Extension in Central Massachusetts

The central region of Massachusetts is composed of Worcester County. The largest city in the region is Worcester.

  • Extension Programs and Functions Moving Online

    bee on apple blossom

    Because of the coronavirus emergency, the UMass Amherst Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment and UMass Extension have postponed public face-to-face programs and closed their laboratories through at least May 18.

  • 70th Worcester County 4-H Fair returns to Barre

    The 70th annual Worcester County 4-H Fair returned for a second year to the fairgrounds on Old Coldbrook Road, in Barre. Nearly 300 4-H exhibitors from 4-H clubs across Worcester County, neighboring counties and New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island were on hand as clear skies and cool, dry air carried an early hint of fall, providing ideal weather for fairgoers. Extension 4-H Youth Development Program assistant director Linda Horn and CAFE Assistant Director William Miller made opening remarks.

  • Urban Planning in Worcester's Challenging Kelley Square, UMass Professor Comments

    “Six streets in search of a stoplight,” they call the spot where Madison, Green, Harding, Water, Millbury and Vernon streets converge without benefit of stoplight or central rotary in Worcester. Michael DiPasqalue, licensced architect and urban planner who directs the UMass Design Center in Springfield, weighs in on the design of this unique intersection. (Telegram 10/15/18) 

  • Cold Threatens Peach and Apple Crops

    A winter of extreme warmth and cold, combined with recent roller-coaster conditions, could reduce this year’s apple crop, and will more than likely result in a much smaller peach crop, according to fruit growers looking out this week on snow-covered orchards. UMass tree fruit experts offer observations. Worcester Telegram and Gazette, 4/5/2016, WFCR/NEPR,  4/5/2016

  • Center Publishes Study on Proposed Pipeline Route

    Cover of Pipeline Assessment document

    The Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment has released “A Natural Resources Assessment of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company’s Proposed Northeast Energy Direct Project’s Pipeline Route Within Massachusetts.” The assessment was conducted by a team from UMass Amherst’s Department of Environmental Conservation, including Scott Jackson, Extension Associate Professor, Bethany Bradley, Assistant Professor, and Thomas Cairns, MS Candidate. The authors created the assessment by utilizing a compilation of twenty available inventories of natural resources and environmental resources in Massachusetts, from state and UMass Amherst sources. These inventories were mapped against the mainline route of the proposed pipeline and then the proportion of affected resources was compared to the availability of the particular resource countywide and statewide. This method resulted in identification of key resources most likely to be impacted by the pipeline. Volume One covers the mainline of the pipeline and is now available for download here. Volume Two (forthcoming) will cover the spurs.

  • Green Stormgears, Westford Youth Robotics 4-H Club, Place First Statewide

    Massachusetts 4-H Robotics Team at World Festival

    Massachusetts 4-H has yet another reason to be proud. The Green Stormgears from Westford, MA, took first place in the Champions Award Category as the best in judging and robot categories in the state. This afforded them the privilege of representing the Commonwealth in the Championship at the 2014 World Festival in St Louis Missouri on April 28.