Page 25 - BusinessWest February 3, 2025

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health matters, domestic-violence and
Causes
Grow Food Northampton Makes Broad Impact on Region
lisa Klein has spent her entire career in the nonprofit world, working on public-
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how they affect public health,” said Klein, who is also a long-time organic gardener. “I realized how incredibly important it is not only that we eat food that doesn’t have pesticides on it, but that we are utilizing growing practices that aren’t using harmful chemicals.
“I had been working for a long time at that point, about 20 years, in interpersonal violence preven- tion, on sexual- and domestic-violence issues, and was ready for something that was a little more life-affirming, and the Grow Food Northampton job opened up,” she said of taking the job of executive director five years ago. “I was so excited to focus on another passion of mine, which was organic grow- ing of vegetables, and I knew there was a lot of opportunity to broaden the program.”
Grow Food Northampton’s stated mission is to “create a just and resilient local food and farming system that nourishes our community and protects and enriches the earth.” At the heart of that mission is its 121-acre community farm in Florence, where the organization does the following:
• Leases low-cost farmland to 10 small farms
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sexual-abuse prevention, and other
issues close to her heart that affect the welfare of her neighbors. So Grow Food Northamp- ton (GFN) was an easy fit.
She had long been involved with the Florence- based nonprofit as one of the initial donors in its land purchase more than 15 years ago, and since then as a participant in its community farm.
But what sparked her further involvement was her work as a city councilor in Northampton from 2014 to 2020, where she established a select com- mittee on pesticide reduction and wrote and spon- sored legislation to prohibit the use of pesticides in municipal spaces.
“In writing that legislation, I did a lot of research about the effects of pesticides, and the committee was established to do research on pesticides and
Co-executive Director Alisa Klein
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