Jennifer Hashley to Discuss Economics of Climate-smart Agriculture at MCLA Today

NORTH ADAMS — Jennifer Hashley, the Trisha Perez Kennealy and Michael Kennealy director of New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, will give a talk titled “Economics of Climate-smart Agriculture” today, March 29, at 5:30 p.m. at the MCLA Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation, Room 121. This event is free and open to the public as part of MCLA’s Green Living Seminar series.

Hashley is a leader in local food-systems work, focusing on beginning farmer development. Her role at New Entry includes building community partnerships, developing new programs and services, mentoring and supporting project staff, securing sustainable resources for all program operations, writing grants, strategic planning, and overseeing incubator training farm site infrastructure and a multi-year sustainable-agriculture training curriculum in specialty crops and livestock production for limited-resource farmers.

Hashley’s efforts at New Entry have transformed it into a nationally recognized farmer-training program with multiple components: training and technical assistance, marketing, finding land and resources, hands-on learning at training farms, accessing government programs and resources, and conducting training for other incubator farm and community food-security projects across the U.S. Hashley also excels in working side-by-side with farmers in the field, at markets, and in the classroom.

As part of the Agriculture, Food and Environment program at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Hashley is also an Agricultural Science and Policy lab instructor, helping to bridge the gap between graduate students’ classroom learning and practical, farm-based education.

MCLA’s annual Green Living Seminar Series continues through April 19, presenting a series of lectures on the theme of “Capitalism and the Environment.” Every semester, the Green Living Seminar Series centers around a different topic that is timely and relevant to current sustainability issues. Seminars take place on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.

The 2023 series is a presentation of the MCLA Environmental Studies Department. Podcasts will be posted online following each presentation at www.mcla.edu/greenliving.