah Chase of Chaseholm Farm in Pine Plains answered a question about increased temperatures and dairy cows. She has planted more trees to provide shade for her herd. Fans or misters in barns are other options for cooling animals.

Lauren Piotrowski of Roots Rising in Pittsfield, which works to educate teens on farming and food, commented about the challenges of climate change. “I’ve become trickier and more wily to cope with this. Soil health, biodiversity, and resilient systems with plans in place if things don’t go right,” are important.

To the question, “what are the tools you still need?” Sarah Monteiro responded, “More supporting organizations and support for farmers when crises come and before they come.”

An audience member said he’d lost a fruit crop two years before to seventy-degree weather in March. His trees budded, then temperatures plummeted and killed the buds.

Moderator Crockett said climate change will “make growing fruit more challenging.”

Crockett suggested alternating rows of fruit trees with other crops to balance the risk for bad years and to try more resilient tree varieties.

The lecture and discussion ended with a reminder to celebrate and support local farm markets and farms and to support the Farm Bill coming up in Congress.

Latest News

Packed house hears Hitchcock estate golf course pre-application

Dozens of people crowded into the courthouse at the Washington Town Hall on Reservoir Drive in Millbrook on Tuesday, Oct. 7, to watch a pre-application meeting between Planning Board members and representatives of Centaur Properties LLC. David Blatt and Henry Hay of Centaur Properties LLC described their plan to build an 18-hole golf course with limited membership and residences on the historic 2,000-acre Hitchcock estate.

Photo by Nathan Miller
"This is nothing like Silo Ridge," said Centaur Properties co-founder Henry Hay. "This is Buckingham Palace to a craphouse. It's completely different. It's much higher quality."

MILLBROOK — Dozens of residents of the Town of Washington packed into the courtroom in Town Hall on Reservoir Drive for a standing-room-only regular meeting of the Planning Board on Tuesday, Oct. 7.

Well over three-quarters of the crowd were there to listen in to a pre-application meeting between Planning Board members and representatives of Centaur Properties LLC, a New York City-based development company that’s proposing an 18-hole golf course, equestrian facilities and luxury residential development on the 2,000-acre Hitchcock estate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Stanford home market sees nine sales in July and August

Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.

Christine Bates

STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.

At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.

Keep ReadingShow less
Dutchess County Sheriff’s Report
Village of Millerton offices on Route 22
John Coston

Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Harlem Valley area activity reportSept. 18 to Sept. 30.

Sept. 23 — Deputies responded to 1542 State Route 292 in the Town of Pawling for the report of a suspicious vehicle at that location. Investigation resulted in the arrest of Sebastian Quiroga, age 26, for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree. Quiroga to appear in the Town of Pawling court at a later date.

Keep ReadingShow less
Out on the trail
Nathan Miller

Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.