Spectrum News
BY RICHARD DAMAS HAMPDEN COUNTY
Friday July 15, 2022
All Farmers food stand at their weekly farmers market in West Springfield. (Courtesy: Spectrum News 1)
WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The All Farmers market is hoping their weekly farmers market will raise enough money to support immigrant and refugee families in western Massachusetts looking to purchase their own land.
The nonprofit organization based out of Springfield was founded in 2018 and works with refugees from all over the world including, families from Bhutan, Somalia and other countries in eastern Africa.
The All Farmers market typically hosts around a dozen vendors over the course of the summer with the food being grown by the farmers themselves in licensed land around Hampden and Hampshire counties.
Market manager Rumbila Abdullahi said many of the immigrants in Massachusetts come from farming backgrounds, so it's important to provide them with opportunities to grow.
"Growing up, that's what they know and love to do and that's how they feed their families." said Abdullahi. "So for us, being able to give them that support in accessing land and being able to market, that helps them very much in establishing themselves in a foreign country."
The All Farmers market runs two markets, two days a day week. Tuesdays at the Baystate Brightwood Clinic in Springfield from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursdays in front of the West Springfield Boys & Girls Club from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Abdullahi hopes in the long run, immigrant farmers will equal access to farmland in western Massachusetts.