Agriculture Commission Agenda and Minutes February 10_2016Northampton Agricultural Commission
Agenda
7:00 PM Wednesday February 10, 2016
210 Main Street, Room 10 (2nd floor, City Hall)
Northampton, MA
Members present:
Chair John Omasta
Chip Parsons
Stan Zawalick
Vice Chair Rich Jaescke
Tim Smith
John Bobala
Robert Vollinger
Wayne Feiden (staff)
Public comment- there was no public comment.
Agriculture Commission minutes of January 13, 2015: Upon motion by Chip Parsons and second by Robert Vollinger, the Commission voted unanimously to approve the minutes.
Lessons Learned from January 30, 2016 Agricultural Forum: The commission discussed the forum with Pete Westover, contractor for Dept. of Agricultural Resources. They agreed to co-sponsor
again next year, either in Northampton or in Deerfield or Hatfield to provide variety. In 2017, the theme will be getting both Agricultural Commissions and farmers. The commission
will focus on the forum at the September 2016 meeting, hopefully with Pete Westover.
Incubator farmers: The commission has a follow up discussion on the Montview area farming to help provide information for the Meadows City Conservation Coalition who will be managing
the area.
Other items not identified when the agenda was written. The Commission reviewed the invite to the February 27, 2016 MCCC annual meeting. They also had a brief discussion about wanting
to stay focused on their core mission and not be distracted by peripheral issues such as Genetically Modified Organisms.
March meeting: The Commission agreed that their next meeting would be Wednesday March 9, 2016 at 7:00 PM.
The Commission adjourned at 8:15 PM.