Feb. 11, 2019
NORTH ADAMS, MASS. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) announces the next
Green Living Seminar will take place on Thursday, Feb. 14, with a presentation on
“Realizing the New England Food Vision” by Julia Freedgood, assistant vice president
of programs at America Farmland Trust.
All Green Living Seminars will take place at 5:30 p.m. in room 121 of the Feigenbaum
Center for Science and Innovation on the MCLA campus. Presented on Thursdays throughout
the spring semester, this series is free and open to the public.
The theme of this semester’s series is “Sustainable Food and Farming,” which focuses
on the past, present, and future of how food is produced and distributed in our region,
and strategies for improving the sustainability of our food system.
For “Realizing the New England Food Vision,” Freedgood will speak about the New England
Food Vision, and the status of efforts being undertaken to work toward realizing this
vision.
Freedgood oversees federal, state, and local program and policy efforts to support
farmland protection and agricultural viability. This includes oversight of field operations
in several American Farmland Trust regions, the Farmland Information Center, Planning
for Agriculture programming and research, as well as technical assistance and education
to support local and regional food systems, farmland succession, access to land and
support for family farmers.
The editor and lead author of “Saving American Farmland: What Works,” Freedgood is
a nationally recognized leader in providing services to communities, and has spent
much of her career ensuring a voice for agriculture in the community planning process.
She developed a methodology to assess the contribution of farmland to local budgets
called Cost of Community Services studies which have now been conducted in more than
150 communities across the country.
Freedgood previously served as the executive director of the Federation of Massachusetts
Farmers Markets, a researcher on a three-year project called “Sustaining Agriculture
near Cities” at Tufts University School of Nutrition in Boston, and the director of
Sheep Industry Redevelopment Projects at the New England Farm Center. She holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampshire College in Amherst, and a master’s degree from
the School of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts.
This semester’s Green Living Seminars will take place through April 25. Following
Freedgood’s talk on Thursday, Feb. 14, the next Green Living lecture will take place
on Thursday, Feb. 21, when Lydia Sisson, co-founder of Mill City Grows, presents “Farming
in the City.”
Podcasts of this semester’s Green Living lectures will be posted online following
each presentation at http://www.mcla.edu/greenliving.
MCLA’s Green Living Seminar Series hosts lectures by local, regional, and national
experts. The seminars are organized around a central theme related to the environment
and sustainability. The 2019 series is a presentation of the MCLA Environmental Studies
Department and MCLA’s Berkshire Environmental Resource Center.
For more information, go to www.mcla.edu/greenliving
or contact Traister at (413) 662-5303 or Elena.Traister@mcla.edu.
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) is the Commonwealth's public liberal
arts college and a campus of the Massachusetts state university system. MCLA promotes
excellence in learning and teaching, innovative scholarship, intellectual creativity,
public service, applied knowledge, and active and responsible citizenship. MCLA graduates
are prepared to be practical problem solvers and engaged, resilient global citizens.
For more information, go to www.mcla.edu.
